How did the ancients spend their spring in beginning of spring? In fact, they are very busy.

On February 4th, people will welcome beginning of spring on 20 18. For a long time, the arrival of beginning of spring has been regarded as the beginning of spring. Farmers and friends start farming in the new year, and people in cities return to their daily work and life after the Spring Festival. So how did the ancients spend spring? In fact, after ancient beginning of spring, people's activities were still very colorful, so let the old calendar introduce it to you.

eat and drink

As the saying goes, "There are flowers in spring, leaves in summer, fruits in autumn and roots in winter." The ancients especially loved "eating flowers" in spring. According to "The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties", Wu Zetian went to the garden to enjoy flowers on February 15th of the lunar calendar every year, so that the ladies-in-waiting could pick flowers, mash them with glutinous rice and steam them, named them "Baihua Cake" and gave them to civil and military officials for tasting.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was very common to pick flowers to make flower cakes in spring. Legend has it that Fang's wife personally carries a flower basket to pick flowers in the field every spring and makes jujube cakes when she gets home. Fang often waits until his wife has almost finished eating before taking a few bites. Therefore, Fang has a reputation for being afraid of his wife.

In spring, the ancients also liked to make porridge and cauliflower. In Song Dynasty, Lin Hong recorded in "Shanjia Qing Palace": "Wash the plum petals and boil them with snow water; Rice porridge is cooked before cooking. " In the Ming Dynasty, Wang wrote in "Qunfangpu": "Magnolia is really fragrant. Washing petals, mopping noodles and frying with sesame oil are the best. "

Ancient literati loved to soak "scented tea" in spring. In Qing Dynasty, Tsui Hark recorded in Notes and Diet of Qing Dynasty: "Plum blossoms order tea. When the plum blossoms are in bloom, pick the half-opened flowers and put them in a bottle with pedicels. Sprinkle one or two pieces of fried salt every time, and don't touch them with your hands. They must be sealed with thick paper and kept in the shade. When you take it the next year, first put the honey under the lamp, then take two or three teas and soak them in boiling water. The flower heads are self-opening, and the fragrance is fragrant. "

please oneself

In spring, the favorite activity of ancient literary youth is to invite one or two confidants to travel together, enjoy flowers, see mountains and find willows.

But in ancient times, unlike now, there were restaurants and farmhouses everywhere, so when the ancients had a spring outing, the biggest trouble was to solve the problem of eating and drinking. Six Chapters of a Floating Life records such a thing:

Scholars are very proud, and it is not only troublesome but also fashionable to go out to enjoy flowers with pots and pans. How can we solve the problem of eating when we go out to play? Scholars in Suzhou came up with an idea. They invited a wonton seller to follow them for a spring outing. This kind of flower viewing with a dining table and cooking utensils not only solves the problems in life, but also has the fun of picnicking.

Find a partner

Spring and love are always inextricably linked. After a winter's dormancy, everything grows in spring, life breaks out, and people's mood seems to become clear and happy.

There is a record in Zhou Li: "Mid-spring Moon will bring men and women together." In order to facilitate the emotional communication between men and women, a fixed spring outing festival was set up in ancient times-"Shangsi Festival" on March 3rd. On this day, all the emperors, governors and ordinary people stopped working, put on new clothes, bathed and worshipped their ancestors, then went for an outing and played together, and single men and women met by the river.

A large number of love stories recorded in The Book of Songs are all produced in outings. Among them, there is a poem named "Out of its East Gate" in Guofeng Zheng Feng, and the first sentence is "Out of its East Gate, there are women like clouds". It means that out of the east gate of the city, the eyes are full of beautifully dressed outing women.

The poems in "Zheng Feng" mostly reflect the custom of making friends with Zheng centering on Zhengzhou today. Zheng people like spring outing, and many men take this opportunity to find their "true love" every spring.

"Qin Cong" describes that Zheng was "full of money" by the Qin River and the Surabaya River. Zheng men and women who came for an outing can be seen everywhere, and the battle is comparable to the blind date meeting held in various cities today.

In the process of outing together, the two met, two of a kind, and finally gave each other tokens for life, which was probably the earliest free love in China.

labour

Spring is not just eating, drinking, falling in love, but more importantly, busy with spring ploughing. China has been a big farming country since ancient times, and people practice "planting in spring, harvesting in summer sowing, harvesting in autumn and storing in winter" according to the seasons. Usually, the beginning of spring means the beginning of agriculture every year.

Every spring, the emperor and local officials will "persuade agriculture" to the people through a series of "Spring Festival" etiquette, and the people also pray for a good year with good weather, abundant crops and all the best.

Ancient emperors also had the tradition of "pro-agriculture". It is well documented that the first emperor personally cultivated in the history of China was Emperor Wendi. At the beginning of Emperor Wendi's accession to the throne, Jia Yi went to "save and save", saying that it was "the greatest birthday in the world" and suggested that the emperor "work hard to persuade people". Emperor Wen of Han listened to the advice and repeatedly "cultivated himself to lead the people of the world".

Since then, this practice has been used by emperors of all dynasties, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. On February 2nd every year, the emperor goes to the Xiannongtan to offer sacrifices to farmers. During the Kangxi period, "farming" was fixed as law. Since then, a ceremony of "ploughing the fields" has been held every spring, and the emperor personally led three ministers and ministers to plough the fields.