At the "600 Years of the Forbidden City" exhibition, a group of utensils for the Kunning Palace Festival and a happy door are exhibited, which is particularly good at illustrating the two major functions of the Kunning Palace: sacrifice and marriage.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > 365 days a year, with daily sacrifices</h1>
In the "Biography of Zhen Huan", after Zhen Huan returned to the palace, there was a scene of the emperor, the empress and many harem concubines sacrificing in the Kunning Palace, and the worship was a pair of dolls dressed in red and green clothes, and in the "Yanxi Raiders", there was also a scene of the emperor and the empress, as well as the princes of the clan and the officials of the Wenwu Yipin, who shared the meat.
Screenshot of the film and television of "The Biography of Zhen Huan"
Film and television screenshot of "Yanxi Raiders"
The shamanic sacrifices in Kunning Palace are the New Year Festival, the Spring and Autumn Festival, the Four Seasons Festival, the Moon Festival, and the Day Festival, and the Day Festival is divided into two types: the Morning Festival and the Sunset Festival. It is no exaggeration to say that Khun Ninh Palace has sacrifices every day 365 days a year.
The sacrificial area is said separately
The image comes from the Internet
The image comes from the Forbidden City
The entire sacrificial area of Khun Ninh Palace can be divided into three major blocks: the sacrificial prayer area, the stove room and the storage of sacrificial supplies. Among them, there are ring-shaped kangs on the south, west and north sides of the prayer area:
There is a large carved dragon cabinet in the middle of The North Kang, and a painted wooden cabinet at the west end, and the middle of the two is dedicated to the god of the Festival; in front of the North Kang, there are also musical instruments such as three strings, pipa, zaban, and table drum used in the worship of the gods. At the north and south ends of xikang, there is a large wooden cabinet with a carved dragon, and the middle is dedicated to the worship god. According to the Manchurian Ritual, the shrine is "Shakyamuni (in the small pavilion of the golden pavilion) bodhisattva elephant, Guan Di elephant (portrait axis hanging on the mantle)", and now only the Guan Emperor elephant is left.
Carved dragon large wooden cabinet
The Nan Kang (bed) set up a throne along the front eaves window, and when the meat was eaten, the emperor sat on the large bed in the south window, facing north.
A bronze horn lamp is installed on each side of the throne
In the sacrificial space of Kunning Palace, the emperor's throne is no longer centered, and sits on the south and north, this special arrangement shows that Kunning Palace is a space dominated by Manchu culture, in this space, the rules of symmetry, centering, and south facing emphasized by the traditional ceremonial furnishings of Han culture no longer apply.
The western part of the Kuning Palace is divided into a separate room to store shrines, idols and sacrificial supplies.
How can the sacrifice be less meat
There are three large pots in the stove room of Kuning Palace, two for cooking sacrificial meat and one for steaming cakes.
The Khun Ninh Palace shrine needs eight kinds of cakes every year, such as what kind of cakes, rubbing strips of bread (the first day of March, the first day of September and the offering of blessings), steamed buns, linden leaf dumplings (offered on the eighth day of the first day of April), Suye Dumplings (one offering in the beginning of June), the pulp cake (the first offering in july), the dumpling stew (sound frying) oil (offered on the first day of August), and the sprinkled cake (offered on a regular day), all of which need to be made in Kuning Palace, and ten plates of sprinkled cakes are required during the daily festival. Sprinkled cake, also known as steamed cake, is sprinkled on top of the steamed grate layer by layer of rice noodles, sprinkled with adzuki beans on top of and bottom, steamed and cut into four corners and divided into 10 parts on the plate.
Screenshot of the video of "Shangxin Forbidden City"
There are also iron hooks, iron spoons, and shovels for cooking pigs on the stove, and iron lamps and wooden wax tables for lighting are placed on the windowsills. On the east wall is a wooden plaque that reads "The Seat of the Emperor of the Eastern Chef's Order".
The tin-coated red lacquer table for pig killing should be two pieces (because two pigs are killed at the same time at a time), but one was found in the collection, because after the Xinhai Revolution, one pig was used at a time, so for many years there was only one tin red lacquer table left. Two tin wooden troughs in front of the table are used to hold pig blood.
On the south side, two large blue and white dragon pattern cylinders for water purification are placed on the red lacquer cylinder holder, and between the two cylinder holders is a circular stone called "playing pastry stone".
The rope in the photo is called the descendant rope, and it is twisted with yellow, red and green silk strips. Descendants ropes are used in both the Spring and Autumn Festival Court Blessing God and the Tangzi Pole Festival.
During the Spring and Autumn Festival, a shrine pole was erected outside the Kunning Palace. The pole of the celestial god is called "Sauron pole" in Manchu. Now in front of the kunning palace, you can still see a piece of the god pole stone, the original god pole is inserted here, and there is a tin bucket on the pole. During the sacrifice, the pigs are chopped into water and mixed with crushed rice, and placed in a tin bucket on the Sauron pole for the birds to peck.
The former god pole of Kunning Palace in the old photo, picture source network
In the scene of the sacrifice of Kunning Palace in "Yanxi Raiders", the figure of Sauron pole can be seen
Now only the Divine Pole Stone was left in front of the Kunning Palace
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > emphasis on the festival</h1>
After talking about the layout of the sacrifice area of Khun Ninh Palace, let's take a look at the daily ritual program of Khun Ninh Palace. Why just introduce the Festival? Mainly because of the exhibition of the 600th anniversary exhibition of the Forbidden City, I was first attracted by a portrait in the Sunset Festival, and then I was interested in the Kunning Palace Sacrifice, which will be described in detail later, don't worry.
In the twelfth year of Qianlong (1747), the special canon of shamanic sacrifices was revised, the "Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony of the Gods of Manchuria", and the furnishings, types, procedures, sacrifices and sacrifice utensils of each sacrifice were carefully stipulated.
The festival is held every day during The Time of Shen (15:00 to 17:00). The offerings include: five incense plates, five cups of purified water, ten plates of sprinkled cakes, and two pork.
Sunset festival arrangement
In the south direction of The Great Kang, there is a black lacquer drawer table with painted flowers, and a red lacquer box and a black lacquer shelf are set up. On the black lacquer rack, a red-plated gold-green satin mantle is tied with a yellow cotton rope, and then the portrait of the god is respectfully invited from inside the red lacquer box in the middle of the mantle. On the right side of the mantle, the god Mulihan is enshrined in the west; in the east, there is a long seat with a black lacquer belt backrest, and on the top is a red piece of gold mattress and a sable mattress, which is placed to worship the Mongolian god. Si Xiang and Si Zhu sat on black lacquer and placed them in front of the divine throne.
Si Zhu Shaman tied a glitter satin skirt tunic bell holding a hand drum, staggering in front of the god's throne, dancing and praying, reciting the divine song, Si Li eunuch 2 people, a drum, a clap and a board. After the dance, go to the satin skirt, waist bell and tambourine. Subsequently, if the emperor and empress are present, they will perform the ceremony with the si zhu shaman in the middle of the divine throne, and if the emperor and empress do not come, the si will perform the ceremony. Then, before the pig is placed on the throne of God, the pig's ears are filled with clean water, and the blood is taken to dissolve the animals. Serve the gizzard meat.
After the end of the festival, followed by the back lamp offering, the incense dish is withdrawn, the stove door is covered, and the window is covered with green silk with the back lamp, and the crowd withdraws, leaving only the drumming eunuch and the si zhu shaman. The shaman rings the bell and sings four times. After the end of the back lantern festival, the curtain is opened and the lamp is lit as before. All the sacrificial meat is delivered to the dining room. After the end of the festival, the statues of the gods are placed in a box and stored on the black lacquer drawer table on the north wall.
Shamanic garment
Shaman hat
Image source from the official website of the Forbidden City
The top of the hat is a cross of two copper pieces, connected to the edge of the copper cap, and on each side stands a dragon pillar, in front of which there are flame beads that can be rotated, there are two small round mirrors on the beads, the hat is red with thin wire, and the pillar on the top of the hat stops the god bird.
The waist bell used for shamanic sacrifices
The waist bell is composed of main components such as a belt, petticoat, conebell, and tie ring, and the cone bell is a horn shape with a wide tip and a bottom. Before the shaman is used, the assistant holds the waist bell in both hands and kneels to the sky, ties the shaman around the waist, and after tying it, he staggers back and forth to dance, twisting and swinging the waist, so that the iron bells swing against each other to make a rhythmic sound.
The three strings used in shamanic sacrifices
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > who are the three gods of the sunset festival</h1>
Three gods are mentioned in the ritual program above, the god Mulihan, the Mongol god, and the iconoclastic god.
First of all, the most common Mongolian god in film and television dramas is the pair of dolls dressed in red and green silk that everyone worships in "The Biography of Zhen Huan", and the fourth interpretation of the "Qing History Manuscript" explains that "Katun Noyan is a Mongolian god" in the kunning palace xi sacrifice speech, so these two human idols are now named Katun Noyan.
As for the fact that the god Mulihan is not reflected in the restoration of the original state of the Khun Ninh Palace today, why? In the 19600 issue of the Bulletin of the Palace Museum, Mr. Zhu Jiaxuan's "Arrangement of the Original Exhibition of Kunning Palace" was published, which said: "As for the god Mulihan, it is estimated that it may have been a tablet rather than a picture, and this item has not been found in the collection. ”
However, in the February issue of the Forbidden City, Fu Lianzhong's article "Sacrifice to the Gods of Kunning Palace" was published in the February issue of the Forbidden City, and the god Mulihan explained it like this: "The god of Changbai Mountain, named 'Mulihan God', has carved mink heads, deer heads, fish heads and circular wooden sticks, that is, puppets. It is then folded with yellow spinning, like the image of an ancient clan totem. ”
The article also mentions a legend about the Mongolian gods: Mr. Zu of the Qing Dynasty was abandoned and adopted as an old man and an old woman who sold tofu. Because the old man made a living selling tofu, he falsely rumored that the Kunning Palace Xikang Erfo Pavilion was a tofu peach, referring to the second muppet who knew Wang Daddy and Wang Mama.
The portrait of the god in the festival is exactly the exhibit in this exhibition in the Forbidden City. The content is seven dressed women sitting on chairs, with two flying magpies on top and two providers of Qing Dynasty costumes below. There are "Nadan Daihun" in the celebration of the Festival, and the Lizhi of the Qing History Manuscript and the "History of the State Dynasty Palace" explain that Nadan Daihun is the worship of the Seven Stars, and this portrait of the god is seven women, probably Nadan Daihun.
The one in the middle is the founding goddess of Manchuria, the fairy Fokulun. According to legend, there are seven fairies in the heavens, who often come to the Changbai Mountain Tianchi to bathe, and the fairy Buddha Kulun once swallowed a zhu fruit from a magpie bird and became pregnant, giving birth to bukuri Yongshun, a clan of the Ai Xinjue Luo clan, and future generations honored Fokulun as the founding goddess of Manchuria.
The two crows above the portrait should be a reinterpretation of the magpie who came to Zhuguo in the legend of the Manchurian ancestors.
Fokulen is also interpreted as the head of the Seven Fairies, in the center of the portrait.
The tall figures of the fairies contrasted sharply with the diminutive stature of the two officials in the mortal world below the portrait.
On the incense table in front of the scroll of the portrait of the Seven Stars Goddess, there are five offerings of copper, from left to right, the elephant vase, the Buddha statue candlestick, the elephant foot elephant stove, the Buddha statue candlestick, and the elephant driving vase.
In the left corner of the black lacquer shelf hanging from the scroll of the portrait of the Seven Stars Goddess (facing the audience), there is a sacred bell used for the Kunning Palace Back Lamp Festival, which is also a sacred tool held by Si Zhu.
Next to the sacred bell is an embroidered dragon pattern satin frame, and the left and right sides of the portrait axis are green brocade and yellow brocade.
Embroidered dragon pattern satin
From the establishment of the "Houjin" regime in Nurhaci, there was a tradition of sacrifice at the Qingning Palace, the queen's residence in the Shengjing Imperial Palace, and the shaman's requirement to sacrifice at the main bed. Kunning Palace as a shamanic sacrifice place began in the early years of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor arrived in Beijing in September of the first year of Shunzhi, and in October he imitated the Shengjing Qingning Palace and formulated the Kunning Palace sacrifice ceremony. Until the time of Puyi's small imperial court, he still insisted on daily sacrifices at Kunning Palace.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > full of joyous caves</h1>
Another use of Khun Ninh Palace is the wedding room of the emperor, and the emperor and empress will live in Khun Ninh Palace for two days, in the DongNuan Pavilion of Khun Ninh Palace. In the fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1665), when the Kangxi Emperor was married, the Kunning Palace was used as a cave house and a joint ceremony was held, and later the marriage of the Tongzhi Emperor, the Guangxu Emperor, and the marriage of the Sun Emperor Puyi were also in the Kunning Palace.
Why choose two rooms on the east side as the big wedding cave room? This can be found in the compromise of the Qing Kangxi Four-Year Ceremonial Department:"
The image comes from the official website of the Forbidden City
Originally, the officials of the Ministry of Ceremonies initially arranged the ceremony of the great wedding ceremony in the middle of the five rooms in the west of the Kunning Palace, that is, the third room in the western number, but Empress Xiaozhuang believed that the location of the gods in the middle was too close to the location of the gods to be used as a cave room, so the cave room was set in the east first and second rooms.
Today's Kunning Palace cave house is still arranged according to the original state of the Qing Emperor's wedding, and the festive atmosphere is everywhere. The inner wall is decorated with red paint, the roof is hung with double happiness palace lights, and the wooden shadow wall is set outside the east and west two doors, and the inside and outside of the shadow wall are decorated with gold lacquer double happiness characters, which means "going out to see the joy".
The double happy character gate outside the east of kunning palace
The front eaves of the East Warm Pavilion is a Tong Kang, covered with a large red satin embroidered dragon and phoenix double happy character large kang mattress, and a rosewood carved dragon and phoenix kang table.
Image source network
Mr. Zhu Jiayun stated the furnishings near the front eaves of the Kang in "The Arrangement of the Original Exhibition of Kunning Palace", ""
On the big red carpet in the middle of the house in front of the bed, embroidered with exquisite dragon and phoenix patterns (image from the Forbidden City)
The rear eaves are divided into two rooms, east and west, each of which is equipped with a dragon and phoenix double happiness winding crane gourd floor cover kang table, and the big red happy tent and futon are hung on the bed.
The curtains and curtains on the dragon and phoenix beds in the cave room should be replaced with the style of big red dragon and phoenix double happiness characters, covered with bunks made of Jiangnan Seiko Weaving Show, and embroidered with a hundred naughty children with different looks, called "hundred zi quilts". At that time, the emperor and empress sat in front of the bed to perform the ceremony.
What is different is that in addition to the fiery big red, there are also black hi-character cuts posted on white wallpaper inside and outside the Kunning Palace. Not only on the roof and walls of kunning palace, but also on the roof ceiling and walls of the hall on the east and west sides of kunning palace (next time you go to the Forbidden City, your friends can go to look for it). Why is there a white element in such a festive place?
Legend has it that when the Manchu ancestors summed up their hunting experience, they found that after the winter snow is a good opportunity to catch prey, wearing white clothes is easy to approach the prey, and red clothes will not only alarm the prey, but also may be attacked by beasts of prey. So white represents good luck and good luck for them.
If you look at the famous regent Dorgon, who is the lord of the white flag, it can be seen that white is second only to the yellow that represents the imperial power for the Manchus.
In the old Manchu customs, the Spring League is also white, and the picture below is the white "couplet" and "General Gate God" of the Great Qing Gate of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang.
In this way, it is not difficult to understand that as the white wallpaper and ceiling that can be seen in the buildings of Kunning Palace, which retains the Manchu style, it is also a testimony to Manchu customs.
In addition to the description, the pictures in the text were taken for myself from the "Danchen Yonggu" exhibition and the Kunning Palace (to say more, in 2019, when I saw the inside of the Kunning Palace, I could also pick up the window, and now I have pulled a cordon at a distance of 2 meters, but in order to let the audience see more clearly, the Forbidden City has lit up in the palace, but I arrived at kunning Palace at about 2:30 p.m. The reflection is very strong, I can't see clearly, and it is not as clear as the previous window photo)