How did the Qing emperor spend the Spring Festival?

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for Han people in a year. In the Qing dynasty, although the ruling class was Manchu in history, it also celebrated the Spring Festival of the Han people, and it was necessary to prepare carefully before the festival and the ceremony was very complicated. Next, let Lao Huangli introduce to you how the Qing emperor spent the Spring Festival.

Most emperors in the Qing dynasty liked cold and were afraid of heat. They spend most of the year in gardens such as Changchun Garden and Yuanmingyuan Garden. Only during the Spring Festival every year do they drive back to the palace for the New Year. Emperors usually "seal the pen" and "seal it" on December 26th of the lunar calendar, stop working, and "open the pen" and "seal it" again at the ceremony on the first day of the first month.

According to the Book of Rites, hundreds of officials will gather in the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square to pay New Year greetings to the emperor at the dawn of the first day of the first month. On that day, the square was full of ceremonial ceremonies, and under the eaves of the main hall, the royal band and the golden bell and jade chime were arranged.

At dawn (7 o'clock), officials in Tian Jian, Qin announced that the time had come. Bells and drums chimed at noon, the band played music, the emperor boarded the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Wei officials shook their static whip, and tribute officials shouted "shift change". Hundreds of officials lined up and knelt down according to the grade position marked by the copper "grade mountain" placed in the square.

At this time, two college students knelt down and held a congratulatory form, which was read by the official who announced it. After reading, one hundred officials will kneel three times and knock. After the ceremony, the emperor arranged a seat and tea for him, and the officials kowtowed to him. After tea, the static whip rang again, the band played again, the emperor went down to the temple, the officials left the court, and the ceremony to celebrate the New Year was completed.

At this time, the emperor gave the children of the Eight Banners, ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs already prepared a purse with "Ruyi". "Ruyi" in wallet usually includes Jin Ruyi, Yinruyi, Yuruyi and Yin Qian.

Emperor Qianlong usually drinks a glass of Tu Su wine in hall of mental cultivation, his bedroom, before boarding the Hall of Supreme Harmony to receive the New Year greetings from officials. His special wine glass weighs 1 kg and is made of gold inlaid with precious stones. It is called "Jin 'ou Gu Yong Cup". Jin Ou means Jiangshan, and "Jin Ou Yong Gu" means "Jiangshan Yong Gu".

In the Qing Dynasty, it continued the history of imperial palaces. According to records, Emperor Qianlong went to Zhu Fu Temple in Beihai on the morning of the first day of the first month of the first month every year, boarded the Great Buddha Pagoda to burn incense and pray, and then returned to the Zhonghua Palace where he lived before he ascended the throne, where he wrote the blessing with a black lacquer brush engraved with "Blessing for a lifetime" dipped in cinnabar, which was called "Evergreen Tube". The first blessing word written every year should be solemnly sealed and never opened to show blessing. The next blessing word will be awarded to princes and ministers.

In addition, during the Chinese New Year, the emperor will set off firecrackers and put up couplets. However, the couplets used by the royal family during the China New Year are hung, not pasted by people. This is not only clean to use, but also can be used many times if it is properly preserved.

Ordinary people attach the most importance to New Year's Eve, and the Qing emperor is no exception. The emperor's family seldom eat together on weekdays. Only on New Year's Day are concubines allowed to accompany the banquet. On the morning of New Year's Eve, the emperor had breakfast with his queen and his concubines in China Palace. Breakfast usually includes Lala (yellow rice), cakes, rice cakes and so on. There are as many as ten or twenty varieties, but this is not a formal New Year's Eve dinner.

The New Year's Eve reunion dinner will be held in Shen Zheng (4 pm). In fact, at noon 12, cold dishes and snacks have been set on the table. The dinner was held in Baohe Hall or Gan Qing Palace, and a table was prepared for the emperor. The table was a "Golden Dragon Banquet Table" with a golden embroidered table around it. There is a long table between the banquet table and the emperor's "throne". All the dishes are placed on the banquet table, and the emperor will bring them to the long table when eating.

The cooking materials of the New Year's Eve dinner are mainly Manchu traditional food. For example, the food archives of the Qing Palace recorded the amount of materials used for the New Year's Eve banquet held in Qianlong for forty-nine years, including 65 kg of pork, 3 fat ducks 1 head, 3 vegetable ducks, 3 fat chickens, 7 vegetable chickens, 3 pig elbows, 2 pig bellies, 8 lower bellies and 0/5 zongzi/kloc-0. In addition, 5 kg of 4 Liang white flour and 6 Liang white sugar are used to make snacks. Most of these materials are produced in kanto region, reflecting the inherent dietary customs of Manchu.

The dishes on the banquet table are divided into eight courses from outside to inside. There are all kinds of meat, vegetables, sweet and salty snacks, cold and hot meals, a total of 63 kinds of food, as well as two pairs of carved fruit boxes, four kinds of fruits and pasta, such as Su Gao and Paul. The location of various meals on the dining table and the distance between them also have size requirements.

The so-called "abalone snail" is not the abalone and conch eaten at today's party. The emperors of the Qing dynasty seldom ate seafood, occasionally ate fish, and only ate whitebait and sturgeon from the Songhua River. The abalone here is a snack made of dried seafood ground into powder.

In addition to the big dishes, there are eight kinds of fruit bells, and snacks such as milk, snacks, kitchen dishes, albuha and rice noodles are arranged in the east and west. Among them, "Albha" is a kind of Manchu fried pasta, which has four dishes: North and South.

According to the rules of the palace, all concubines have their own dietary standards, and they usually start their own businesses. But on New Year's Eve, concubines were also lucky enough to have dinner with the emperor. In addition to the emperor's family, there are six tables to accompany guests, each table has 24 hot and cold dishes, much less than the emperor, and the bowls for holding dishes are also reduced to porcelain bowls.

When everything was ready for the banquet, the emperor and his concubines sat down with the sound of drums. The eunuchs first gave dried dragon soup. Soups and meals are packaged in pairs, which means that the two boxes are integrated, which means that they are auspicious in pairs. The emperor's right box is two pairs, and the left box is a product of bird's nest, red and white duck loin hot rice and a product of japonica rice dry rice. The right box is a bird's nest duck kidney soup and a duck bean curd soup.

Then, the eunuchs sent soup to the concubines. Although they also used boxes, the quantity was halved, and each person had a pair, which contained a product of japonica rice and a product of mutton egg powder soup. Moreover, it is stipulated that one should be issued first according to the grade, and then the second one should be issued.

After the soup was used up, the music stopped and the party began. The so-called banquet is to transfer all kinds of food and furnishings (except vases, chopsticks and fruit boxes) from the emperor's table to the accompanying table, which means that the whole family can enjoy it together.

After the banquet, there will be a banquet. The dining table of the emperor is divided into five roads, with 40 items in total, and the dining table of the empresses has 15 items. The emperor drank the first glass of wine in the music of Dan Sheng Da Dong, and the empresses drank the wine one by one. After drinking the fruit tea, the empresses took their seats, the emperor left the party, the music of blessing sounded and the family dinner ended.

After New Year's Eve, the emperor ordered all the meals he had eaten, even plates, bowls, dishes, spoons and chopsticks to be given to the near ministers, princes and county kings. Let's watch the "Dragon Dance". As a program with the most Manchu flavor, "Qinglong Dance" has always been a reserved program at the New Year's Eve.

"Qinglong Dance", also known as "Sloppy Dance", is an early national dance of Manchu. Dance is divided into two camps. A dancer wears an animal mask and hides as an animal. On the other hand, dancers dressed in Manchu costumes pretended to be hunters, and later the hunter's costume became the costume of the Eight Banners at that time. The end of the dance is usually the success of the hunter in hunting animals.

Although the family banquet environment also shows feudal etiquette, it is generally more casual. Emperor Kangxi once wrote a poem at a banquet in Gan Qing Palace, describing the scene where the emperor and his concubines got together to celebrate the festival, and wrote about the harmonious atmosphere and warm mood during the banquet. The poem reads: "Tonight, we will hold a banquet with Yi and gather Yi's relatives. Sprinkling oranges is suitable for festivals and reeds are suitable for spring. The fragrant red snail is heavy, light and new in wax. No need to sing, the bright moon is enough to keep people. "

It can be seen that the ancient people paid attention to reunion and blessing in the New Year, and the emperor's family also had a set of etiquette for the New Year. However, although the royal etiquette is ostentatious, its purpose is the same as that of ordinary people, and the picture is festive and auspicious.