Today, the land of China is immersed in the strong atmosphere of the Lunar New Year, which is the night of the end of the year and Chinese New Year's Eve, when thousands of homes are lit up and the whole world celebrates this grand festival.
At this moment, you may be shuttling through the bustling streets and alleys, gathering with family and friends; It is also possible to swim in the ocean of information, immerse yourself in the world of the palm of your hand or the light and shadow of the screen......
However, in the fast-paced modern society, the celebration of the Spring Festival seems to be a little simple, which makes people nostalgic for the traditional and rich flavor of the New Year. When we travel through the time and space tunnel and look into the depths of history, we will find that the Spring Festival life of ancient literati and doctors is far more lively and unique than people can imagine.
Think of Confucius, the most holy teacher of a generation, because of a piece of delicacies and triggered the ambition and pride of traveling around the world; Looking at Qu Yuan again, behind the image of this romantic poet is actually an eclectic life artist who loves fancy clothes; There is also Du Fu, the poet who worries about the country and the people, and can temporarily put down the burden in his heart during the Spring Festival, enjoy the fun of rolling dice and playing cards, and enjoy it.
Different cultural celebrities and different Spring Festival celebration ceremonies all demonstrate the ancients' love for life and adherence to tradition. Let's follow the pace of history, explore how those literary giants spent their Spring Festival time, and feel the folk customs and humanistic charm that have passed through the millennium.
We all know Confucius as a brilliant thinker and educator, but what is less well known is that he was also a culinary artist with a unique insight and love for food.
Confucius once left a famous saying that has been passed down through the ages and shows his food philosophy: "Food is not tired of being fine, and fish is not tired of being delicate." This undoubtedly reveals his spirit of pursuing the ultimate in food.
Confucius was even more fond of meat delicacies, and it was rumored that if a student brought dried meat to study, he could easily win his favor and be accepted as a disciple. In the chapter "The Township Party", Confucius showed his profound understanding of the way of cooking, and wrote a theoretical book on the consumption of meat.
Whenever the Chinese New Year approached, for Confucius, an indispensable part of the celebration was to taste the sumptuous festive meat. During the Spring Festival of the State of Lu in a certain year (from the first day of the first month to the tenth day of the first month), according to the ancient etiquette system, the king of Lu would give the sacrificial gizzard meat to the dignitaries and doctors in the court.
However, after that spring sacrifice, Confucius was looking forward to it, but he never waited for the sacrificial meat that King Lu should give him. This faux pas was like a heavy blow, which made Confucius angry. So, he resolutely decided to leave the country of Lu and embark on a journey to defend the country, and thus opened the prelude to traveling around the world.
It turned out that this famous incident of "Confucius traveling around the world" in history actually originated from a piece of unrewarded sacrificial meat, which made people feel very emotional.
In textbooks, Qu Yuan is revered as the first patriotic poet in the history of our country, but what is less known is that he was also a fashion pioneer with a penchant for fancy clothes. In the poem "Nine Chapters of the River", Qu Yuan once confessed to himself: "Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by the beauty of unique clothing, and even if it is twilight, this love is still the same. ”
At that time, in the Chu State, aristocratic men generally wore high crowns and wide robes, while Qu Yuan's dress style was unique and unique. The ministers all wore official hats, and the ornaments worn by Qu Yuan were more slender and elegant, like a dance in the wind; His clothes are colourful and fragrant, and each fold seems to flow with poetry and personality.
Not only that, Qu Yuan is not only keen on wearing gorgeous clothes, but also devotes himself to clothing design. In "Jun in the Clouds", he depicts the scene of bathing in orchid soup, soaking in fragrance, and then wearing the gorgeous and colorful splendid costumes like flowers; In "The Great Division", the poem "The spirit clothes are quilted, and the jade pendant is separated" vividly shows his smart and colorful and jade pendant glittering clothing style.
Thinking back to the Spring Festival in Chudi, sacrificing to the gods and remembering ancestors is an important custom activity. During this grand festival, Qu Yuan will wear elaborate costumes and attend the festival in full costume to pay tribute to his ancestors. It turns out that the first fashion-setting figure in history was not born in Europe or the Western world, but was active in the brilliant galaxy of Eastern civilization more than 2,000 years ago.
In 746 AD, this period was particularly busy and uncertain for Du Fu. At that time, he had just been fortunate to meet the poetry giant Li Bai in the land of Qilu, and then received a special order from the emperor and went to Chang'an to participate in the imperial examination non-stop.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Du Fu lived in a hostel in Xianyang City, which was supposed to be a time for family reunion and festive time together, but he could only face a lonely candle, keeping the New Year alone, and his heart inevitably swelled with a wave of loneliness and loneliness.
However, the poet did not indulge in sorrow, but chose to take the initiative to break this loneliness, and went out to invite fellow Chinese who were also stranded in the hotel and could not return home for the New Year, and played Bosai - a popular board game at the time, in which the dice were rolled to decide the winner. Everyone stepped on the stool and threw the dice, waved their sleeves excitedly, the noise came and went, and the atmosphere was warm and extraordinary, which undoubtedly added a rare and unrestrained happy time to Du Fu.
In order to comfort his image as a literati who may have been damaged by this move, Du Fu ridiculed himself in the poem "Tonight's Journey": "Jun Mo laughs, although Liu Yi was a cloth cloth and his life was extremely difficult, he dared to bet on the game with millions of funds, and in the end he was still able to achieve a generation of famous people." In comparison, why should I care if I win or lose in this little tournament today? It turned out that in terms of finding excuses to laugh at himself, Du Fu also showed an affinity and sense of humor that was no different from ordinary people.
Compared with other literati and ink writers, Su Shi can be called a cross-border wizard.
He is not only accomplished in the field of poetry and singing, but also has an extraordinary talent in the culinary arts.
Time flows to the Spring Festival of the Northern Song Dynasty, the city is brilliantly lit, and the grand scene of lanterns arrives as scheduled every year. At this moment, citizens poured into the streets, intoxicated by the colorful lantern display. In order to attract the endless stream of people, the shops have their own tricks and compete to hang out far-reaching lantern riddles for visitors to guess, and those who guess correctly will win an exquisite lantern as a reward.
During the Spring Festival of this year, in the city of Changzhou, Su Dongpo and his best friend Qian Jimin strolled among the bright lights, immersed in this prosperous and peaceful festival atmosphere. In the meantime, Qian Jimin discovered a fascinating lantern riddle: "Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law wear heavy filial piety together, and play a common phrase for a day." ”
When Su Dongpo heard this, he smiled slightly, and he just picked up a lantern and wanted to leave, and said indifferently: "There has been no work." As soon as these words came out, the crowd of onlookers suddenly realized that "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law wear heavy filial piety" corresponded to the ingenious answer of "no worker (father-in-law)".
Sure enough, no matter when and where, Su Dongpo is always the elegant person who develops wisdom and talent at the same time, and takes advantage of poetry and wine!
Quite different from other literati and artists, the unique creativity displayed by the drama master Kwan Hanqing during the Spring Festival is unique. On the occasion of the festive season, Guan Lao's celebration method is unique, he chooses a very folk and challenging stilt walking activity, and increases its height year by year, implying the step by step ascent of life and art.
Whenever the Spring Festival comes, Guan Hanqing will step on stilts with a steady and persistent pace under the attention of his family, and this stop is an hour long. The family members all held their breath and stared for each of his ups and downs, for fear that this innovative old man would stumble and fall if he was not careful.
However, in the face of the worries of relatives and friends, Guan Hanqing took it calmly and happily adhered to this unique New Year's ritual. "The Biography of Guan Hanqing" records such a vivid scene: during the Spring Festival of Guan Lao's 70th birthday, he still insisted on performing on stilts, and his figure was as vigorous as before, and he did not decline at all.
With his perseverance and unique sense of New Year's rituals, this old man has deeply admired and admired the younger generation today. Guan Hanqing's New Year's story not only highlights the charm of traditional culture, but also conveys a positive attitude towards life and bravely climbing the peak.
Tang Xianzu, known as the "Oriental Shakespeare", is famous for his masterpiece "The Peony Pavilion", not only an outstanding playwright, but also showed profound humanistic care and a unique way of being an official in Suichang County. With a wisdom and courage that transcends the conventional, he interprets the blend of official morality and human affection.
During the Spring Festival of that year, Tang Xianzu made a shocking decision - he ordered the prison door to be opened, so that the prisoners could be temporarily freed and return to their families to celebrate the New Year, and agreed to return to the prison on the fourth day of the first lunar month to continue serving their sentences. This caused quite a stir at the time, and even his wife sweated for him, worrying about whether the prisoners would return as scheduled.
However, Tang Xianzu responded confidently: "I have reviewed all the cases one by one, and I know very well that these prisoners were originally good people, some of them were in trouble because they were oppressed by heavy taxes, and some were forced to steal because of hunger and cold. Although the law does not tolerate crime, the human truth contained in it deserves sympathy and understanding. Each of them has a family that they care about, and the grace of reuniting them for a short time will surely awaken their conscience and prompt them to mend their ways. ”
On the occasion of the Lantern Festival, Tang Xianzu issued another unexpected order: the prisoners in the prison were required to bathe and change clothes, dress up decently and neatly, and go to the river bridge to watch the lanterns under the leadership of the prison officer. You must know that the river bridge has always been a place for dignitaries to enjoy the lanterns, but now it is open to prisoners, so that they can experience the joy of the festival with the ordinary people in the light, which is undoubtedly a miracle that they can never dream of. Each prisoner was moved to tears and deeply touched.
Under the inspiration of this compassionate Ming Dynasty, all the prisoners consciously returned to the prison on time, and none of them escaped. Tang Xianzu's series of measures can be praised as "benevolence in the Ming Dynasty", and his name is deeply engraved in the memory of history.
Cao Xueqin, a literary giant from a prominent family, whose family was once wealthy, delicately and vividly woven the prosperous Spring Festival scene of his childhood into the immortal masterpiece "Dream of Red Mansions". In the 53rd chapter, Cao Gong sketches a magnificent picture of the New Year with his outstanding brushstrokes, which can be regarded as a classic reproduction of traditional festival customs in the history of literature.
In this masterpiece, the New Year's Festival celebration in the Grand View Garden has kicked off since the 29th of the lunar month. Inside and outside Jiafu, from the courtyard to the hall, all carry out meticulous cleaning and decoration, replacing the door gods, hanging couplets, updating plaques, and painting brand new peach charms, a lively scene of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
On Chinese New Year's Eve, the Venerable Jia Mu led the children of the family who held the title to follow the royal etiquette into the palace to congratulate the Son of Heaven, and after returning home, she sincerely worshipped the ancestral hall. Subsequently, the government began to distribute auspicious New Year's money, exquisite purses, gold and silver bills, and set up a "Hehuan Banquet" to symbolize reunion and happiness.
On Chinese New Year's Eve, the Grand View Garden is brightly lit and lively. The incense smoke in front of the Buddha hall and the stove is everywhere, and the offerings are abundant; In the courtyard of Mrs. Wang's main house, there is a solemn paper horse incense case of heaven and earth, and above the majestic main entrance of the Grand View Garden, there are bright bright corner lights, and two rows of shining lanterns, together with the street lamps dotted around, together light up this bright night.
The upper and lower people in the house, both masters and servants, were all dressed in gorgeous costumes and dressed like splendid flowers blooming in clusters. On this night, the voices of people are boiling, the laughter is noisy, and the sound of firecrackers comes and goes, in an endless stream, showing the extraordinary style and unique charm of the New Year of large households.
On the third day of the first lunar month in 1947, Zhang Ailing took a train full of joy to find Hu Lancheng. However, what awaits her is not the warm hospitality of her sweetheart, but a rejection like a basin of cold water.
Hu Lancheng asked coldly, "Who asked you to come?" Hearing this, Zhang Ailing's intuition as a woman told her that this man had changed his mind.
In June of the same year, Zhang Ailing wrote a popular farewell letter to Hu Lancheng:
I don't like you anymore, and you've long since lost interest in me. This decision is the result of a year and a half of reflection. Given the fact that he was in danger at the time, I don't want to bother you. Please don't come to me, and even if you write to me, I won't read it again. ”
In addition, she also left 300,000 yuan, and the two parted ways since then. This is perhaps the most expensive breakup in the history of literature.
Mr. Lu Xun, who is keen on pen and hard work, vividly and detailed his diary recorded the three indispensable pleasures of his New Year: collecting classics, setting off firecrackers, and exchanging New Year greetings between relatives and friends.
Treasure hunting in a sea of books:
At the end of 1913, Mr. Lu Xun visited the book market four times and returned with a full load, purchasing a total of 66 volumes of various classics, showing his ardent pursuit of knowledge.
On the second day of the first lunar month in 1915, he carefully purchased a rubbish of "The First Diagram of the Shuowen System", which included the ancient art of Chinese characters; On Chinese New Year's Eve in 1925, he leisurely walked into the Liuli Factory and selected a lithographic edition of "Selected Tang Poems of Wang Jinggong Hundred Families", which sprinkled six volumes, adding a poetic and bookish fragrance to the New Year.
A moment of celebration in the midst of fireworks:
On the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve in 1920, Lu Xun followed the traditional custom of paying tribute to the ancestors, feasting his family, and blooming fireworks in the night sky to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, recording the warm picture of "worshipping ancestors in the evening, adding vegetables and drinking, and setting off flower cannons". Fast forward to the Spring Festival of 1934, when three consecutive nights of splendid fireworks not only lit up the festive atmosphere of their own home, but even attracted the attention of their foreign neighbors next door. On Chinese New Year's Eve the following year, he revealed in a letter to a friend: "A batch of fireworks has been purchased, and tomorrow night we will let them bloom in the night sky." ”
New Year's greeting etiquette and human warmth:
In his essay "New Year", Lu Xun affectionately depicts traditional New Year's rituals: settling accounts, sacrificing to gods and ancestors, setting off firecrackers, playing cards and entertainment, visiting relatives and friends to exchange blessings - behind the sentence "Wishing you prosperity", there is always accompanied by auspicious red envelopes. The New Year's ceremony he wrote is simple and unpretentious, real, full of sincerity and enthusiasm of life. Now, if you can share the New Year's story of this Brother Xun in the circle of friends, it may also arouse resonance and attract the heart-to-heart red envelope gift between friends, continuing this traditional and cordial New Year blessing
How do you welcome the New Year with a unique sense of ritual this year? Readers in the background shared their stories:
Some people choose to spend the Spring Festival alone in the city because of their perseverance in work, quiet and tenacious;
Someone finds a lover in the new year, and the world of the two is full of warmth, weaving beautiful memories of the festival together;
Some people are not afraid of long distances, crossing thousands of mountains and rivers, just to go to that family reunion banquet that haunts their dreams.
The Spring Festival, on the spiritual map of all Chinese, undoubtedly occupies an irreplaceable core position. At this moment, no matter the ends of the earth, the wanderers will embark on the journey home without hesitation; The elderly who stayed at home were busy between the stoves, cooking a table full of home with great anticipation. The inner driving force of this unique migration tide that belongs to us is that deep and fiery love.
We are united by love, and we are separated by love, and generation after generation of Chinese have grown up under the infiltration of this love, and their hearts have become warm and strong, and they have accumulated greater strength.
The Spring Festival is a symbol of hope and rebirth. No matter what kind of ups and downs you have experienced in the past year, the new year will be a new starting point and a new beginning. The past has become a prologue, and every page of the future is full of infinite possibilities.
Here, I would like to extend my sincere New Year wishes to every dear reader! I wish you all great achievements in the Year of the Dragon, and your career will be as energetic and prosperous as a dragon horse; Family life is auspicious, harmonious and happy; The body is healthy like a dragon leaping and the tiger is full of vitality; The journey of life is like a dragon traveling all over the world, broad and open!