Have you seen the extreme romance of ＂while the iron is hot＂？

"There are thousands of trees in the east wind night, and the stars are like rain."

This word by Xin Qiji,

It depicts the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival.

Like the spring breeze blowing away thousands of trees and silver flowers, it falls like the rain of stars all over the sky. Thousands of iron flowers break through the dark night sky and bloom freely, which is a romance and enthusiasm unique to Chinese civilization and a Chinese romance that has been passed down for thousands of years.

The Historical Origin of Tie Hua

Tie Tie Hua originated in the Northern Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It has a history of more than a thousand years. During the Ming Dynasty, the ironmaking industry developed rapidly. In order to celebrate the bumper harvest and pray for peace, blacksmiths used the molten iron produced in the ironmaking process to create a brilliant spark effect, forming the initial activities of striking iron flowers.

Strike while the iron is hot was originally a sacrificial activity for craftsmen.

Whenever there is a major celebration, people will make a special trip to invite iron flower craftsmen to perform iron flowers, which will be circulated for thousands of years and form a magnificent and unique performance style. Most of them are spread among the people in North China. The local people use the homonym of "flower" and "hair" to mean "the more flowers are played, the more they fight", hoping that business will flourish, auspicious and safe.

Tie Tie Hua is a large-scale traditional folk fireworks. Before the performance, a six-meter-high double-layer flower shed should be set up in an open place. The shed is densely covered with fresh willow branches, covered with fireworks and firecrackers, and loaded with goods. A pole with a height of more than ten feet is erected in the middle of the top of the flower shed, which is called "old pole", and firecrackers and large fireworks are also tied to the top of the old pole, which is called "setting color".

When the iron flower is struck, the flower-beater wears a gourd ladle with a protective function, is naked, holds the upper stick with iron juice in one hand and the lower stick without iron juice in the other, and quickly runs to the flower shed and slams the upper stick with the lower stick.

More than a dozen flower-beaters went from one stick to another, from one person to another, between the melting pot and the flower shed. One iron flower rose into the sky, and another came one after another. The sticks were connected in an endless stream, and thousands of stars were scattered in the sky, bearing the inheritance and romance of thousands of years of culture. The molten iron at 1600℃ created a visual feast, a spectacle of thrilling and wonderful coexistence.

The Spiritual Inheritance of Tie Hua

Behind the folk art that has been handed down for thousands of years,

There are hidden risks that are not known to everyone.

The hot metal needed for iron stamping needs to be heated to more than 1600 degrees.

Therefore, performers need to be extra cautious in grasping the strength and angle of hitting, so as to ensure that the molten iron splashes high enough and disperses, thus generate produces dazzling iron flowers. If the strength is insufficient or the hitting position is inaccurate, the iron flower may not splash to a sufficient height, thus scalding itself.

Therefore, it is a common practice to burn your body and lose your hair by falling molten iron during practice. Under such risks, it is only because of the belief that artisans inherit culture that the iron flower has been passed down to this day.

Before, Mr. Yang Jianjun devoted himself to restoring the traditional skill of beating iron flowers, which attracted attention again and successfully promoted its inclusion in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list; Later, Mr. Wang Jun, as the outstanding person in Kaifeng, constantly innovated, launched such performance projects as "Tiehua Dragon Dance", and joined hands with Dasong Martial Arts City in Longevity Mountain in Kaifeng to create a large-scale realistic drama "Tiehua", which created a miracle in the performance history.

Playing while the iron is hot is not only a visual feast.

It is also a bridge connecting us with the spiritual civilization of Chinese ancestors. Turning hot and dangerous molten iron into bright golden flowers shows the people’s enthusiasm, courage, hard work and optimism in this land. The dazzling golden flame is like the ear of wheat, which symbolizes our love for the food in the agricultural province.

A dozen people are in harmony with each other, and iron flowers offer happiness; two dozen people are blessed from heaven, and China enjoys happiness; three dozen people are prosperous in all fields; four dozen people are full of happiness, health and longevity; five dozen people have a bright future, rising step by step; six dozen people are obedient, and everything goes well; seven dozen people are rolling in financial resources, making money everywhere; eight dozen people are lucky, and heaven and earth are prosperous; and nine dozen people are harmonious, stable and share peace.

During the performance, the performer used a flower stick to strike the molten iron strongly. When the molten iron rises into the air instantly, the iron flower splashes like a flower rain composed of gold wires, like a meteor, and like a flamingo silver flower, it blooms in the dark, showing shocking beauty.

When we look up at Tiehua, like our ancestors thousands of years ago, our eyes are full of money and our hearts are full of good wishes. When the sparks landed, we returned to the prosperous times, where politics and people were harmonious and the world was one.

Reporter: Chen Yuexi

Photo: the creativity of the worm

Information: Zhumadian Wenlv

Original title: Have you seen the extreme romance of "Tie Tie Hua"? 》

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