Chao news client Yang Xiaojie.
During the Song Dynasty, the economy was prosperous, and compared with the Sui, Tang and Yuan dynasties, the material and spiritual lives of the people of the Song Dynasty were more colorful, which made the Song Dynasty a dynasty with a high happiness index for the common people in history. Many of the traditional customs we follow today during the Spring Festival actually originated in the Song Dynasty, which is further proof of the profound influence of the Song Dynasty on Chinese culture.
In the Song Dynasty, people celebrated New Year's Day, which is what we now call the Spring Festival. Wu Zimu mentioned in "Menglianglu": "The first lunar New Day is called New Year's Day, and it is commonly known as the New Year. The first year of the year, this is the first of these. "It was not until the ** period that China began to adopt the solar calendar, and the first day of the first month was renamed the Spring Festival.
As the time sequence entered the wax moon, the flavor of the Song Dynasty became stronger and stronger. Every household began to prepare for the New Year, and the market was bustling and lively. Meng Yuanlao described the scene at that time in "Tokyo Menghualu": "Sell all the Buddha flowers, leeks, lettuce, orchid sprouts (seasonal vegetables), Bohe (mint), walnuts (walnuts), and Zezhou (starch sugar). "This is just a part of the New Year's goods, which shows how colorful the New Year's goods market was at that time.
And what are the customs of the Spring Festival in the Song Dynasty? According to the Song Dynasty Sun Weixin's "Water Dragon Yin Chinese New Year's Eve", "The child taught to write peach charms, and the Taoist returned the perennial routine. Under the stove in front of the gods, purify and purify, offer flowers and drink water. Pray a little, but it is not, seeking fame and fortune. But the poetry and writing, the score is above, slightly more refined, and it is sufficient. Drink more than you can get drunk. Good season, every scene. Drive firecrackers, soft crispy beans, and don't sleep all night. Therefore, we can summarize the following six Spring Festival customs:
1) Hang the peach charm.
In the Song Dynasty, it was a traditional custom to hang peach charms, and people would draw two gods on two wooden boards to ward off evil spirits, and then hang them at the door to suppress evil things. And why use peach wood to draw symbols, this comes from the ancient people believed that peach has the effect of warding off evil spirits, the pre-Qin era peach (1 treatise) is a peach wood handle broom, with the magical power of driving away ghosts and evil spirits. During the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's poem "Except for the Sun" recorded the scene of people changing peach charms on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve during the Song Dynasty: "In the sound of firecrackers, the year old is removed, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu." Thousands of households always replace the new peach with the old one. In addition, Chen Yuanliang's "Guangji of the Year" has a detailed record of the production method and use of peach talismans: "The system of peach talismans is long with thin wooden boards.
Two, three feet, big.
Four or five inches, the upper painting of the gods is like the genus of the gods and Bai Ze, and the left Yulei and the right gods are written in the next book, or the spring words are written, or the words of the book are prayed, and the New Year's Day is even more. It can be seen that the Song Dynasty hanging peach charm is an important activity during the Spring Festival, it not only has the effect of driving away evil spirits and avoiding evil, but also entrusts people's yearning and prayer for a better life.
Later generations often use "peach charm" to refer to "door god" and "waving spring". According to the record of Yuan Kun's "Maple Window Notes", before Jingkang, the image of the door god was mostly dressed as a samurai, wearing a tiger helmet, and the door of the princes and nobles would be decorated with gold. However, by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the image of the door god had changed. Zhong Kui's position as the door god was replaced by portraits of Qin Qiong and Wei Chi Jingde. Over time, the image of the door god evolved into the version we are familiar with today. Nowadays, every household still posts a door god at the door, which means to ward off evil spirits and protect the safety of the house.
2) Clean the shrine and kitchen stove.
In the Song Dynasty, the shrine on the stove was dedicated to the god of the stove king. On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, the people will carry out the custom of scrubbing the shrine to show respect for the king and ancestors of the stove. With the passage of time, now the 23rd or 24th day of the lunar month is to send the god of the stove to heaven, on this day according to the custom of my hometown (Jiaxing, Zhejiang) will burn pumpkin glutinous rice, and three incense sticks on the incense burner of the shrine. And the 24th or 25th of the lunar month is the dust cloth new. On the new day of the dust cloth, people will carry out a big cleaning and clean every corner of the house, which means removing the old bad things and opening a new chapter for the new year. This custom not only expresses people's expectations for a new life and a beautiful vision for the future, but also expresses their blessings and wishes for the safety and success of their families.
3) Worship ancestors.
In the ritual of ancestor worship in the Song Dynasty, two important customs were "placing spring plates" and "fighting citrus". Fresh vegetables are placed on the plate and incense sticks topped with paper flowers are inserted to show respect and nostalgia for the ancestors. The citrus bucket is to build the citrus into a small pyramid, which means auspicious wishes, hoping that the ancestral gods will bless future generations to prosper. This custom of worshipping ancestors has been preserved to this day and has become one of the traditional customs of the Han people. On Chinese New Year's Eve, people will perform ancestor worship activities, not only from the ancient ancestor worship tradition, but also from the traditional concepts of "filial piety first" and "cautious pursuit of the future", expressing filial piety and nostalgia for ancestors. At the same time, it is also believed that ancestral gods can bless future generations and allow them to prosper. In my hometown (Jiaxing, Zhejiang), the former spring plate has evolved into the custom of "giving spring plates", for example, we often put some pastries, especially the spring rolls fried by our own family.
4) Firecrackers to drive away.
Firecrackers drive the nu is talking about two things, one is to set off firecrackers, and the other is to drive the poultice. Speaking of firecrackers, Chinese folk have the saying of "opening the door and firecrackers", that is, when the new year comes, the first thing every household opens the door is to set off firecrackers, and say goodbye to the old and welcome the new with the sound of splitting firecrackers. In "Water Margin", we were able to get a glimpse of the lively scene of the Spring Festival in the Song Dynasty. The book even describes a master of artillery - Ling Zhen, whose skills can be described as superb, Hu Yanzhuo praised him for "being good at making artillery, being able to go to fourteen or fifteen miles away, where the stone cannon falls, the sky collapses, and the mountains fall and the stones crack." This is enough to show that the firecracker making technology of the Song Dynasty has been quite mature.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve in the Song Dynasty, the sound of firecrackers came and went, and it was continuous all night. Meng Yuanlao described in "Tokyo Menghualu": "It's night, the firecrackers are forbidden to shout, and the sound is heard outside. "In the palace, the high walls and deep courtyards, the sound of firecrackers resounded in the sky, and even the streets and alleys outside the palace could clearly hear this lively sound. It is said that there are many varieties of firecrackers in the Song Dynasty, no less than 100 kinds, including single rings, double rings, continuous rings and so on. Among them, the two-kick firecracker that exploded only when it flew into the sky was the prototype of Ling Zhen's artillery.
This ancient and mysterious ritual originated in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and its purpose was to expel the plague ghosts and bless people's health and safety. During the ceremony, people will perform special costumes and makeup, hold masks and ritual instruments, and perform special dances to expel the plague ghosts from the village, which is recorded in the "Tokyo Menghualu": "The drumming and flute are driven away, and the thin ghosts are dyed with white faces." "At that time, people used exaggerated makeup and scary costumes to expel the plague ghosts. With the passage of time, this ritual is now almost impossible to see again, but nevertheless, the cultural value and historical significance it carries are worth remembering.
5) Eat night fruits.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, the term "night fruit" was first mentioned and frequently appeared in the poet's poetic works. For example, Xue Yong wrote in "The Qingyu Case: Keeping the Year": "A plate of Jiangnan fruit that eliminates the night. Eat fruit and read books and only sit clearly. Sin plum blossom cooked me. A year of heart, half a life in prison, all to tonight. According to the records of Zhou Mi's "Wulin Old Things", the night fruits at that time included all kinds of exquisite seasonal fruits, candied fruits, sugar-fried foods and various snacks on the market, such as Shiban sugar, fine sand dumplings, jujube cakes, etc. In fact, in many historical paintings, there are scenes of eating night fruits during the Song Dynasty, such as Zhao Ji of Song Huizong and Zhao Ji of the Song Dynasty and a picture of the Spring Banquet of Eighteen Scholars in the Southern Song Dynasty. Today, we still retain this tradition, such as eating all kinds of candied fruits, candies, dates, and winter melon candy during the New Year, all of which are changed from this custom.
6) Keep the year. During the Spring Festival of the eighth year of Song Renzongjia, Su Dongpo was a magistrate in Shaanxi, and could not return to his hometown to reunite with his father. There is a small preface before the poem: "The New Year's Eve is a year of contact and a gift, for the New Year; Wine and food are invited, calling for another year; Until the New Year's Eve, Dadan does not sleep, for the New Year. According to Su Dongpo's meaning, the Song Dynasty had the style of giving the New Year, saying goodbye to the New Year, and keeping the New Year. The so-called New Year's gift is a New Year's gift between relatives and neighbors; The so-called farewell year refers to relatives and friends inviting each other to a banquet; The so-called keeping of the year refers to not sleeping all night on Chinese New Year's Eve. In most parts of the Song Dynasty, the rule of Chinese New Year's Eve was that children were on duty at night while adults rested. "Tokyo Menghualu" has this record of "keeping the year": "It is the call of Baozhu Mountain in the night ban, and the sound is heard outside. Shishu home, sitting around the hearth, up to the dan sleepless, called the year. Therefore, there has been a folk proverb in the Song Dynasty: "Guarding the winter lord lives long, and guarding the old mother lives long." As a result, children often stay up all night without sleeping to keep a good eye for their mothers.
During the Spring Festival, the people of the Song Dynasty also held a series of celebrations, such as dragon and lion dances, flower lanterns, and so on. These events not only showcase the charm of folk art and culture, but also bring joy and auspiciousness to the people. In addition, they will also hold cultural activities such as poetry and songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, etc., to cultivate sentiment and enlighten wisdom, and these activities enrich people's spiritual world. The people of the Song Dynasty would also enjoy a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve meal and various delicacies such as dumplings, rice cakes, candies, etc., which symbolized reunion, auspiciousness and happiness.
Overall, the Spring Festival of the Song Dynasty was a festival full of joy, auspiciousness and culture. Through a series of celebrations and food, people pray for peace, smoothness and happiness in the new year. At the same time, these activities have also left a valuable historical and cultural heritage for future generations.
Part ** according to Visual China).
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