Folk custom in Tang dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was one of the most powerful and dominant dynasties in feudal China. Its vast territory and numerous nationalities are unprecedented. The history of the Tang Dynasty can be bounded by the "An Shi Rebellion" in 755 AD. The "Anshi Rebellion" is the early Tang Dynasty, a period of strong national strength and cultural prosperity. The "An Shi Rebellion" was followed by the late Tang Dynasty, which was a period of separatist regime and declining national strength.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the system of three provinces and six departments, imperial examination, land equalization system and tenancy system was continuously improved, and the society developed rapidly. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, "the rule of Zhenguan" appeared. Since then, the political situation has changed, resulting in the history of Wu Zetian changing to Tang Jianzhou. During the Kaiyuan period, the Tang Dynasty reached its peak. After the Anshi Rebellion, on the one hand, there was a separatist situation in the buffer region, and at the same time, the eunuch's authoritarian power and bureaucratic forces launched a fierce struggle, which gradually weakened the rule of the Tang Empire. After the peasant uprising in Huang Chao, the Tang Dynasty quickly went to ruin.

During the Tang Dynasty, the social economy developed rapidly. Agricultural production technology advances, grain yield per mu increases; The level of handicraft industry has improved, and the products are richer and more sophisticated; With the expansion of commercial scale and the close economic exchanges between North and South, cabinets and flying money have appeared. At the same time, there is a trend that the economic center of gravity moves south. The Tang dynasty strengthened the management of the surrounding minority areas, so it stood tall in the world as the center of economic and cultural exchanges. During the Tang Dynasty, the culture was brilliant, with brilliant achievements in religious thought, literature and art, history, science and technology, which produced outstanding figures such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Xuanzang, Liu Zhiji, monks and his party, and Sun Simiao. In addition, the open social atmosphere and colorful folk life made the Tang Dynasty show a high degree of civilization.

Tangchaochu clothing

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of feudal society in China, and both people's thoughts and material production reached a historical peak. Since the Tang Dynasty, flower patterns have been widely used in craft decoration, with lively and free composition, well-proportioned density, fullness and roundness. In particular, the combination of wavy continuous patterns and flowers and plants is a popular branch-tying pattern in Tang Dynasty.

The costume patterns in the Tang Dynasty changed the creative thinking given by God in the past, using real flowers, grass, fish and insects to sketch, but they did not exclude the traditional dragon and phoenix patterns, which was also determined by the influence of imperial power. At this time, the clothing pattern design tends to express the artistic style of freedom, fullness and fatness.

The dress patterns in the late Tang Dynasty were more exquisite and beautiful. Flower-and-bird clothing patterns, border decoration patterns and group flower clothing patterns are really colorful in the soft clothing of silk and yarn. As Wang Jian of the Five Dynasties said, "Luoshan leaves are embroidered again, and there is a cluster of golden phoenix silver geese, each dancing in two directions, between the words" Long live peace ". "Today we see these luxurious and exquisite costume patterns, which are precious image materials that Dunhuang Grottoes painters have preserved for future generations with hard work. The development of costumes in Tang Dynasty is an overall development. At this time, the clothing pattern design tends to be free, plump, gorgeous and round, which is manifested in shoes, hats, towels, Yu Pei, hairstyle, makeup and jewelry.

The Tang Dynasty inherited the styles of Zhou, Warring States and Wei and Jin Dynasties, and integrated the rigor of dress design of Zhou Dynasty, the stretch of Warring States, the lightness of Han Dynasty and the elegance of Wei and Jin Dynasties, and on this basis, it became more luxurious, making the dress and dress patterns reach the peak in history. The influence of costumes and costume patterns in the Tang Dynasty on later generations continues to this day. The application of branch patterns in modern clothing patterns embodies the implication of combining traditional patterns with modern aesthetic consciousness.

Folk custom in Tang dynasty

Keep the old age and do the custom.

On New Year's Eve, it is a common custom for the whole family to get together, have New Year's Eve dinner, chat around the stove, bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.

According to historical records, this custom originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. "It's night, it's forbidden to set off firecrackers in the mountains, and voices can be heard outside. The scholar's home, sitting around the furnace group, Da Dan does not sleep. " Then it gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem: "Cold words and winter snow, warm with spring breeze."

In ancient times, observing the age was also called "wasting light". People light candles or oil lamps to keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation.

To this day, people in China are used to keeping vigil on New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers outside, sitting around the fire or watching TV indoors, talking and laughing.

New Year greeting custom.

New Year greeting is a traditional folk custom in China, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their best wishes to each other.

In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on a happy New Year and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, you should also salute and congratulate.

New Year greetings usually begin at home. On the morning of the first day, after getting up, the younger generation should first pay a New Year call to their elders, wishing them a long and healthy life and all the best. After the elders worship, they should distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generation. After greeting the elders at home, you should also greet people with a smile when you go out to meet them, and exchange auspicious words such as "Congratulations on getting rich", "Best wishes in the four seasons" and "Happy New Year". Neighbors, relatives and friends also visit each other or invite them to drink and entertain. Mr. Meng described the cloud of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty in Volume 6 of Dream of China in Tokyo: "On October 1st, Kaifeng House was released for three days, and scholars celebrated each other early." In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Rong said in Volume V of Miscellanies in the Garden that "on New Year's Day in Beijing, those who cross the road for a few days from the official to Shu Ren are called' Happy New Year'. However, everyone in Shu Ren worships his relatives and friends. The more official contact, the more universal love is not specialized ... ". Gu Tieqing, a Qing man, described in Jia Qinglu that "men and women pay homage to their parents, and the master leads them to visit their neighbors, or sends their children to congratulate them, which is called' Happy New Year'. Even if we don't meet at the end of the year, we will worship each other at this time ... "

In ancient times, the literati in the upper class used the custom of greeting each other with famous cards. Hui Zhou, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said in Qingbo magazine: "During the Song Dynasty, servants were often used to stab people in the name of the New Year." At that time, the scholar-officials had a wide circle of friends, and it took time and energy to pay New Year greetings everywhere. Therefore, some close friends did not go in person, but sent their servants to take a card cut with plum blossom stationery, two inches wide and three inches long, with the recipient's name, address and congratulations written on it. In the Ming dynasty, people visited instead of paying New Year's greetings. Wen Zhiming, an outstanding painter and poet in the Ming Dynasty, described in the poem "New Year": "I don't want to meet each other, but I want to be fluent, and my famous articles are full; I also throw a few pieces of paper at people. The world hates being too simple and not too empty. " The "name thorn" and "name" mentioned here? Quot This is the origin of today's New Year cards. New Year cards are used to connect feelings and exchange greetings, which are convenient and practical and still popular today.

From about the Qing Dynasty, the form of "group worship" was added to the New Year greetings. In "Jade Tan with a Side Hat", the Lord of the Qing Dynasty said: "At the beginning of each year, the capital must make regular group worship to unite the friendship of the New Year and show the nostalgia", and "book guests, eat banquets and enjoy the day every year".

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous way of greeting the New Year, etiquette telegrams and telephone greetings have mushroomed.

The legend of upside-down blessing

During the Spring Festival, every household should put the word "Fu" on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. According to Liang Lu's Dream, "When I was young, I would visit department stores, draw door gods and spend the Spring Festival ..."; "Scholars, big or small, must sweep the floor, clean the family, change the door gods, hang Zhong Xu, nail peaches, stick spring cards and worship their ancestors." The "spring card" in this article is the word "fu" written on red paper.

The word "fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", but in the past it meant "good luck" and "good luck". No matter now or in the past, the word "Fu" posted in the Spring Festival has pinned people's yearning for a happy life and wishes for a better future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, the people simply turn the word "blessing" upside down, indicating that "blessing has fallen" and "blessing has arrived" There is also a legend that the word "fu" is posted upside down among the people. Ming Taizu used the word "Fu" as a code word to prepare for murder. In order to eliminate this disaster, kind Ma Huanghou asked all the families in the city to put "Fu" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dares to go against Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" is posted on every door. If one of the families can't read, turn the word "fu" upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets to check and found that every family had posted the word "Fu", and another family had posted the word "Fu" upside down. When the emperor heard the news, he was furious and immediately ordered the body guard to cut down the house. Seeing that something was wrong, Ma Huanghou quickly said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "My family knew that you were visiting today and deliberately put the word' Fu' upside down. Isn't this the meaning of "blessed road"? " When the emperor heard the truth, he ordered his release, and a great disaster was finally eliminated. Since then, people have turned the word "Fu" upside down for good luck and in memory of Ma Huanghou.

Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every family wrote big characters". The word "fu" used to be handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.

the God of Wealth

According to folklore, the fifth day of the first month is the birthday of the God of Wealth, so after the first day of the first month, the next most important activity is to welcome the God of Wealth-the night before the arrival of the God of Wealth's birthday, every household will hold a banquet to celebrate the God of Wealth.

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhao Xuantan is the most respected. Many shops and houses are dedicated to his woodcut statues: the Xuan altar looks like the bottom of a pot, holding Strafe in his hand and riding Hei Hu, which is extremely powerful.

In addition to Zhao Xuantan being honored as "God of Wealth", there are also folk sayings that "God of Wealth is partial", "God of Wealth" and "Wu Caishen" are heavenly emperors.

The belief in the God of Wealth is popular in Yuan Qiu, Dexing, Jiangxi. The initials of the titles of the five brothers are all "immortals", so they are called "five immortals". Rob the rich and help the poor before death, punish the evil and promote the good after death, and bless the poor. There are five temples of God of Wealth outside Andingmen in Beijing.

The "literary god of wealth" is also called the "god of wealth". His paintings are often juxtaposed with "Fu", "Lu", "Shou" Samsung and XiShen. Together, they are Fu, Lu, Shou, Cai and Fu. The rich star gentleman has long white hair and a cornucopia in his hand, from which the word "lucky money becomes treasure" comes. Most people will hang this painting in the main hall during the Spring Festival and pray for good luck.

"Wu Caishen" Guan Jun is Guan Yunchang. It is said that Guan Yunchang managed the military horse post station and was good at counting, which made his invention increasingly thin and focused on credit and loyalty, so he was worshipped by merchants. Generally speaking, businessmen regard Guan Gong as their patron saint, and Guan Gong is also regarded as the god of wealth.

On the fifth day of the first month, shops open. In the early morning, golden gongs, firecrackers and sacrifices are used to welcome the god of wealth. Gu Tieqing, a poet in A Qing, quoted a poem by Cai Yun Zhuzhi in Jia Qinglu, describing the scene of Suzhou people welcoming the god of wealth on the fifth day of May: "Seek financial resources for five days, and be willing to give a reward for one year; Beware of meeting God early elsewhere and rushing to hold the road all night. " "Holding the road" means "welcoming the God of Wealth". Businessmen who believe in Guan Di Sheng Jun will sacrifice, set off firecrackers and burn gold paper for Guan Gong on the fifth day of the first month, and ask Guan Di Sheng Jun to bless a prosperous year.

New year firecrackers.

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years.

Now, most of us think that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere, is a kind of entertainment in festivals, and can bring happiness and good luck to people. However, if we trace the origin of firecrackers, we will understand the original intention of the ancients to set off firecrackers and its evolution history.

"The Chronicle of Jingchu" said: "On the first day of the first month, chickens crow and firecrackers are set off in front of the court to avoid evil spirits." This record shows that firecrackers were an acoustic tool to drive away plagues and evil spirits in ancient times, which made the custom of setting off firecrackers have a certain superstitious color from the beginning. In fact, this is entirely caused by the misunderstanding of the ancients. According to Nerve, in ancient times, people camped through deep mountains and lit bonfires at night, one for cooking and keeping warm, and the other for preventing wild animals from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountains, which is not afraid of people or fire, and often steals food while people are unprepared.

In order to deal with this animal, people thought of setting off firecrackers in the fire and using the crackling sound of bamboo to drive it away. The animal mentioned here is called "sister-in-law". The ancients said that it can make people cold and hot, and it is ghosts that make people get cold and hot, scaring away mountains, that is, driving away evil spirits and making people lucky and safe.

In the early Tang Dynasty, plagues were everywhere. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make it emit louder sound and stronger smoke. As a result, the miasma in Shan Lan was dispelled and the epidemic was stopped. This is the earliest prototype of firecrackers. Later, when gunpowder appeared, people filled bamboo tubes with saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal and burned them, resulting in an "explosion war". In the Song Dynasty, people began to make "guns" (that is, firecrackers) with paper tubes and hemp sticks wrapped in gunpowder. Regarding the evolution of firecrackers, Excellent Popular Arrangement records: "Ancient firecrackers. They are all popular with real bamboo, so Tang poetry is also called explosive pole. Later people roll paper for it. It's called firecrackers.

With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Liuyang in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi and Wenzhou in Zhejiang are the famous "hometown of fireworks" in China. The firecrackers they produced not only sell well all over the country, but also are exported to other countries and regions in the world.

Setting off firecrackers has become an entertainment activity with national characteristics. People not only set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new in the Spring Festival, but also set off firecrackers to celebrate major festivals and happy events, such as Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, marriage, building houses and opening businesses.

Eat jiaozi during the Spring Festival.

Jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi". During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy.

According to "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi, wei ren of the Three Kingdoms, there was a crescent-shaped food called "Wonton" at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of jiaozi now. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton had been "shaped like a crescent moon, and it was delicious all over the world". Presumably, when jiaozi cooked it, he didn't take it out and eat it alone, but put it in a bowl with the soup, so people called jiaozi "wonton" at that time. This way of eating is still popular in some areas of our country. For example, when people from Henan and Shaanxi eat jiaozi, they should put some small ingredients such as coriander, chopped green onion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup.

By about the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi had become exactly the same as jiaozi now, so it was fished out and put on a plate to eat by itself.

Jiaozi was called "Joule" in Song Dynasty, which is the etymology of the word "Jiaozi" in later generations. This kind of writing can still be seen in the following Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China.

Jiaozi was called a "flat food" in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Bang's Miscellaneous Notes on Ten Thousand Parts recorded: "New Year's Day, New Year's Day ...... as a patch food". Liu Ruoyu's "Proceedings" records: "Eat fruit snacks on New Year's Day and eat a plaque immediately." The "plaque" of the "plaque food" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties is now commonly used as "ping". A kind of "flat food" may come from Mongolian.

Some new names about jiaozi appeared in Qing Dynasty, such as "jiaozi", "Water Snack" and "Boiled Bean". The increase of Jiaozi's names shows that its geographical spread is expanding.

The folk custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has been quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck".

There are many legends about eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival. One is to commemorate the creation of Pangu and end the mixed state. The other is to use it as a homonym of "wonton", which means "five grains are abundant" In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people. When Nuwa soil caused people, the ears of loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to prevent the ear from being fixed, Nuwa put a small eye on the ear, tied it with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess man to bite, so that the ear would be fine. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.

Jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: First, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot. People eat jiaozi in the Spring Festival and get the voice of "the way to make money". Secondly, jiaozi has stuffing, which is convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing and place people's hopes for the new year.

When wrapping jiaozi, people usually wrap Jin Ruyi, sugar, peanuts, dates and chestnuts into stuffing. Eat the best and sugar, life will be sweeter in the coming year, eat peanuts, live a long and healthy life, eat dates and chestnuts, and have a baby early.

In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmons symbolizes all the best; Eat three fresh vegetables. It symbolizes that Sanyang opens Thailand. People in Taiwan Province Province eat fish balls, meatballs and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and wealth. Jiaozi has various fillings and making methods. Even the same kind of jiaozi has different ways of eating: Daur people in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang want to cook jiaozi with vermicelli broth. Then even the soup with jiaozi to eat; In some areas of Henan, jiaozi is cooked with noodles, which is called "gold thread penetrates gold ingot".

Jiaozi cuisine not only brings joy to people, but also becomes an important part of China's food culture.

Exploration of Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets originated in Fu Tao. "Fu Tao" is a rectangular red wooden board hanging on both sides of the door in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the Book of Etiquette in the Later Han Dynasty, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, I made a peach symbol for this family and named it Xianmu. All ghosts are afraid of it." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao."

In the Five Dynasties, in the court of West Shu, someone wrote couplets on peach symbols. According to the Records of History of Song Dynasty and Family of Shu Kingdom, Meng Changjun, a master of the later Shu Dynasty, ordered Zhang Xun, a bachelor, to write a poem on the mahogany board, saying, "Qing Yu is New Year's Day and Changchun is Jia Festival". This is China's first Spring Festival couplets. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". There is a saying in Wang Anshi's poem that "thousands of households are the narrowest, and new peaches are always replaced with old ones". In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbol was changed from mahogany board to paper, which was called "Spring Sticker".

In the Ming Dynasty, Fu Tao changed its name to "Spring Festival couplets". In the Ming Dynasty, Chen wrote in Mao Yunlou's Miscellaneous Paintings: "The creation of Spring Festival couplets began with. Jinling, the imperial capital, suddenly issued a decree before New Year's Eve: Spring Festival couplets must be posted at the gates of public officials and scholars' homes. "Zhu Yuanzhang not only went out of the city incognito to see the laughter in person, but also personally wrote Spring Festival couplets. He passed a house and saw that the Spring Festival couplets had not been posted on the door. He went to ask, knowing that it was a castrated pig, and had not asked anyone to write it for him. Zhu Yuanzhang specially wrote Spring Festival couplets for the castrated pig man, which read "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife". Relevance and humor. After Ming Taizu's advocacy, Spring Festival couplets have since become a custom, which has been passed down to this day.