AnAdultCeremony

ChuHuaYuan

IfyougrowupinChaoshanarea,yourparentswouldcelebrateariteforyouwhenyouwereatthenominalageof15.ThisspecialcustomiscalledChuHuaYuan

TheoriginAncienteconomicbackwardnessforcingteenagerstobeoutofthehouseearlytocontributetothefamilylivelihood.Thisriteisin“QiQiaoFestival”forthegoodmeaningof“clever”.Parentschoosethisdayexpectingtheirchildrencanbeoutstanding,intelligent,smart.

潮汕有句俗語“十五成丁，十六成人”。古時經(jīng)濟落后，迫使少年人需提早走出家門，為家庭生計做出貢獻(xiàn)。許多人選擇七夕節(jié)舉行這個成人禮，是源自“牛郎織女”的故事。七月初七也是中國的“乞巧節(jié)”，選擇這一天“出花園”，其寓意也在個“巧”字，父母指望兒女長大后，能出類拔萃，聰穎靈巧。

Peoplebelievethatchildrenunder15yearsoldaregrowinginanunseengardenandprotectedbythesupernaturalbeing（公婆神)Whenthechildrenreach15yearsold,theyshouldnotliveinthegardenanymoreandthesupernaturalbeingwillnotprotectthem.

Thechildren“jumped”outofthegarden,andsaygoodbyetotheirchildhood.

Theprocessof“ChuHuaYuan”including

BathWearnewclothesWorshipFeast

Bath沐浴

Beforetheeveningofauspiciousday,themothershouldgivethechildwaterimmersedwithtwelvekindsofauspicious“flowers”forthechildrentotakeabath.到了“出花園”的吉日的前一天傍晚，母親就要給孩子摘取十二種帶有吉利意象的“鮮花”,浸在水里讓孩子沐浴WearnewclothesAfterthebath,childrenwillputonnewclothesTheclothesshouldbeauspiciouscolor,suchasredorpinkandsoon.Wearingredclogs(木屐).Itsometimescanbeinsteadbyredshoes

Worship祭拜

Atthatday,thechild’smumshouldgathers4,8or12kindsofthings,including3kindsofmeats(theroosterorduck,thefish,thepork)andmanykindsofricecakes.Afterputtingthemonashallowbasket,thechildworshipsthecenser(香爐)oftheirsupernaturalbeing.Fromthenon,theydon’tneedtodoitanylonger.那一天，母親將三牲果品合湊成四件、八件或十二件，陳置在俗稱“膠掠”上，請出公婆神的神爐，由“出花園”的孩子跪拜，拜畢，以后就不再拜了。Feast.筵席Thefoodofthelunchisreallyrich.Altogetherthereare12dishes.Thevegetablesmainlyaregreengarlic(青蒜）,greenonion（青蔥）.Itmeansthattheyhopetheirchildrencancalculatewellandclever.中午進(jìn)餐時，備辦豐盛的午餐，共十二道菜。青菜以厚合、青蒜等為主，其意是吃了厚合，“出花園”后處處“六合”；青蒜，長大后能算會除，青蔥聰敏伶俐。

Atthatnoon,insomefamilies,especiallywhoseelderchildrenaretogooutofthegarden,theywillinvitemanygueststohaveabiglunch.Becausetheprotagonist(主角）can’tmeetwithstrangers,almosttheguestsaretheirrelativesandfriends.Duringthelunch,everyoneelsehastoobeytherulesoftheseats,theprotagonistshouldsitatthemainseat,eventhoughttheirgrandparentsareatpresent.Asforboys,theyhavetoeattheheadofarooster，whilegirlshavetoeattheheadofahenoraduck.Thisisbecausepeopleherebelievedthatchildrenwearsuchclothesandeatthosefoodcanbringlucktothem.Inaddition,theheadofthechickenhavetofacetohimorher,andotherscan’teatthechicken.Thismeanshimorherwillbecomeoutstandingandprosperous(興旺發(fā)達(dá)）whenheorshegrowsup.

“ChuHuaYuan”isarepresentativecustomintheChaoshanareaAlmostallthepeopleinthisareashouldbegivensuchaceremony.

However,nowadaysthecustomhaschangedalotandbecomeasimpleceremony.

Themajorityfamiliesmanagedtheceremonyfortheirchildren,buttheyonlyretainedputt