The Origin of Various Traditional Festivals in China

Sweep the dust-the folk proverb says: on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, sweep the house dust ". The north is called cleaning the house and the south is called dust removal. Indoor and outdoor, behind the house, thoroughly clean up, clothes and appliances, wash a new look, and greet the Spring Festival cleanly.

Door painting-According to Shan Hai Jing, when Li Shimin was ill, he often heard amityville horror's voice in his dream, so that he couldn't sleep at night. At this time, two generals, Qin and Weichi Gong, volunteered to stand on both sides of the door. As a result, the palace is safe. Li Shimin felt sorry that the two generals were too hard, so he ordered the painter to paint their mighty images on the door, which is the so-called "keeper". According to Cai Yong's Random Thoughts in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were statues of Shen Tu and Lei Yu stuck on the door in the Han Dynasty, which evolved into woodcut New Year pictures in the Song Dynasty. Later, people rushed to follow suit, and after several evolutions, they formed their own unique style, that is, the current New Year pictures. The earliest existing New Year picture in China is the Song version of Meitu of the Sui Dynasty.

Spring Festival couplets evolved from "peach stalks" in the Warring States period more than two thousand years ago. According to Huainanzi, peach characters (peach stalks) are carved from peach wood. It is engraved with a spell that destroys happiness, and it changes every year. Meng Changjun, the Emperor of Shu after the Five Dynasties, had a whim during the Spring Festival and asked people to slice peach trees. He wrote a couplet on it: "Welcome to Qing Yu in the New Year and celebrate the festival in Changchun". This is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China. As for the official birth of the name Spring Festival couplets, it was in the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, made Jinling his capital, he issued an edict on New Year's Eve: "When the official family visits the New Year, they must write a Spring Festival couplets." Since then, Spring Festival couplets have become popular, and every household should post Spring Festival couplets during the New Year.

Mid-autumn festival custom

August 13 to 15 is the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as August Festival. The market is booming, and mud rabbit stalls are everywhere. At the full moon in May, a moonlight horse is set in the courtyard, which provides fruits, moon cakes, edamame branches, cockscomb flowers, radishes, lotus roots, watermelons and other products. Men don't worship unless the moon offers it. As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice stoves". At the end of each month, families will sit together in groups of three and five to drink and enjoy the moon. This is the so-called "Reunion Festival". Also, the moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival are divided into blocks according to the number of people, which are called "reunion cakes".

In old Beijing, the Mid-Autumn Festival takes three days off. From 13 to 15, students will not attend classes either. The so-called "mud rabbit stall" is selling male prostitutes. In the first ten years, rabbits were sold in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing. It is rare now. It seems that I have only seen it at the Spring Festival temple fair. The Mid-Autumn Festival is dedicated to rabbits on this moon. Rabbits are made of mud. Rabbits wear armor on their heads, put flags on their backs, paint their faces with gold mud, sit or stand, carry or ride animals, and have two big ears, which is also funny and harmonious. There is a song as proof, "Don't mention old debts and worry about deleting them, forget time and be idle." "All of a sudden, I was surprised that the festive season is coming, and the streets are full of rabbit mountains. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a statue of grandpa rabbit at home, which is really atmospheric.

It coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is particularly rich. In "Collecting Wind", there are "Mid-Autumn Festival, there are fruit stalls everywhere in the market, such as Yali (original flavor), Shaguo, Pak Lei, Shuili, Apple, Begonia, Prunus humilis, fresh dates, grapes, late peaches, and edamame with branches, fruit lotus root and watermelon". In the past, the fruit market was in the east of Qianmen, and the lights were as bright as day on August 13 and April 2. Some shouted, "What day is it today? Forget it, don't buy the fragrant fruit of my Shaguo apple, hey! Now, these autumn fruits can be bought in the street. And in contrast, this year's fruits are plentiful and cheap, which is the most beautiful moment for monkeys to become people. The fly in the ointment is that radish is a bit expensive, the same price as apple. It is inevitable that some old people will denounce this unreasonable price. It is also worth mentioning that edamame was not common in the past Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, in front of the moon cake stall in Beitaizhuang grocery store, there was a big pot of boiled edamame, and it was indeed edamame with branches.

Traditionally, gifts were given near Mid-Autumn Festival in the past. "Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone gives gifts to each other ..., rewards slaves with money, and stores post them, so every festival". In the past two years, Beijing seems to have set off a big Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving wind. Get two cars before the festival, full of moon cakes and fruits, and deliver them to your door. Of course, home and residents here refer to business customers. Giving gifts is naturally to contact feelings and settle business. I thought when I did it two years ago, and now I really worship male prostitutes there. I'm afraid this trend will be even stronger this year.

Nowadays, we pay attention to Cantonese moon cakes. In the past, "Mid-Autumn moon cakes were first made in Kyoto, and there was a shortage of food at first." The moon cake is more than a foot long, and it is painted in the shape of a toad and a rabbit in the moon palace. Some people eat it after the sacrifice, while others eat it until New Year's Eve. This is the so-called reunion cake. "It will definitely not be Cantonese moon cakes that can last for half a year. Mooncakes come from folk sacrifices. Similarly, if traced back to the source, 70% to 80% of the snacks that Beijingers often eat come from folk sacrifices or religious offerings. From the production process, frying, candied fruit and baking are the best anti-corrosion measures. Even jiaozi is food after the Spring Festival.

In fact, not only eating, but also the popularization of Yan Shun Thought and the birth of art (cautious people will use some concepts of art here) are inseparable from folk sacrifices. I still remember when I was at school, I was very interested in this problem. Looking through some archaeological materials in Henan and Shandong, what still stimulates my thoughts is a Yu Fu unearthed in Rizhao, Shandong. Of course, Yu Fu is really invisible, but this photo alone is amazing enough. The axe is thin enough to transmit light, but it is difficult to describe it simply with the word "lifelike". What can its existence mean in the stone axe era?

Yu Fu is not so much an axe as a language, which describes the dialogue between a hard kitchen knife and heaven. Or call it an elf. This is an elf who abandons the spirit of utilitarian choice. So let nature take its course, and art appears like this. What's more, talents completely fall off and become people.

Mid-Autumn Festival is really good. Fortunately, it reminds me of these questions that I haven't thought about for a long time. Of course, festivals are people's spiritual festivals, and it is not surprising to occasionally notice the difference between moon cakes and pancakes at this time. You see, people are like this. I cook by myself, and I don't take it as a fill. Steamed buns have never changed for hundreds of years, but with a little spiritual pursuit, they can be refurbished.

It seems that cakes, works of art and many other things are really like this.

Ancient custom

Old custom

According to Volume 8 of Dream of China in Tokyo (1 147), a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the streets and alleys of the Song Dynasty were filled with a strong festive atmosphere. The shop sells new wine and redecorates the colorful building in front of the door. There are pomegranates, pears, chestnuts, grapes, colored oranges and so on. In the evening, people compete to enjoy the moon in restaurants, and the bamboo and flute play together. The children in the alley played all night and the night market was crowded. As for dawn. Wu (living around 1270) also recorded in the fourth volume of Meng Lianglu that more people arranged family dinners and reunions with their children in the Southern Song Dynasty to reward festivals. Even poor families in mean streets will pawn clothes and buy wine to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Jin Yingzhi (who lived around 1 126) recorded the custom of people from enjoying the moon to Yue Bai at that time in the fourth volume of the newly edited Notes of the Drunken Man: "The appreciation of the moon in the capital will be different from other counties. The whole family, rich or poor, can go to twelve or thirteen by themselves and dress up as adults. You have your own time to climb stairs or burn incense in the court. Men are willing to go to Toad Palace to climb Xiangui early. Women want to look like Chang 'e and be as round as the clean moon. 」

Besides Yue Bai, there is the custom of watching lanterns. Zhou Mi (1232- 1308) recorded the Mid-Autumn Night in Hangzhou in the third volume of Old Wulin: "The lights and candles are gorgeous, but the evening is over." Zhejiang also put on a sheepskin water lamp "Little Red" on Mid-Autumn Festival night. The river is covered with thousands of lanterns, which are as eye-catching as the stars in the sky. It is said that water lanterns are for the benefit of Jiang Shen, not just for viewing.

In the Song Dynasty, Hangzhou also had a special Mid-Autumn Festival landscape, that is, watching the tide in Qiantang. Because the topography of Qiantang estuary is similar to a funnel, when the tide comes in, the waves overlap and pile up into a water wall, which is very spectacular. Su Dongpo wrote "Watching the Tide on a Mid-Autumn Night" when he was in Hangzhou, describing the number of people watching the Tide and the trend of the Tide:

I know the jade rabbit is round, and it has been frosty in September.

The message is don't lock the door, and the night tide stays on the moon.

Ten thousand people are clamoring for me, but they are still floating in the river like a old boys.

You know how high the tide is, and the mountains are muddy in the waves.

Another passage in "The Old Story of Wulin" describes the earth-shattering thin momentum more specifically: "When I am far away from Haimen, it is just like a silver line. It is the snowy mountain in Yucheng when it is coming, and it will come the next day. Loud as thunder, shocking and whipping, swallowing the sky and swallowing the sun, the situation is extremely heroic. " Today, Qiantang Tide Watching is still the most distinctive tourist attraction of Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang Province.

Although the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains as an alien, it was deeply localized. Most holiday customs also follow the old Han system. In Ming Dynasty, the custom of appreciating the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes prevailed.

Tian Rucheng (around 1540) recorded that people in Ming Dynasty gave more gifts than Mid-Autumn Festival and took the circle of "reunion". In the evening, there will be a banquet to enjoy the moon, or take wine and vegetables to the lake and sea. The second volume (1635) of The Scenery of the Imperial Capital, co-authored by Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng, describes in detail the offerings of Mid-Autumn Festival: the moon cakes must be round, and the fruits offered must be cut into lotus-shaped teeth. Moonlight paper is sold in the market. There is a partial moon bodhisattva painted on the moonlight paper. There is a full moon Guitang painted on the moonlight paper, and a rabbit is standing in it. After the festival, burn paper and distribute fruitcakes to every family member. Mid-Autumn Festival is also a reunion festival, so even if a woman returns to visit her relatives in the province, she will definitely return to her husband's family for reunion on this day.

As for the grand gathering of the Ming people enjoying the moon, there is also Zhang Dai (1597- 167 1? ) with its wonderful pen, it made the following extremely elegant explanation for us. "Tao An Meng Yi" Volume Five Tiger Autumn Nights:

In August and a half in Huqiu, there are aborigines, floating population, scholars, family members, female musicians, geisha, famous prostitutes in the song, opera women, folk young women, good women, young children, child molesters, diners, idlers and boys and girls. Since the birth of Gongtai, Qianshi, Hejian, Jianchi, Shenwending Temple, down to Gate 1 and Gate 2 of Shishi, have all sat on the mat and looked up, like geese landing on Pingsha and Xiajiang. On the day of the moon, there were hundreds of speakers, boasting about it, taking part in it, shaking the earth, thundering and screaming, but they didn't hear the call. What is more certain is that the drums and cymbals are gradually resting, and the silk and bamboo are flourishing, mixed with singing. It's all "the brocade sail opens the lake into a lake", the same big song, squatting and the sound of gongs, silk and bamboo, regardless of beating and smashing. In deeper places, people gradually dispersed, scholars and their families got off the boat and played in the water. They were asked to sing. Everyone contributed their skills to the North and the South, and the orchestra played repeatedly. Listeners distinguish words and phrases, and seaweed follows. The second drum is quiet, the screen is listening, and the hole is a wisp of sorrow, clear and tender, even more so than three or four. There are no mosquitoes and flies in the lonely moon with three drums. A lady appeared on the stage, sitting high on the stone, making a silky sound without whistling or flapping, splitting the stone through the clouds and pulling up the strings. Every word, the listener is heartbroken and exhausted. He didn't dare to clap his hands, but nodded. However, there are still hundreds of people sitting beside the goose at this time. How can you seek knowledge if you are not in Suzhou?

Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the life interest of the late Ming people from this song "Autumn Night in Tiger House".

The "Moonlight Paper" used in Yue Bai in the Ming Dynasty was renamed "Moonlight Horse" in the Qing Dynasty. Yanjing Time by Fu Cha Deng Chong (1906). It is recorded that: "Moonlight riders draw Taiyin Star King with paper, such as Bodhisattva, Moon Palace and rabbits with medicine. People stand up and hold the pestle, the algae are exquisite and resplendent, and they sell much in the market. Seven or eight feet old and two or three feet short, with two flags on the top, red, green, basket and yellow, all dedicated to the moon. Burn incense and salute, and burn it with a thousand ingots after the sacrifice. "

There was another saying in the Qing Dynasty: "Men don't go to Yue Bai, and women don't run around". Therefore, Yue Bai has become a patent for women. Housewives in Yue Bai are very busy and children have nothing to do. A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a kind of "male prostitute" for children's confinement will be sold in the market. Male prostitutes originated in the late Ming Dynasty. Ji Kun of Amin Dynasty (born around 1636) wrote in the Legacy of Flower King Pavilion: "Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing is mostly shaped like a mud rabbit, dressed like a human figure, and children worship it." By the Qing dynasty, the function of male prostitutes had changed from offering sacrifices to the moon to children's Mid-Autumn Festival toys. It is becoming more and more exquisite, some dressed as military commanders in armor robes, some with paper flags or umbrellas on their backs, or sitting or standing. Sit down, there are Kirin, tiger leopard and so on. There are also vendors dressed as rabbit heads, or hairdressers, or sewing shoes, selling wonton and tea soup, and so on.