The Spring Festival is an important traditional festival of our Chinese nation, during which various celebrations are carried out, and the Qing Dynasty is no exception, and the royal family of the Qing Dynasty is even more cumbersome. In the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty, the New Year began on the first day of the lunar month, during which there were nearly 60 days of tedious celebrations, that is, until the twentieth day of the first month of the following year. The festival is not celebrated in two months, but refers to the period from the beginning of preparations for the Spring Festival to the end of all activities.
1.The emperor gave the word "blessing" to the civil and military officials
Starting from Kangxi, on the first day of the lunar month, he wrote the word blessing for the minister of civil and military affairs, called it "opening the pen to give blessing", and then it was followed by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and gradually became a kind of rule, which also became a kind of grace between monarchs and ministers, and this grace continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty. According to the Qing Dynasty's "Continuation of the History of the Imperial Palace", Emperor Qianlong used a brush engraved with the words "blessing the common people" on the first day of the lunar month every year to write the word "Fu" with cinnabar as ink. Moreover, the first character written each year is sealed and never opened in the future, which means to keep the blessing. Next, the word "Fu" written was rewarded to the princes and ministers and the officials of the feudal territory.
That is to say, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty since Kangxi will hand-write the blessing characters as a red envelope for the Spring Festival to distribute to those important ministers of the country, and the courtiers will not hang on the door, and it is a great honor to get the emperor's ink treasure, which has to be placed at home for offering.
2.Ritual activities
Since the Xia Dynasty, the first day of the first lunar month is one of the important activities during the Spring Festival in China, and the emperor, as the "Son of Heaven", should represent the people of the world to carry out sacrificial activities on heaven and earth, showing the awe of nature. On the first day of the first lunar month, the Qing Dynasty emperor needed to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning, carry out incense worship activities in front of more than 30 halls in the palace, and then accept various pilgrimages from hundreds of officials in the main hall until the afternoon.
3.Royal Chinese New Year's Eve dinner
The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner during the New Year is an important part of the Spring Festival, and the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty is no exception. In fact, the emperor and his wife and sons rarely eat together, and only during the Chinese New Year, the emperor and all his concubines have breakfast together in Chonghua Palace. When it comes to the dinner, it is more exquisite, generally in the Baohe Palace or the Qianqing Palace, in which in addition to the emperor's imperial meal is prepared by the Internal Affairs Office, his wife and son, relatives' meals are paid tribute by the royal family.
According to the regulations, the prince paid 8 tables of banquets per person; The king of the county enters 5 tables per person; Baylor tribute 3 tables; Beizi is 2 tables, and the rest is organized by Guanglu Temple. This kind of "Chinese New Year's Eve dinner" is lively to eat, and does not use the money of the state treasury, which can be described as frugal and noble. This is far from enough, and the leftover meals eaten by the royal relatives will not be wasted, and these meals will be given to the courtiers, which shows both royal grace and royal frugality. In fact, frugality is also advocated in the palace, for example, Emperor Kangxi once gave a couplet to the profligate Eight Banners: "A porridge and a meal are not easy to come by; Half a thread and half a thread must be remembered to make difficult".
4.The Spring Festival Gala of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Palace - Feast Nine
On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, the grand finale feast of the Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty palace appeared. On the evening of the 19th day of the first lunar month, the emperor held a banquet to entertain the princes and ministers, the vassal kings and foreign envoys who came to Beijing to worship. The recorded scene is very lively, with a variety of distinctive programs: Manchurian, Mongolian, Korean and other ethnic folk songs, wrestling, pole climbing and other acrobatic programs, and even Western swings, and finally fireworks.
5.At the beginning of the new year, 100 officials greeted the emperor
On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, the civil and military officials went to the Taihe Hall to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor. According to records, at the gate of the Taihe Palace, there are royal bands and Luan driving honor guards. At seven o'clock in the morning, the bell rang at noon, the band began to play, the emperor ascended the throne of the Taihe Palace, and the hundred officials were arranged in order to bow to the emperor.
In order, the order is: 1The eunuch read out the congratulatory table, and the hundred officials knelt three times and bowed nine times; 2.The emperor gave a seat and tea, and hundreds of officials kowtowed to thank him; 3.The band played again, the emperor went down to the Taihe Palace, and the hundred officials withdrew from the Taihe Hall in turn, and the worship was completed. In the end, the emperor began to send red envelopes to the children of the Eight Banners, palace maids, and eunuchs around him, which were called purses at that time, and there were gold Ruyi, silver Ruyi, jade Ruyi and silver money in the purse.
6.The Qing Dynasty emperors were also diligent in their official duties during the Chinese New Year - everyone worked overtime during the Spring Festival
According to the regulations, the emperor generally began to take a vacation on the 26th day of the lunar month, which was called "sealing the pen" and "sealing the seal" at that time, and on the 20th day of the first month, he began to go to work, which was called "opening the pen" and "opening the seal". Although there is such a ceremony, for the sake of national affairs, our Emperor His Majesty cannot relax during the Spring Festival.
For example, our two emperors, Kangxi and Yongzheng: Emperor Kangxi was in power until he died at the age of 14, except for big things, he had to work for state affairs every day. And our Yongzheng Emperor is even better.
Since Yongzhengye ascended the throne, in the 12 years he has been in power, he has never taken "annual leave", and he has reviewed a large number of folds every day. Even during the Spring Festival, he felt that there were few concerts sent from all over the country, and he also asked all the ** to submit a concert on national events to express their opinions, and it was stipulated: "You must not notify each other of visits, nor can you consult relatives and friends, and each person will have his own opinions."