How to press the peach branches on the door?

Except for the one-year-old in firecrackers,

The spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu.

Thousands of families are dying,

Always trade new peaches for old ones.

In ancient times, every family posted new peach symbols to replace last year's old ones, so the worship of peaches has a long history. Since it is posted by every household, it is actually a custom to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Of course, there is no bad influence on others, so your worry is unnecessary.

Speaking of the use of peach branches, let's talk about the tradition of peach culture in China:

According to Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, "peach fruit, peach kernel, peach hair, peach stalk, peach blossom, peach leaf, peach stem, peach peel, peach root, peach gum, peach symbol and peach pit" can treat many diseases.

The cultural view that peach can drive away evil spirits is mainly embodied in residence, life etiquette and activities, production activities and war revenge, and it is passed down through myths and legends and folk activities, thus affecting people's behavior and consciousness.

Housing is a place for people to relax. However, due to the differences of natural factors such as geomagnetism, wind direction and sunshine, some dwellings are prosperous, while others are constantly dying. Therefore, people think that housing is an important place that affects the rise and fall of families. In order to pray for family safety, people use peach wood to exorcise evil spirits, which is mainly manifested in the inheritance of the custom of doors and girders.

"The Book of Xiangzhai" holds that "the good or ill luck of the family lies in the door" ... The family is angry at the door, and the Jews are angry at the mouth, so the door is called the air port ... "The door is the only place where people go in and out, and it is also the only place where evil spirits and auspicious spirits go in and out. Therefore, there are many religious customs about it, and the cultural view that peach can eliminate disasters and chase ghosts is particularly full in these customs. The first is the myth and legend about the origin of the door god. God Rabbit, Lei Yu and Zhong Kui are the most famous myths and legends of door gods in history books. Myths and legends about Shen Tu and Lei Yu's gatekeepers are common in the history books from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties. Although these records are different, one thing is the same, that is, they are in charge of ghosts in the environment of Taolin, using peach branches as tools to subdue ghosts, and they become gatekeepers because of peaches ("Warring States Policy Qi Ce III": "On the East China Sea, there is a mountain named Dushuo. There is a big peach on the table, which bends for three thousand miles. The humble branch is called the northeast gate of hell, where all the ghosts come and go. There are two gods in the world, one is tea, and the other is Lei Yu, who is responsible for exorcism. So, the world carved this peach stalk and painted tea with Lei Yu's head, until it was old enough to set the door and open the door. Tea and thunder are both in the East China Sea, so it is called the East Zhi Tao Terrier. " )。 The legend of Zhong Kui as a door god flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, although most of these legends were perfunctory (Gao Cheng's "The Origin of Things": "During the Kaiyuan period, Ming Taizu was ill and lived in a small hall. I dreamed of a kid shoveling a foot, hanging a shoe on his waist and stealing a purple sachet, which was blown by the Jade Emperor. It was quite noisy. Scold it on it. Yue: I am wasting my time. Angry, want to call a samurai; I saw a GREAT GHOST man, wearing a broken hat, a blue robe and a horn belt, trying to catch the kid and pointing at his eyes and arms. Who are you looking for? Yes, I finally went to Zhong Kui, a southern scholar, and died because I failed to lift it. I got a green robe and was buried, vowing to rid the world of evil spirits. I feel sick when I say it It's called Wu Daozi diagram. Appreciate its wonder and give it a hundred gold, because today people paint its image on the door. " ), but its essence is also a reflection of the cultural view that mahogany can exorcise ghosts and evil spirits. This can be understood from two aspects: First, according to the textual research of Volume 35 of Yu Cong Kao, Zhong Kui was originally an alias of vertebra (rod). Second, according to the beliefs of the ancients and the chapter of Huainanzi Yan Quan: "Yi died of peach." Xu Shen's note: "The big stick is made of peach wood, which is used to kill the village, so the ghost is afraid of peach from now on." Inferring the vertebral body is another name of Zhong Kui, and it is the "peach vertebra" of "spreading the story ears".

Second, people who hang peaches, peach trees, peach boards and peach symbols are equal to the door, inside and outside the door. As far as the Spring Festival is concerned, its customs and activities are as follows: "Tales of Jingchu's Years Old" states that on the first day of the first month, "ghosts are afraid of putting pictures on chicken coops, hanging reed ropes on them and inserting peach symbols beside them." Volume 29 of Taiping Yu Lan is quoted from Xuanzhongji: "Today people stand by the door, like two lovers of peaches ..." Shen Yue's Song Shu: "In the old days, there were peach stalks with reeds, ... with poison gas." "Jade Candle Book" says: "The peach board made in Yuan Dynasty was named Xianmu ..." "Ji Huali" says: "On the first day of Yuan Dynasty, the dishes were listed and the wine was famous; Peach boards are placed in the door to celebrate, and reeds are used to eliminate disasters. " Today, Qingzhou people hang peach blossom lanterns at the door. As far as the Lantern Festival is concerned, its customs and activities are like this: as far as Tomb-Sweeping Day is concerned, its customs and activities are like this: "On Qingming Day, wicker and peach branches are sold all over the street, and people buy them and insert them at the door." As far as the Dragon Boat Festival is concerned, its customs and activities are as follows: In the Han Dynasty, on this day, people used Suo and Tao to ward off evil spirits at the door. In Song Dynasty and today, some areas in Tai 'an and Jiaodong put peach branches by the door to ward off evil spirits. As far as New Year's Eve is concerned, its customs and activities are as follows: "County officials often decorate Taoren with wax New Year's Eve dinners, and reed painting tigers are hung at the door, all of which are to remember the past and avoid evil." The date of New Year's Eve here is different from today's New Year's Eve, which is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. ) In today's Jiaodong and other places, every New Year's Eve afternoon, a 2-meter-long mahogany stick called Mense is placed at the gate. It is said that peach branches can not only prevent the loss of treasure, but also ward off evil spirits.

In people's minds, the beam of a house is also extremely important, just like a person's backbone, so there are many beliefs and customs about it, and the ceremony of setting off the beam is the concentrated embodiment of its beliefs and customs. Peach is often used in Liang ceremonies because it can pray and ward off evil spirits. According to the investigation, Shangzhongliang in Qixian County, Shanxi Province should be "hanging red flowers". "Hanging flowers" means hanging peach bows and arrows, colored silk threads, shuttles, copper coins, grains, jujube roots, cypress leaves, mirrors and other evil spirits under the red cloth in the middle of Zhongliang. There is a "treasure-receiving" ceremony in the beam-lifting ceremony of the islanders in Dongting Mountain, Taihu Lake, Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, that is, after the carpenter goes up the mountain, he ties a peach or a bag with a red line, puts it down from it, and gives a speech while putting it down. Dong Jia and his wife leveled the red carpet "Jiebao". Everything the carpenter offered was a blessing related to peaches.

In a person's life, the three ceremonies of birth, marriage and death are extremely important and people attach great importance to them. Therefore, the cultural content of peach exorcism and blessing is manifested in these ceremonies. The first is the birth of mankind. After children are born in Jiaodong, Shandong Province, they usually hang red cloth on peach branches or use dates, chestnuts, onions, money and other things. In Zhaoyuan and other places, after the boy was born, in addition to hanging peach branches on the door, he also hung a big red flag with a bow and arrow; After the boy in Huangxian County was born, he tied two peaches and two tiger heads to the peach branches. Lacey tied two onions, four chestnuts, four dates and two garlic to the peach branches and hung them in the middle of the door. In some parts of Shandong, when the baby is full moon, it is necessary to choose a good hairstyle and take a bath. On this day, people often thread dates, chestnuts, onions, money and other things with red lines, tie them on peach branches and hang them on the lintel. Because they are vulgar, peach, that is, to escape disaster. Secondly, people's marriage. Marriage is an important turning point in life. It is difficult for people to intuitively judge why some people encounter disasters after marriage, so they think it is the evil deeds on the wedding day. In order to prevent evil deeds, they used peach branches to suppress evil deeds at the wedding. For example, when people hold a wedding in Xue Jiawan, the groom often steps on the threshold of the new house with a bow made of peach branches and an arrow made of willow branches, and shoots three arrows at the door. This is called "Dreadwind" and "dungeon". Again, this is the death of mankind. Under the influence of the concept of immortality of the soul, people think that although the human body is dead, the soul is immortal and lives normally in another world, so they also hope to be safe and happy in the underworld. In order to achieve this goal, people use peaches to ward off evil spirits in some funeral ceremonies, which can be divided into two situations: one is normal death, and "Twenty-nine years of Zuo Zhuan's" contains: "... let the witch be buried with peaches first", and peaches, that is, brooms made of peach branches, are used to sweep away ominous things. One is abnormal death. If the murderer is killed, I don't know who he is. He will bury the peach branches and willow leaves in the hands of the deceased. This ceremony was interpreted as that the deceased would be able to repel evil dogs in the underworld with peach branches and use willow leaves as sword of vengeance. This is to use peaches to exorcise evil spirits for mourners. In funeral etiquette, there is also a ceremony to exorcise evil spirits with peaches for future generations. For example, there is a tomb symbol in Dunhuang folk symbols (see "Bo 3358"). People in the Tang Dynasty thought that "money can't be gathered together, and it's uneasy" because the dead ancestors were disturbed by ghosts in the tomb. Therefore, before burial, first write the tomb symbol on the mahogany board, and then put it in the four corners of the tomb, so that the ghosts in the tomb will be expelled and future generations will flourish.

In the process of human growth, because the biological regulation function of human body has the characteristics of age and stage, at some specific stages, the human body's resistance is weak and it is easy to be infected with various germs. This natural phenomenon is unreasonable and considered evil. In order to eliminate evil, they often pray for the help of peaches. As far as age characteristics are concerned, it is mainly manifested in infancy and old age. For example, the beliefs and customs about peaches in childhood are reflected in two aspects. The first is to ward off evil spirits. In the south of Tai 'an City, Shandong Province, infants travel, and adults fold peach branches in the southeast and let them hold them. In the urban and rural areas of Mengcheng, Anhui Province, every baby goes out with a bunch of peach branches. When children go out, they must bring a flower basket engraved with peach stones on their wrists and a peach wooden sword on their belts. Common beliefs can eliminate covert operations and ensure peace. People in rural Zhoukou, Henan Province carved peach stones into small animals of various shapes, then strung them into bracelets and put them on the hands of children who can't run yet. In this way, children can avoid being dragged away by ghosts. One is exorcism (a ritual after illness), such as Susong rural area in Anhui Province. In spring, the child got malaria, and the family pretended to run to him with the child in their arms. The child's mother patted the child gently with a peach branch in her hand. It is said that such a dozen malaria ghosts attached to children were driven away. In the countryside of Feicheng, Shandong Province, a child was frightened when he fell. His parents broke a peach branch, shook it and rubbed the child's head, saying, "Come on, come on, don't be afraid ..." It is said that in this way, the child's sense of panic gradually decreased. There is a prescription for treating "children's ghost" disease in Mawangdui's silk book "Fifty-five Prescriptions for Diseases", which reads: "Take three steps, take the eastern branch of peach, and choose one, which is the initiative of □□□□". The beliefs and customs about peaches in old age are mainly manifested in prevention. For example, in Qingzhou, Shandong Province, "there is an old lady sitting at the door with her little grandson in the sun. She was holding a mahogany crutch and two mahogany mallets about eight centimeters long were tied to her buttons. We asked her why she was wearing a red mallet. She said with a smile; People are old and soft-hearted, worried that ghosts will get sick. This is my ancestral red mallet. If I wear it, ghosts will not dare to go near it, and evil spirits will not be able to possess it. " She took out seven peach branches about five centimeters long from her pocket, saying that they were used to walk in the dark (at night). With them, Lulu is both smooth and safe. "This kind of consciousness, of course, is not the individual consciousness of the old lady, but a collective consciousness. As far as the stage is concerned, it is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, the emergence of women. In real life, some women give birth naturally, some women have dystocia and even die. However, after giving birth to a child, women are often susceptible to various diseases due to poor immunity, and some die of virus infection. The ancients believed that these abnormal phenomena were caused by ghosts. In order to pray for the safety of women, peaches are often used to ward off evil spirits. For example, there is a big symbol of dystocia in Dunhuang folk fu 4 2498, and there is a paragraph after the symbol: "This symbol is dystocia and will be swallowed up with the years. "Peach soup. Order the soup with vinegar. Seven peach kernels, go to Xing. This law is top secret, don't pass it on. " "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "A woman can't give birth for several days because of dystocia. When a peach kernel is split, you can write a book or write a book and swallow it together. " Postpartum customs are manifested in two aspects. On the one hand, prevention. For example, in Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, a woman will put a peach branch under her pillow after giving birth, which means it can prevent evil spirits. On the one hand, it is used to treat (puerperal disease), such as "postpartum blood stasis, 20 peeled peach kernels, lotus root 1 root, decoction, good. Tang Yao's experience. " A person's illness. In daily life, it often happens that some people are full of energy just now, but they are bedridden in a blink of an eye. It is difficult for people to explain this phenomenon, so they intuitively attribute it to invisibility. To this end, people use peaches to exorcise evil spirits. This custom belief can also be divided into two types according to its purpose: one is to prevent it by wearing it. For example, people in Feicheng usually carry a small mahogany hammer, a Momo stick and a little red wood blade ... It is said that this can ward off evil spirits. The first is to cure. In the past, in the west of Zhejiang, if people could not recover from a long illness, they had to hold a ritual of exorcising Buddha at night. The ceremony is usually held in the evening. The exorcist first put the soup and rice on the rice sieve, put it on the floor in front of the hospital bed, light incense, then say a good word to the hospital bed, read a spell, and finally spread the rice on the bed and beat it with peach branches, while others carried the rice sieve to the fork in the road near the village. In Huangpi, Hubei Province, when some wizards cast spells on patients, they first draw a circle around the place where the patients stand with peach branches, then grab some soil from the circle, put it in a clay pot, bury it at a fork in the road, and then nail the clay pot through with peach piles ... They think this can nail the ghost to death. In Shangluo, Shaanxi Province and Chongyang, Hubei Province, if a comatose patient appears, people will beat him with peach branches, thinking that only in this way can he be brought back to life.