Although Ggreel does not make traditional Chinese incense, many of our aromatherapy products are inspired by ancient incense methods. Probably because I have watched too many costume movies and TV series recently, I suddenly had an inspiration today to talk to you about the "incense road" handed down by my ancestors.
Many people especially like the era of "Song", especially love Song Ci, there are indeed some classic Song Ci beauty that people can't breathe, so in everyone's traditional impression we know that the Song people played poetry and songs, in fact, many people don't understand that in the field of "incense", Song is also a pioneering era.
When we chat, many people mistakenly think that "incense" is Japanese, because Japan still retains some traditional ways of making incense, but incense originated in China, developed in the Sui and Tang dynasties, reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, and declined in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, advocated simplicity and frugality, and hated the exquisite and extravagant life, so he banned the "flower arrangement" and "incense ceremony", and only retained the "tea ceremony", so the Chinese incense ceremony has declined since then.
As an important household item, the incense burner was an indispensable part of the life of the people of the Song Dynasty. At that time, many women would set up incense burners in their boudoirs, and Li Qingzhao wrote in his words: "The jade furnace sinks into the water and smokes, and dreams of returning to the mountain pillow to lead to flowers." It can be seen that the incense burner was developing rapidly and popularly at that time. What's even more amazing is that from the upper class to the lower people, almost everyone at that time had an incense burner, and burned incense when drinking tea, so that the chat was more meaningful and feeling.
Women use incense, and men are no exception. And some things are really terrible once they are rolled up by men, the market does not need education, and all kinds of utensils and games will be invented quickly. Dressing should be incense, and the fragrance effect is much longer lasting than modern perfume, as well as carrying a sachet on the body, an aromatherapy ball in the quilt, a sachet token for flirting with a girl, an incense burner when reading and reciting, and a hand stove in winter, etc., in short, only you can't think of it, there is no ancients who can't do it.
In addition, the fragrance standards of the Song people are very different from those of the contemporaries. The Song people did not pay attention to whether the spices were precious or not, they pursued the longevity and durability of the fragrance, and the fragrance was elegant. At that time, there was a kind of precious agarwood from India, because the fragrance was too strong, even if it was very valuable, it was not favored by the people and scholars. At the same time, Su Shi mastered a plum blossom incense method, just put the plum blossom incense pill into the incense burner, you will smell the elegant plum blossom fragrance, the aroma is long-lasting, and the aftertaste is endless. After that, many people asked Su Shi for the secret recipe for incense, but Su Shi always refused to tell him.
According to historical records, the tax revenue of the spice industry accounted for 1 4 of the country during the Southern Song Dynasty, and street incense shops were very common. However, the mainstream people at that time were different from modern times, and most of them were men in the past, and for them, "incense" was a symbol of status and taste, and it was a must-have thing for literati and rioters.
So, you may be curious to ask, why didn't the ancients use perfume?In fact, the ancients also used perfume, but it did not prevail for various reasons. First of all, the play of perfume is too simple, after all, the European old irons learned the perfume making method of Xi from ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, and the stench of the European Middle Ages prompted Europeans to use perfume to cover the smell. The development of the times and the differences in culture led our ancestors to disdain this kind of play.
Secondly, the ancient sages thought that perfume was not so elegant, in modern terms, there was no sense of ceremony, and the fragrance art that the ancients played at that time was completely different from the perfume art after the rise of the Western perfume industry. Moreover, the application of spices in China and the West is also different, and the spices that the ancients liked and industrial essential oils are not the same as their diffusion principles and tastes. It is the same "aroma", but due to various differences, everyone's understanding and use of it are very different.
Ggreel, a professional aromatherapy brand that understands fragrance, grinds fragrance, and makes fragrance. For more than 20 years, we have strict fragrance quality control standards, and now there are as many as 76 European and American fragrance candle brands designed and produced by Gregor!Welcome to popularize science with the majority of players and bigwigs who like aroma, and discuss the bits and pieces about aroma together!