Yizhang night story

Yizhang night story is a traditional mass folk cultural activity of the Han nationality with a long history in Yizhang County. During the Spring Festival, from the first day to the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival, night stories will be performed by families and in groups. During the tour, the street was lit with torches and firecrackers, accompanied by gongs and drums, and crowded with people.

As an ancient traditional folk culture, “night story” is usually performed in the evening from the first day of the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival.

It takes the stories from traditional folk traditions, fairy tales, famous literature works, dramas, and new people and new events in different periods, and the performers will be dressed up as the characters in these stories with corresponding props and scenes, who will be carried or lifted on horses or in handcarts, sedan chairs, and colored sheds for parade.

Among them, those carried by frames and sedan chairs are called “lifting stories”. Those carried by horses, mules and donkeys are called “horse stories”. If the story characters walk by themselves, they are called “walking stories”. In the old days, horse stories were very popular, but now they are rarely seen.

Because the stories are performed at night, they are called “night stories”.

The night stories that have been passed down have distinctive themes and uplifting contents, which maintain the original traditional folk customs.

There are three main categories of items needed for the nigh story performance. The first is the theatrical costumes, clothing, lifting supports (mostly square tables, horses, handcarts, sedan chairs or temporary colored sheds), and simple scene settings.

The second is torches, which were used for lighting in the past, but now people use DC batteries for lighting. The third is gongs, drums, cymbals and suona (Chinese traditional musical instruments). Nowadays, some people use tape recorders to make sound effects for the stories.

Stories, torches and gongs and drums are called the “three main tools” of night stories. Except for the costume, which should be specially made according to the characters in the story, all others needed are ready-made in every family. For “lifting stories”, because of the physical requirements, actors are usually smart little boys or girls or teenagers.

For “walking stories” or “horse stories”, there is no age requirement for actors. In the old days, performing stories independently represented the prosperous descendants and wealth of the family. Therefore, performing stories was perceived as a great honor in the locals’ eyes.