I don't know when Chinese began to celebrate 520 Valentine's Day. And the most direct way for people to express their love is to send flowers. Fiery roses, noble and elegant tulips, romantic peonies, all represent love. But 2,500 years ago, people's way of expressing love was simple and ordinary, and a fragrant bouquet of peppercorns was the most beautiful symbol of love.
Zanthoxylum peppercorn (commonly known as pepper), also known as pepper, 檓 (huǐ), Qin pepper, Shu pepper, is a small deciduous tree in the Rutaceae family. Peppers, regardless of flowers, leaves, and fruits, are rich in aroma and resistant to storage, and were used as spices in ancient times. Later, the "hemp" in peppercorns became the sixth flavor in addition to the five flavors of China, and became an indispensable seasoning in Chinese life.
As an indispensable seasoning in China on the tip of the tongue, peppercorns are no strangers to us, but how can this plant become the flower of love? Let's start with this poem in the Book of Poetry.
穀 (gǔ) dan died and Yue Yi (zōng) Mai. Qiáo, I hold the pepper.
This is the last sentence in the poem "Chen Feng, the Fall of the East Gate", which describes such a scene: when they first met, the girl of the Zizhong's family danced under the tree, and her beautiful figure attracted the attention of many men. Dancing with the girl, the young man sang a love song, and his song was gentle. In the eyes of the young man, the girl is as beautiful as a wattle flower; In the girl's mind, the guy is her hope and ideal, and she wants to give him a bouquet of peppercorns to show her feelings. Under the witness of the most ordinary plants in nature, love is so heart-pounding.
Zhou Guoping said that acacia is a lengthy manuscript, but it is often very short when published. A few lines of poetry may be someone else's life. The flowers of love that bloom in a short life and the fruits of love that bear are actually hidden in the small peppercorns of the Book of Poetry.
Zanthoxylum anthumaki is a particularly practical plant. Not only is it fragrant, it's a rare seasoning. And witness the love of men and women. What is even more valuable is that peppers have many seeds, representing the reproduction of human beings.
In another poem in the Book of Poetry, "Tang Feng Pepper Chat", it is written:
Pepper chatting is true, and the sun is rising. The son of the other is a great man. Pepper chats and (jū), far strip and.
Pepper Chat Truth, 蕃Yanying 匊 (jū). The son of the other is large and dedicated. Pepper chats and, far strips and.
"Pepper chats with the truth, and the fruit rises." The thick and lush peppercorn trees are full of plump peppercorns, and strings of small lanterns like fiery red hang from the treetops, which are very attractive. This is a symbol of a good harvest, and it is also a connotation of prosperity. This naturally leads to the praise of the "son of the other."
"The son of the other, great and without a friend." Here, the pepper is used as a metaphor for the prosperity of the tall and strong woman, in order to highlight her vigorous reproductive ability. The last sentence "pepper chats and, far strip and" is written that peppercorns not only look beautiful, but also have a strong aroma. Here, the bixing is one, the people and peppers are mutually transformed, echoing before and after, and the praise of the characters is further deepened, containing timelessness and a sense of lingering sound.
After the "Book of Poetry" raised peppercorns from the flower of love to the height of reproductive life, it was sublimated again during the Two Han Dynasty, and peppercorns became the darling of the official court aristocracy, and the empress residence had the titles of "pepper room" and "pepper palace". "Han Guanyi" contains: "The queen called the pepper room, take the actual spread, and the outside is coated with pepper, and also take its temperature."
We have all heard the story of Emperor Wudi of Han "Jinwu Zangjiao". When Emperor Wudi of Han was a child, Chen Gillian's mother jokingly asked him if it was good to give Gillian his wife. Liu Che replied happily: "If Gillian is a wife, store it as a golden house." "Later, we don't know whether Emperor Wudi of Han cast a golden house for Gillian to live in, but according to the pepper hall in the Weiyang Palace where the Empresses of the Western Han Dynasty lived, we can guess: this golden house is most likely smelly of peppercorns.
Confucius said, "Three hundred poems, in a word, are innocent." "The flower of love in the Book of Poetry is frank and unrestrained, happy but not lustful, sad but not sad, rich and long. You see people holding a handful of peppercorns in their hands to court, living in a "pepper room" made of peppercorn bricks, three meals a day, warm in all seasons. The beauty of love blooms among purple peppercorns in this way, and the result is in the truth of pepper chat, and finally blends into the sweetness of the years.
Today, as long as we open the Book of Poetry, we will smell the fragrance of peppers, hear the Qinse and the song, and see the fruitful fruits of the "Pepper Chat" faintly spread from 2,000 years ago.