How did the Ximen Qing family in The Words of the Golden Vase Plum celebrate the New Year

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-02-08

Different Golden Bottle Plum Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's "Words of the Golden Bottle Plum" as a representative of ancient China's world**, has a very faithful description of the political economy, social customs, human feelings and sophistication at that time, and can be called an encyclopedic literary masterpiece.

The time span of "Golden Bottle Plum Words" is very long, ** from Song Hui Zongzheng and four years Wu Song in Jingyanggang to fight the tiger wrote, all the way to the Song Qinzong Jingkang period Pujing Zen Master for filial piety brother shaved, Ju'an, the little Ximenqing inherited Ximenqing's family business. It took as many as 16 years.

However, in fact, the time that the author described in detail in ** is only about four years before and after, but it is enough to give us a glimpse of some of the activities of Ximenqing's family for the New Year and some customs at that time.

*The first time I wrote about the New Year, it was in the 15th episode of ** "Beautiful Woman Laughing and Enjoying Climbing the Building, Helping Prostitutes Lichun Courtyard". At the beginning of this time the author writes".It is said that time passes quickly, and it is as early as the fifteenth day of the first month.

Judging from the description in the book, when people in the middle and late Ming Dynasty celebrated the New Year, the most important days seemed to be not our current Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month.

At this time, Pan Jinlian, Wu Yueniang, and Meng Yulou, the wives and concubines of Ximen Qing, were all carefully dressed up, and at the invitation of Li Bei'er (at this time, Li Bei'er had not yet married into Ximenqing's family), dressed up and went to Li Bei'er's house, the most prosperous commercial street in Qinghe County at that time, Lion Street, to attend a banquet.

The author's light market is crowded and very lively. There are dozens of lamp stands on the street, and all kinds of small businesses below are busy, and the red men and green women all over the city are dressed up in red and willow green, and the voices of people everywhere are boiling, and the cars and horses are thundering. And with the theme of "How to see a good light market?" But see: "Such a question is a large paragraph of text to make an extravagant description of the lamp market:

The mountain stone wears the double dragon and plays in the water, and the clouds reflect the lone crane in the sky. The golden screen lamp and the jade building lamp are all beads; Lotus lanterns and hibiscus lamps are scattered around a thousand splendor. Hydrangea lamps, bright and clean, snowflake lamps, whisking. Show the talent lamp, let go of the stop, save the legacy of Confucius and Mencius; Daughter-in-law lamp, Rongde is gentle, and imitates Meng Jiang's temperament. The monk lamp, the moonlight and Liu Cui are connected, the judge lamp, Zhong Kui and the little sister sit side by side. ......A variety of lamps are not only unique in shape, but also timeless in meaning. It fully demonstrates the superb lantern making technology of the skilled craftsmen at that time.

In a blink of an eye, ** came to the 23rd episode of "Jade Xiao Watching the Wind and Racing the Moon Room Jin Lian Eavesdropping on the Tibetan Spring Dock", at the beginning of this time, the author confessed: ".Speaking of one day, the sun is gone, and the new festival is new. Early in the morning on the first day of the first lunar month, Ximenqing was busy going out to celebrate the festival (which is what we now call "New Year's greetings") and was not at home, and Wu Yueniang also went to her sister-in-law Wu Da Yanzi to pay New Year's greetings.

Meng Yulou and Pan Jinlian were playing chess in Li Bei'er's room, and suddenly Meng Yulou proposed to make some bets, Pan Jinlian hurriedly agreed, saying that we would bet five dollars of silver, and if we lost, we would use this money to let Laiwang's daughter-in-law burn a pig's head to drink and eat. The result is naturally that Li Bei'er lost, who made her a famous rich woman, everyone ate the pig's head, drank Jinhua wine, and feasted. and deliberately left a ** pig's head meat and a pot of Jinhua wine for Wu Yueniang.

* The 24th episode of "Economic Yuan Night Drama Jiaozi Huixiang Angry Woman Comes to Wang", came to this year's Lantern Festival, the author wrote: ".Speaking of one day, the Lantern Festival in the sky, the lights in the world”。On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Ximenqing's home was lit up with lights, and the whole family drank happily on this day. Ximen Qing and Wu Yueniang sat on the top, and the rest of Li Jiaoer, Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, Li Bei'er, Sun Xue'e, and Ximen's eldest sister were all sitting on both sides, all wearing splendid clothes.

The four "women's heavenly groups" of Chunmei, Yuxiao, Yingchun, and Lanxiang played and sang lantern lyrics on the side. In addition, a special seat was set up in the east for his son-in-law Chen Jingji to sit. After the reunion dinner, Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, Li Bei'er and others led a group of men and women in the family to go outside to "walk away from all kinds of diseases". Walking for all diseases was an important festival activity of the Lantern Festival at that time, which was specially designed for women.

According to Gao Shiqi's "Bamboo Branches in the Lantern Market" of the Ming Dynasty, it is recorded: "On the night of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the women of the Beijing division marched through the market, and the name was to walk the bridge and eliminate all kinds of diseases. "Lintong County Chronicles" also has a related record: "On the sixteenth night of the first month, women travel, which is called a hundred diseases. This shows the wide range of popularity of this custom.

The third year of "The Words of the Golden Vase Plum" was written several times in **, from the 39th "Ximen Qing Jade Emperor Temple Jiao Wu Yueniang listened to the nuns talk about the scriptures", and has been written to the 46th "Yuan Night Parade encounters rain and snow, wives and concubines laugh at the turtle hexagram". The climax of the year is the Lantern Festival of the year.

On this day, Ximen Qing and his fox friends and friends Ying Earl and Xie Xida and others came to the old house of Li Bei'er on Lion Street, drank wine and enjoyed the lanterns, and in order to add to the fun, they also specially called Dong Jiaoer and Han Yuchuan'er, two fans, from the brothel, to come to the banquet to play and sing the words of spring scenery. Ximenqing also arranged for his own little maid Jue'an, and secretly took his concubine Wang Liu'er in a sedan chair, and he also had an important program tonight, that is, he was going to meet with Wang Liu'er here and go to Wushan Yunyu together.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Wu Yueniang, Li Jiaoer, Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, and Li Bei'er and their wives and concubines all went to Wu Dafei's house in a sedan chair to attend the banquet. During the banquet, Wu Da Yanzi also specially invited a singing Sister Yu to play and sing in front of the banquet. When everyone was eating and drinking, it suddenly snowed outside, and everyone was worried about the thin clothes they were wearing, so Wu Yueniang ordered a small servant to go home and bring a leather jacket to protect everyone from the cold.

Wu Yueniang and her entourage drank wine from Wu Dafeizi's house, and at the moment Wu Yueniang, Meng Yulou and Li Bei'er were all mink skin jackets, Pan Jinlian was a little shabby, and she didn't have her own leather jacket at all, or Wu Yueniang asked people to take an old leather jacket from home that someone else was for her to wear.

Everyone said goodbye to Wu Da Yanzi, Wu Da Yan Zi and Wu Erfei had to come out to see each other, because it was snowing outside, and they were persuaded to go back by Yueniang. Wu Eryanzi brought a big umbrella, which was played by the little piano boy, and the two platoons opened the way in front with lanterns, and this group of men and women braved the rain and snow to go all kinds of illnesses and return home.

The last year that Ximen Qing spent in the book was in the 78th episode of "The Words of the Golden Bottle Plum", "Ximen Qing fought two battles, Mrs. Lin Wu Yueniang played with the lantern and invited the Lan family". The author Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng used a lot of pen and ink to describe the last year of Ximen's celebration. β€œLook at the day of the year, the window plum moon, the eaves snow rolling wind, the bamboo burst thousands of doors, the lights burn thousands of households, every family sticks spring victory, and the peach charm is hung everywhere.

The author Lan Ling Xiaoxiao also wrote about this Chinese New Year's Eve dinner on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve. This is unprecedented in the book. This Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was eaten in the back hall of the home, and the whole family gathered together. As usual, Ximen Qing and Wu Yueniang sat on the top, and Li Jiaoer, Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, Sun Xue'e, Ximen's eldest sister and son-in-law Chen Jingye all stepped forward to toast the two of them and sat on both sides.

After that, it was Chunmei, Yingchun, Yuxiao, Lanxiang, and Ruyi'er, the five maids who came forward to kowtow. Then, Xiaoyu, Xiuchun, Xiaoluan'er, Lantern Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Qiuju came up and kowtowed. Then followed by Laizhao's wife Yizhang Qinghuiqing, Laibao's wife Huixiang, Laixing's wife Huixiu, and Laijue's wife Huiyuan, these four family daughters-in-law stepped forward to kowtow. Then there are Wang Jing, Chunhong, Ju'an, Ping'an, Lai'an, chess boy, piano boy, painting boy, Laizhao son iron rod, Laibao son Seng Baoer, Laixing girl Nian Nian to kowtow.

According to this, according to the different identities and status, everyone stepped forward to kowtow to Ximenqing and Wu Yueniang, naturally the New Year's Day, this head will definitely not be kowtowed in vain, Ximenqing and Wu Yueniang have handkerchiefs, sweat towels, silver coins and the like as rewards, this nature is probably similar to the New Year's red envelopes issued by our current boss.

The next day was the first month of the new year and the first year of Chonghe, Ximen Qing got up early, wore a red crown, burned incense on the heaven and earth, burned paper, and rode a horse to his boss to celebrate the festival. Ximen Qing went to congratulate his boss, and those who came to Ximen Qing to congratulate the festival were also in an endless stream on this day, and their son-in-law Chen Jingye was responsible for hospitality at the guest seat in front of him.

Wu Yueniang and these people at home are not idle, in the hall at the back, a brocade feast table is set up, a total of ten tables are placed, each table is a plate of fruits, bottles of golden flowers, used to entertain relatives and friends and scholars. The most important activity in Ximenqing's family this year was that on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, in the name of Wu Yueniang, he set up a banquet at home, and invited Ximenqing's colleague to invite the newly appointed Qinghe County Deputy Qianhu He Qianhu's wife, Lan.

In the book, it is explained that Ximenqing has coveted this "born lamp man also like a character" He Qianhu lady for a long time, and on this day Ximenqing quietly hid behind the curtain of the west wing room to take a peek carefully. The author Lan Ling smiled and explained Ximen Qing's strong reaction at first sight: ".This Ximen Qing is gone, as soon as he sees his soul flying out of the sky, he is lost in the nine heavens, he has never had a physical relationship, and his spirit is lost first.

After a while, Wu Yueniang welcomed He Qianhu into the back hall, and the meeting ceremony was over, and Ximen Qing was invited to come out to meet him. Ximenqing hurriedly dressed neatly and greeted He Qianhu's lady, and couldn't help but shake his eyes and couldn't help himself. On this day, Ximenqing was drinking at home at night as usual with Earl Ying, Xie Xida, Chang Shijie and other fox friends and dogs, before it was time to get up, Ximenqing was sitting on the table, and suddenly snored loudly, even Earl Ying felt very strange when he saw it, and asked: "Brother, you are not happy today, why are you only dozing off?" ”

Ximenqing also found steps for himself, saying that he didn't sleep well last night, "Somehow, I just don't have energy today and want to doze off." "Who knows, Ximenqing's death date has arrived, and he can't live the next chapter. In the words of the author Lan Ling Xiaoxiaosheng, "Ximen Qing knows how to compete for fame and fortune, indulges in extravagance, who doesn't know the evil of heaven, ghosts come to chase, and death is imminent."

In the next episode of "The Words of the Golden Bottle Plum", the 79th episode of "Ximen Qing was greedy and sick and Wu Yueniang gave birth to a child in the tomb", Ximen Qing, who was addicted to wine all day long, finally died at the fifth watch on the 21st day of the first month. I didn't even live in the first month of the year. Tang poems have clouds: the flowers are similar every year, and the people are different every year. That's a good point!

Part of this article** comes from the Internet, and the infringement must be deleted.

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