Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year in Chinese, on this day, the whole country celebrates the New Year. Due to China's long history, different dynasties and different classes of the same dynasty have also had different ways of celebrating the Spring Festival. So, how did the Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty court?
In fact, since the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, the Qing Dynasty Imperial Palace has already begun to be busy. During the Qianlong period, whenever Xiaonian sacrificed the king of the stove, the Qianlong Emperor would personally go to battle, beating drums and clapping songs on the kang. Yao Yuanzhi recorded in the "Miscellaneous Records of the Bamboo Leaf Pavilion": "Every year, the Kunning Palace is dedicated to the stove, and a drum board is set on its main kang. Last, first served. Gao Miao drove in, sat on the kang and beat himself on the drum board, and sang the song "Visiting xian". "The emperor is singing, this picture is very interesting to think about.
After the new year, it is Chinese New Year's Eve, but before the Chinese New Year's Eve, the Qing emperor has one more important thing to do, that is, to "seal the pen". "Sealing pen" is also known as "sealing the seal", as the name suggests, on this day the emperors will stop their official duties and give themselves a holiday, as for the holiday time, usually until the first day of the first month.
After the closure of the Yuanmingyuan, the emperors returned to the Forbidden City and began to prepare for the New Year. Of course, the emperors did not have to do anything, the affairs of the palace were owned by the maids and concubines, and the emperor only had to wait for the banquet of Chinese New Year's Eve night.
However, the emperors who did not have to work also had their own affairs, Chinese New Year's Eve this day, they could not idle from the moment they opened their eyes. Chinese New Year's Eve at four o'clock in the morning, the emperor would get up to "pick up the gods." There is a special ceremony for receiving the gods, and the emperor must first go to the Buddhist hall of the Yangsheng Hall and other Buddhist halls in the palace to pick up incense and perform rituals, and when entering and leaving, there must also be cannons and bamboo to greet each other, in order to show the sincerity of the gods.
Look up to ask God, and bow your head and "step on the age." On Chinese New Year's Eve day, the road from the courtyard to the gate is sprinkled with sesame straw, and people walk on it to pray for blessings. There is a record of stepping on the age in the "Records of the Yanjing Years and the Age of The Year of Yanjing": "Chinese New Year's Eve from the household court to the gate, everywhere you walk, you sprinkle it with mushrooms, which is called the age of the foot."
On the morning of Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperors and the empress concubines had breakfast together. Although it is only breakfast, as long as it is on the side of the "meal", it is naturally not shabby. The "Forbidden City Dictionary" records: "One product of yellow rice, one product of bird's nest hanging stove duck, hanging stove meat, and one product of wild hot pot, one product of evergreen wine stewed duck hot pot, one product of eight immortal bowl bird's nest apple stewed fat chicken, one product of green and white jade bowl soup duck..." There are twenty-one products for breakfast alone, which shows the degree of palace luxury.
Of course, breakfast and lunch are just foreshadowing, and the Chinese New Year's Eve meal in the evening is the highlight. It is not an exaggeration to say that this meal was a state banquet of the Qing Dynasty, after all, the emperor, the empress, the concubines, and the ministers of culture and military affairs all had to attend this dinner. The sumptuousness of the dinner is very imaginable, and the number of rare delicacies on the table is innumerable. However, do not think that this meal is a feast, in fact, this meal is very painful for the inferior.
At the dinner party, everyone's position was sorted according to the size of the official position, even the position of the concubines was no exception, the higher the status, the closer to the emperor. When the emperor eats, the people below cannot eat, and they must prostrate their heads and salute to congratulate the emperor. In this way, the people who eat are not happy, and the people below do not have to eat. Therefore, many people are still hungry after eating this meal, and they still need to go home and eat with their families.
By the first day of the Lunar New Year, the most important pilgrimage of the year will begin. Saying that it is a dynasty meeting is actually equivalent to a hundred officials paying homage to the emperor. On the first day of the new year, before dawn, the hundred officials waited in front of the palace early. When the emperor arrived, the ceremonial official offered a cup of Tusu wine, the wine cup was made of gold, weighing up to one pound, known as the Golden Ou Yonggu Cup, which means Jiangshan Yonggu. After drinking wine, the emperor wants to open the pen on New Year's Day, that is, the emperor personally writes a congratulatory message, the content is similar, nothing more than praying for the peace of the world and the safety and health of all people. From the drumming and clapping and singing on the kang on the 23rd of the Waxing Moon to the opening of the New Year's Day at this time, the Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty Imperial Palace is really full of ceremoniality and private grounding.
When the hour came, the New Year's worship ceremony officially began, the bells and drums sounded in unison, the firecrackers sounded in unison, and the emperor ascended to the Taihe Hall, sat on the dragon chair, and accepted the kneeling of the hundred officials below. At this time, the ceremonial official announced that he congratulated the Qing Dynasty Tai Min'an and long live the emperor. After the reading was completed, the hundred officials also performed the great ceremony of three kneels and nine prostrations. After the ceremony, the hundred officials stood up and sat on the seat given by the emperor and listened carefully to the emperor's words. After drinking tea, the New Year's worship ceremony was officially over, the emperor walked out of the main hall first, and the hundred officials then retreated from the dynasty in turn.
This day was the most tiring and exciting day for the palace ladies and slaves, because although they had to worry about the New Year day and night, the emperor and nobles would also give them red envelopes on this day. Of course, as for how much money was in the red packet, it all depended on their impression in the emperor's heart. Generally speaking, the higher the status, the better the red envelopes and rewards received.
The children and children of the Eight Flags in the palace will also receive money for the age of pressing, and the elders will wear money with colored ropes, and the money in the shape of a dragon will be placed at the foot of the bed and given to the children.
After the end of the first day of the first lunar month, the Spring Festival in the palace continued. In the Court of the Qing Dynasty, there was a custom of putting on lights. The so-called lantern is to light the emperor's longevity lamp in six days such as Chinese New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so as to pray for the emperor's dragon body health and long live the emperor's life.
It was not until the sixth day of the first lunar month, when the emperor went to the court to handle government affairs, the holidays of the hundred officials ended, and the shops in Beijing began to open one after another, and the Spring Festival in the Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty was only slightly over. However, the Spring Festival of the Qing Dynasty has not ended, until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month, which is considered to be the Spring Festival.
Resources:
Miscellaneous Notes on Bamboo Leaf Pavilion
"The Chronicle of the Yanjing Dynasty"
Dictionary of the Forbidden City