Unbelievable. Did ancient women really only take three baths in their lives?

With our in-depth study of history, we also found many anecdotes. Including ancient women who only bathed three times in their lives, which seems incredible to us. Is it true? So how did ancient women take a bath? Let's have a look.

After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Turkic Khan who occupied the Mongolian grassland sent envoys to Chang 'an to propose to Wendi. In order to stabilize the situation in the north, Emperor Wendi did consider following the policy of the Han Dynasty and marrying his daughter to Khan. But in the end, with her daughter's pleading and the queen's efforts to stop her, Wendi sighed and said, "How can I have the heart to marry you to a place where you only bathe three times in your life?" So in ancient times, did nomadic minorities really only bathe three times in their lives?

First, ordinary nomads really only bathe three times in their lives.

On the ancient Mongolian grassland in China, although the ethnic minorities changed their ruling forces like a merry-go-round, such as Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic and Qidan, they were always in a nomadic state. In order to find a suitable grassland, nomadic tribes keep moving tents every day. Looking for fertile grassland in the vast Mongolian grassland, it is impossible to carry enough water at any time. Even if water is found, there is no chance or time to take a bath. Even if you need to take a bath when you are dirty, you can only wipe it with water. There are no toiletries in the Central Plains, and there are no comfortable bathing facilities in the Central Plains. Therefore, water is very precious to nomadic people who live collectively.

Ordinary people of ethnic minorities are also in a dominant state, and they want to do what nobles need to do. Usually, they have no time to boil water and take a bath. So for the average nomad, he only takes three baths in his life. But nomadic bathing is not as casual as the Central Plains. After the newborn is born, the father of the child will hold the child and bathe the child, which represents a clean start.

Due to the limited sanitary conditions and high infant mortality rate, the father of the child prayed to God to bless the child to hold the ceremony. When getting married, both the bride and groom should take a bath. The man represents his adulthood and the woman represents his new life. After the old man dies, his family will give him a bath, which means he is totally clean. In other words, the nomads of the Northern Expedition did bathe only three times in their lives.

Second, nomadic nobles often take a bath, and three times is completely unrestricted.

It is true that the early nomadic aristocrats, like ordinary people, only took three baths in their lives, but with the deepening of sinicization, this situation has changed. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu Khan proposed to Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. Finally, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty married Wang Zhaojun, a palace maid, to Khan, a southern Xiongnu. South Xiongnu, who got this beauty in vain, was ecstatic. After Wang Zhaojun married back to Xiongnu, every five days, his men would prepare boiled water and other things to bathe Wang Zhaojun, but he still didn't have the habit of bathing.

With the deepening of sinicization, nomadic nobles in the north gradually began to take a bath. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Khitans in the north established the Liao State, and the junior high school system was completely modeled after the Tang Dynasty. There is a saying that Liao inherited the customs and culture of the Tang Dynasty. Bathing is naturally more popular. The urban structure of the capital of Liao is the same as that of the Central Plains, and even a special collective bathroom has appeared. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the nomadic people in the north had seen the world in the south, and in the noble camps, they were all equipped with vats to bathe. In the early Ming Dynasty, an army was sent to the Northern Expedition. When the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty fled hastily, he did not forget to bring his own special bath bucket inlaid with nanmu and jade.

How did ancient beauties in China take a bath?

In ancient times, China attached great importance to self-cleaning, and even called for bathing and treating diseases in spring. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, bathing etiquette was gradually customized. As bathing has penetrated into all aspects of society, people's understanding of bathing is becoming more and more profound, not only that bathing is clean, moist and nourishing; But as a grand ceremony. Before offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the pre-Qin period, it was a fixed law to bathe and purify oneself, which meant that one's heart was clean and pious, also called fasting.

As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, the bathing custom of the whole society has been formed, especially the good custom of "bathing for three days and bathing for five days" contained in the ritual bride. Han has developed the habit of washing his hair at least once every three days and taking a bath every five days. So that the government has a holiday every five days, which is also called "bathing", so that officials can have a good cleaning when they are free. In the Tang Dynasty, "one bath every five days" was changed to one bath every ten days, which was called "rest".

The first, middle and last three days of each month are variants of upper cold, and cold means happiness, which means washing. Probably because of ten days of fun, fun is punctuality and lasts for ten days. Therefore, in the system of the Tang Dynasty, this ten-day holiday was called "Hugh Huan". Tu Benjun, a famous person in Ming Dynasty, also juxtaposed "bathing" with "appreciating antiques", "famous incense" and "reciting famous sayings", indicating that bathing in Ming Dynasty was more elegant than before.

It is worth mentioning that the ancients divided the washing into very fine pieces. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: Mu, Zhuo Fa also. Take a bath and get covered. Wash feet and sprinkle water. Take a shower and give up. It can be seen that the ancients attached importance to their own cleanliness. For a long time, the western church still preached that bathing was a way to punish sinners. In the 4th century AD, a female Christian who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem boasted that she had not washed her face for 18 years, so she felt that she was the purest. Compared with washing hair, there were more articles used in ancient bathing. For the sake of clarity, the following introduction is divided into four items: bathing materials, bathing containers, bathing places and bathing utensils.

I. Materials

1) plant ash

Yes, it was also in the previous article about "washing your hair". It is really a convenient and useful good thing, so I won't go into details about its efficacy. It is recorded in the Song Dynasty that southern women used plant ash to soak in water for decontamination.

2) Taomi water

The same is true of the shampoo mentioned in the last article. As early as the Zhou Dynasty more than 3000 years ago, people used Taomi water to bathe and decontaminate. It is said that it can not only decontaminate, but also has excellent health care function. This was a cheap and common early bath water at that time.

3) Gleditsia sinensis

Similarly, popular natural washing materials. Gleditsia sinensis was sold in Xiao Qi at the latest in the Southern Dynasties. There are more than ten varieties of Gleditsia sinensis, and their decontamination ability is strong or weak. Gleditsia sinensis has the functions of lubricating, refreshing, eliminating oil stains and cleaning skin, and is also commonly used in ancient beauty recipes. When washing clothes with Gleditsia sinensis, the clothes will not change color and shrink, and the fibers will not change color. Gleditsia sinensis bath can also cure rheumatism and skin diseases.

4) Fat beads

Fat beads are what you can get if you want. According to records from 0755 to 79000, trees grew on high mountains and were very tall. Their branches and leaves are like Toona sinensis, with white flowers in May and June, as strong as balls. Solid, as black as soap bubbles, as round as pearls. Picked in June+/kloc-October/October, 5438, boiled and pitted, and mashed with wheat flour or soybean flour as bath medicine. In fact, it got its name because it is as fat as oil and its son is as round as a pearl. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Zhuang in Song Dynasty, there are few Gleditsia sinensis in central Zhejiang, and "fat beads" are mostly used for washing clothes in the bath. Every year in late autumn, people pick the pods, cook them, mash them, add spices and white flour, mix them and knead them into pills, which is called "soap".

5) Pancreas and bath beans

Sun Simiao's "Chicken Rib Slice" and "Thousand Gold Square Yao" in the Tang Dynasty recorded that the visceral blood of pig pancreas was washed, the fat was torn off, and then it was ground into paste, then bean flour and spices were added, mixed evenly, and naturally dried to make bats.

Later, people improved the production process of bath beans, adding sugar when grinding pig pancreas, replacing bean powder with sodium carbonate, adding melted pig fat, mixing evenly, and pressing into balls or blocks. This is the pancreas. The chemical composition of the pancreas is very similar to that of soap today. And there are many kinds of products, such as sweet-scented osmanthus and roses, which are quite similar to the current soap, but the fragrance is different.

The pancreas in the Tang Dynasty played the role of chilblain cream. High-end products are called "face medicine" and "oral fat", which are used to apply face and mouth. The palace will be given to officials in winter. Du Fu's "Thousand Daughters Wings" said: "The mouth contains fat powder, and the silver poppy falls for nine days." That's the truth. In ancient times, labor insurance supplies were also distributed. High-quality bath beans are regarded as high-grade products, but doctors refuse to announce the formula easily. Because of its nobility, it is usually only used for washing hands and faces.

In the book La Ri written by Li Dao in Tang Dynasty, there is a detailed description: it is said that the cream on the face depends on fragrant bath beans, and the scholar wins. However, the current medical care is extremely confidential, and children are not allowed to reveal any laws. As for father and son, the purpose of saints' legislation is to let everyone know. Do you think the world is a fool, the best way is impossible, and the meaning of saints is blocked?

6) perfume medicine

To a large extent, it should be understood as medicinal materials. Chinese herbal medicines or spices are bathed in water, and there are different formulas. And the bath bean combination. It's just that the classification of materials used in the head has been very detailed. Waitai's secret recipe includes face cream, face cream, facial cleanser, whitening Fang Yue, whitening formula, kneading formula, instant noodles, instant noodles and flour whitening formula.

There are also many spices in the whole body bath. In the Han dynasty, there was personal pain and skin loss. Because "it doesn't hurt after a bath", on the 20th, the skin was born and healed, and the body was like solidified fat. It can be seen that medicated bath is effective. The Secret Recipe of Waitai, published in Sun Simiao, has bath recipes in the Tang Dynasty: clove agarwood, agarwood, pearl, crushed jade, water spray, peach blossom bell milk powder, papaya flower, white pear flower, red lotus flower, plum blossom and cherry blossom. The production method is "mashing flowers and incense separately, then grinding pearls and jade pieces into powder, mixing them with bean flour, grinding them for thousands of times, and storing them in secret."

/kloc-Wash your hands and make up frequently on 0/00 days. Its surface is like jade, clean and moist, except for peculiar smell and pink taste. "The throat is also washed with this medicine. Medicinal bath can not only whiten the skin, but also prevent epidemic and strengthen the body, so it is enduring. In the Song Dynasty, pharmacies in Tokyo sold special "face-washing drugs". Fang Yi, a drama of Yuan Dynasty, describes in detail the scene of women taking a bath with "boiled bran and fragrant beans", which shows that "medicated bath prescription" is very popular. During Xie Tianxiang's reign in Qing Dynasty, Lycium barbarum soup was directly recommended to people as a necessary way of health preservation.

Second, the container

Wooden barrel seems to be everyone's impression of the ancients taking a bath, and it is a narrow concept obtained from film and television dramas. In fact, the materials of containers are rich and varied. As can be seen from the existing ancient artifacts in China, our ancestors began to bathe in bathtubs from BC. Zhou's looks like a modern bathtub. This plate is 40 cm high, 87 cm wide and 137 cm long. This shape can be called "bathtub". The whole body is cast with thick and exquisite flat mussel patterns, and the image is extremely vivid. The heads of eight animals are around, each holding a ring. There is an inscription 1 1 1 on the disc.

During the Warring States period, there was another kind of water utensil called Jane, which was a certified bathtub. The existing "Warring States Shuanglong Sword" is a rare large-scale water vessel. The ears of the sword are animal-shaped, covered with a big ring. The mouth of the Shuanglong climber looks like water, very vivid, and the whole body is decorated with gorgeous dragon patterns. In ancient books, "Ducker's Records"

Such as a long-handled spoon, is often used to scoop water. When aristocrats took a bath in the early Han Dynasty, people stood on a "bath tray" watered and washed by waiters, so the shape of the bath tray was larger than that used for washing hair or hands. The picture below shows a Yunlong lacquer bath dish unearthed from Mawangdui, which is the bath of the Bianhou family in Han Dynasty. Its diameter is 72cm, which is quite large. An adult standing in a tray can be served water and bathed by the waiter.

Three. Land use

Bathroom, a special place for bathing, is commonly known as' bathhouse', which was also called' bathroom door' and' mixed hall' in ancient times. Our ancestors attached great importance to skin cleanliness and hygiene very early. As early as in "Saint Ji Nong", there was a saying that "a new bath must be crowned, and a new bath must shake clothes". It also records the bathing of Shang people. But there was no special bathroom at that time. About the appearance of the bathroom, the southern ballad records that there is no * * * well outside and no * * * bath inside. 965

The Wang Mu Museum of Hanguang Mausoleum in Shugang, Yangzhou still preserves the earliest private bathroom in the history of bathing in China. In the high-standard wooden coffin tomb of the famous "Ugly Emperor", at the fifth entrance of the west wing of the tomb, there is a bathing room of about 10 square meter, all paved with a whole piece of golden nanmu, equipped with a complete set of bathing utensils such as copper pots, copper pots, pumice, clogs, copper lamps and bath stools. The bathroom is next to the master's living room.

To some extent, it reflects that the ancients paid attention to cleanliness, loved bathing and pursued a secret, quiet, thoughtful and comfortable bathing environment. In the Tang Dynasty, a large bathroom temple named bathroom door appeared in Chang 'an, Kyoto at that time. Some even set up hot springs. In 723 AD, the hot spring palace in Lintong was a bathhouse given to Yang Guifei by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. This was written by the poet Bai Juyi in his poem Zhou Li.

Bathrooms were very common in the Song Dynasty. Hong Mai's Book of Rites: Most houses built by others have bathrooms. Yun: "There are millions of people in Tokyo, and no one uses all coal instead of firewood." It seems that there are many opportunities for citizens to enjoy hot baths. Fan Chengda's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" also said: In order to win the first prize, the flower seller in Lin 'an put the unopened plum branches in the bathroom and fumigated them with hot and humid steam to make the dormant buds bloom ahead of time, which is regarded as a sublimation of the bathroom.

Public bathhouses and bathrooms began to appear in the Song Dynasty at the latest. The earliest public bathroom was the' mixed hall' in Suzhou. At this time, the public toilet has the business of cleaning the back. Su Dongpo had a saying in the year of, "Leave a message to wipe people's backs and wave their arms day and night." The song dynasty script "chicken ribs" once wrote: before dawn, the city was still asleep, and the baths were open to welcome guests. This custom has continued to modern times, and the couplet "The golden rooster is hot first, then the soup is sung, and the red sun is full" is the embodiment of this custom.

Bathrooms were very common in the Song Dynasty.

By the Yuan Dynasty, the development of public bathhouses was quite mature. Tell us that there were "cold baths" on some streets in Hangzhou in Yuan Dynasty. "The waiters and waitresses are at your service at any time. From small to large, male and female customers in these bathhouses are used to taking cold baths all the year round, which is considered to be good for their health. " Kyle Poirot also wrote a good habit of "everyone is used to taking a bath once a day, especially before eating" in Hangzhou.

Carefully displayed a "citizen bathing map" in most periods of the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, in addition to taking a bath, public bathhouses could also scratch their backs, comb their hair, shave their heads and get pedicures. However, the price is different. If you take a bath, you need five yuan for soup, two yuan for scratching your back, five yuan for combing your hair, two yuan for shaving your head and five yuan for pedicure. In a word, it is 19 dollars. There is also a cupboard for clothes, hats and boots in the bathroom. The bathing procedure is: go to Inner Tang Chi for a while, sleep in the second room, then go in and take a bath, but have a rest outside the guest room.

When it is combined with a special bathroom, it should be an accessory functional equipment. Shower equipment appeared in the Song Dynasty. Record: On the night of Tokyo Lantern Festival, Manjusri and Pu Xian, who crossed the lion and the white elephant, were tied to the Lantern Mountain in Yujie. They "put their fingers out of the water five times, shake them with their hands, twist the lanterns on the top of the mountain with gourds, put them in wooden cabinets, and put them down hour by hour like waterfalls." Based on this, it is speculated that in view of the mechanical production level at that time, it is entirely possible to install similar wringing, water storage and drainage appliances in the bath. In Meipu by Song Li, a painter in the Southern Song Dynasty, there is an artificial waterfall device controlled by a sluice. According to this principle, it can be converted into shower equipment.

Copper leakage timing in Yuan Dynasty is a device that clearly reflects the appearance of shower. It is worth mentioning that Tao's "Like a Dream" records the bathing scene in the palace. The palace bath is carved from stone, carved from stone and stone, with exotic flowers and countless leaves in the middle. There is a canopy of Ziyun Kowloon on the top, surrounded by Shu brocade, which spans three weeks in the pool. On the bridge, the brocade is a pavilion, the middle plaque is a phoenix, the left plaque is a cloud, the right plaque is a cloud, and the three plaques are opposite.

There is another bridge leading to the future on the three pavilions. When the imperial concubine takes a bath, she rides on animal toys such as Wenyu Lynx, White Crystal Deer and Red Stone Horse. In the placement pool, play the game of "Welcome to Xiang Shui Le". Wang Renyu's "Ji Dian Quotations" shows another scene: the Yufeng Tang is full of Wen Yao dense stones, the middle tip is full of Yu Lian, the pond is full of soup springs, the splendid geese are sewn into the water, and the emperor and the imperial concubine carve boats and play in it.

Among the mosques built in Yangzhou in the Yuan Dynasty, there is a "water room" on the south side of Puhading's tomb, which is today's shower room. This is the place where the upcoming Muslims will hold purification ceremonies. "Water House" is fully functional; There is a water heater, a one-way shower room, a hanging pot for storing hot water, a room under the pot, and water will pour down. You can bathe the whole body from right to left and from bottom to top. It seems that this is the witness of the earliest "shower" in Yangzhou, which has made certain contributions to the development of the bathing industry.

Conclusion: From the above introduction, you must know that the life of ancient women was really serious, and they only took three baths. Because it was a patriarchal society at that time, women were busy at home and had little time to boil water and take a bath. Ancient beauty bathing is also very particular. I hope Bian Xiao's introduction will be helpful to everyone.