How did ancient emperors celebrate the Spring Festival? Write the word "blessing"! Eat dumplings! Have a family dinner?

Ancient Spring Festival: Song Dynasty

Eating dumplings and setting off firecrackers during the New Year

New Year’s quotations: Congratulations on Zhengdan

New Year’s characteristics: Eat during the New Year Dumplings, setting off firecrackers, and "New Year's greetings" are popular

Many of the Chinese's ancient Spring Festival customs began in the Song Dynasty.

People in the Song Dynasty began to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year. The Song Dynasty called dumplings "jiaozi". In the Song Dynasty, it was common to use paper-wrapped gunpowder to make firecrackers. The custom of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve and Spring Festival gradually became popular. On New Year's Eve in the Song Dynasty, the sound of firecrackers continued all night long. "Tokyo Menghua Lu" said: "It is night, and the firecrackers in the forbidden mountain are shouting, but the sound is heard outside." According to records, there were no less than a hundred varieties of firecrackers in the Song Dynasty.

“You don’t have to enter the house to pay New Year greetings. You only need to give business cards to people when you meet them. This is true for New Year greetings everywhere, and you give large sums of money to paper shops.” “New Year greetings” gradually became a custom in the Song Dynasty, and it was called It is called "flying post". At that time, a red paper bag was posted in front of the door of every house, with "receive blessing" written on it, which was used to put the "flying post".

Qin Guan, a famous scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, has a greeting card. The top line is: "Guan Jing congratulates Ziyun, my brother, Zheng Dan", and the bottom line is: "Gaoyou Qin Guan's hand." Congratulations on Zheng Dan, which means "Congratulations on the New Year." " means. Greeting cards can communicate emotions between people, and this kind of communication is often expressed in short sentences. For example, in the Song Dynasty, people often wrote "Congratulations on the first day of the new year." Over time, greetings became stylized, concise and concise, focused on celebration, and sent good luck to each other. , conveying people’s expectations and longings for life.

Ancient Spring Festival: Ming Dynasty

The Lantern Festival was very popular

New Year’s Day Quotes: Drinking wine to celebrate the New Year

Features of the New Year: Receiving the Kitchen God, sticking to the Door God, and appreciating lanterns

In the Ming Dynasty, the ancient Spring Festival customs were very grand. Receiving the Kitchen God, sticking to the Door God, staying up late on New Year's Eve, and appreciating lanterns on the 15th day of the lunar month have all become popular.

The "Wanli Jiaxing Prefecture Chronicles" of the Ming Dynasty records: "On New Year's Eve, the door gods, peach charms, spring posts, and wells are all sealed. Firecrackers are burned purple, wine and fruit are gathered together, and gongs and drums are played all night long, which is called staying up for the year. "And Shen Mingde has a New Year's Day poem "Butterfly Loves Flowers", which describes the folk New Year's Day customs in Hangzhou in the Ming Dynasty, "It's not dawn yet, the firecrackers are noisy, and Zhong Kui is about to open the door early, and the red spring poster is on. It’s good to sell gold. The incense of burning atractylodes is lingering in the air. The name of Tianzun is written on it, and the ashes are not swept away. People in the street are drunk during the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention the Lantern Festival. Shen Bang, who was once the magistrate of Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture, wrote the local history book "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes": The New Year is from the tenth to the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, which is the day for lantern appreciation. Lamp-making craftsmen and businessmen from all over the country gather in the capital to make lanterns. His products are sold on Yibei Street outside Dong'anmen. There are all kinds of lanterns in the lantern market. People coming here to watch them are crowded, both men and women, and it is very lively. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the lantern test begins, and various lanterns begin to be lit and hung; on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the lantern festival officially begins; on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the lanterns are stopped.

There were two forms of New Year greetings in the capital during the Ming Dynasty. One was to kneel down and worship when they met. Even when people saw relatives and friends on the road, they would get out of their cars and kowtow to pay New Year greetings. Another form of New Year's greetings is a polite form of etiquette. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the capital had the so-called "look at the door and post a post". Some court officials used to send greetings to each other as a form of etiquette for New Year's greetings.

Ming Dynasty scholar Zhang Han said in "Dreams in the Pine Window": "Nowadays, scholars and common people all over the world celebrate the new year and celebrate the coming and going, and toast each other with wine, but Wuhang is the most prosperous." At that time, there was a saying. The proverb goes: "When I look back, I am one year old again; the children clap their hands and are happy to meet the New Year again." It can be seen that the old and young are enjoying themselves during the folk New Year.

Ancient Spring Festival: Qing Dynasty

The emperor wrote the word "Fu" and bestowed it on his ministers

New Year's Quotes: Great joy and great blessings in the New Year, honor and peace, promotion of official positions and salary, May all go well with you.

Features of the New Year: The New Year is very luxurious, and the emperor writes the word "福" to ministers

The Qing Dynasty attached great importance to celebrating the New Year. The Qing court called the New Year the Spring Festival, and it became busy starting from the twelfth lunar month.

During the ancient Spring Festival, the emperor had the custom of writing blessings to his ministers, which dates back to Kangxi. The "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" written by Zhaoyi of the Qing Dynasty records: "The inner court Hanlin and the guards of the Qianqing Gate were all given the double-hook blessing character, which was used to cover the imperial brush and the stone. The remaining imperial brushes were sealed and stored in the Qianqing Palace, and in the following winter During this period, several ministers of military and military affairs were given special gifts, which was called "blessings".

The Chinese New Year in the Qing Dynasty lasted until the Lantern Festival, and guessing lantern riddles was a very popular way to have fun.

According to "Old Wulin Stories" and other records: "Using silk lanterns to cut poems and ridicules, and to draw figures, hide their heads in cryptic words, and tease passers-by with old Beijing edicts. During the Lantern Festival, the Imperial City never sleeps."

< p>In the Qing Dynasty, wealthy families celebrated the New Year quite extravagantly. It is described in "A Dream of Red Mansions". The Jia Mansion is more particular about celebrating the New Year. On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, everything is ready. The door gods, couplets, hanging signs, and peach charms in both mansions have been replaced, giving it a completely new look. The whole family held a grand ancestor worship ceremony, followed by congratulations. "Jia Mu and others put on their makeup according to the products, and arranged all the deacons to enter the palace to congratulate them and wish them a prosperous future." The Jia family has a large field, and collecting rent and goods is the most important source of income for the Jia family every year. At that time, Wuzhuangtou, Heishan Village, sent "New Year's goods", along with a "New Year's greeting card". The book said: "The red gift said: 'Wuzhuangtou under the door, please bow to your grandparents for filial piety. Wanfu Jin'an." , and the young master Jin An. May you be blessed with great happiness and prosperity in the new year. May you be promoted to a higher position and get a higher salary. "Jia Zhen said with a smile, "The Zhuang family has some meaning." Jia Rong also said with a smile: "Don't look at the grammar, just take it. It's auspicious. '"

In ancient times, ancestors were worshiped every New Year's Eve during the Spring Festival. The Jia family was a large family, and the ancestral hall was built in a very grand manner. The book describes "five halls, three buildings, inside and outside. On the eaves of the corridor and in the two balconies above and below the steps, there are so many flowers that there is no open space."

The most important way to celebrate the New Year in the Jia family is to have a "New Year's wine" banquet between relatives. The most fun during the New Year in the Jia family was at the "Lantern Festival Night Banquet". Jia's mother served wine in the flower hall, and asked people to invite the men and women of the family to drink and listen to the opera together. She also rewarded the actors with a lot of money to show their appreciation. The Jia family's apparent wealth.

The form of New Year greetings in the Qing Dynasty was also relatively complicated. People from all walks of life have different social statuses and different customs. At that time, paying New Year greetings was also called "Farewell to the New Year". People with a special relationship must follow the rules when saying New Year's greetings. For example, the ministers of the capital must bid farewell to the emperor; the "wrapped men" and "fuhala" in the palaces of princes and princes must bid farewell to the master of the house; the younger generations of the same clan must go to the "pole", "board", and "shadow" The son-in-law, whether married or unmarried, must go to his father-in-law's house to bid farewell to the new year.