Nowadays, the pace of life is accelerating, and many office workers are complaining that holidays are getting less and less. At this time, some people will comfort: "You are still satisfied, those officials in ancient times, people go to work every day, every morning they have to get up and go to the court, it is much harder than us." ”
Therefore, everyone has such a misunderstanding, thinking that ancient officials had to go to the court every day all year round, which was indeed much harder than us. However, the fact is that ancient officials also had holidays, after all, people are not made of iron, if it is really every day early out and late home, no one can stand it.
In fact, since the first unified dynasty in China, the Qin Dynasty, officials have already had a vacation system. After the continuous improvement of the succession of dynasties, the holiday system is also slowly changing. Next, let's take a look at how ancient officials took holidays.
I. Qin and Han "Return"
The leave system in the Qin and Han dynasties was called "farewell", which, as the name suggests, is to tell the superiors that you can go back. At that time, the system was very imperfect, so there was no provision for the length of the vacation, that is to say, as long as you took a leave, if there was no major event, you could go back whenever you wanted, but everyone was generally busy with the work at hand and went back to work.
For example, when Liu Bang was the chief of the pavilion at that time, he often "said goodbye", saying that he had farm work to do at home, just said hello to his superiors, and went back to busy, as for when to go back, the boss never asked. This point, Sima Qian recorded in the "Records of History": "When Liu Bang was the head of the Qin Dynasty Pavilion, he often told him to return to the field. ”
From this point of view, the leave system of the Qin Dynasty was very lax, and in the Han Dynasty, this system was slowly repaired, first of all, there was still a "farewell", because in the "Notes on the Book of Han" there is a record: "The ancient famous officials took a leave of absence", in addition, the Han Dynasty also had a "single rest".
After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he set requirements for officials to take a vacation: "Officials take a five-day break. "That is, working for five days and resting for one day, which is somewhat similar to our current single break, except that the Han Dynasty was a five-day break, and today's single break has to go to six days of work."
So what do officials generally do at home on this day's leave?
As we all know, the hair of ancient officials is very long, usually to go to the court busy with business, there is no time to take care of themselves, so over time, the body will inevitably have a peculiar smell. Therefore, Liu Bang stipulated that a five-day break was to let everyone go back and clean it well, so the vacation of the Han Dynasty was also called "Xiu Mu".
II. The Three Kingdoms, two Jin Dynasties, the Southern and Northern Dynasties "Emergency Holiday"
The Three Kingdoms period was in a chaotic world, and everyone did not have time to improve the vacation system, so this period completely followed the "farewell" of the Qin and Han Dynasties, that is, as long as there was an emergency, it was good to say hello, as for how long it was put away, I looked at it myself.
During the Jin Dynasty, it was not good to think that everyone had no time limit for vacation, so they prioritized it. If you take leave for urgent reasons, the maximum leave can reach 20 days. The history books record that "those who are in a hurry are in a hurry on january, and the limit is sixty days in a year, and the illness of those within a thousand miles is extended by twenty days." ”
It is not that it can be put 20 days a month, only 60 days a year, and it must be a disease before it can be extended to 20 days. However, such a system can still reflect the human touch.
In the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a word that we are more familiar with - "rotation". The rotation is specified by the state, and it must be implemented according to the requirements for how many days you are required to take a break, but generally it is a few days to take turns, which is still very relaxed. Of course, if there is an emergency or illness, you can still take "emergency leave".
III. Tang and Song Dynasties
During the Tang Dynasty, the previous vacation system was synthesized, and then a complete vacation system was sorted out. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he thought that a five-day break was a trouble, so he changed it to a ten-day break. There are historical records: "According to the excellent situation of peace in the world, Emperor Gaozong of Tang took one day off in the first, middle and late parts of each month, called Shanghuan, Zhonghuan, and Xiahuan, which was called "Ten Rest". ”
In fact, to put it bluntly, that is, the holidays have become less, Tang Gaozong naturally knew that doing so would cause dissatisfaction among the officials, so he told the officials that on the day of the "ten days off", everyone was not allowed to work and must have a good rest. On the one hand, reducing the official holiday, on the other hand, expressing concern for the officials, even if everyone is dissatisfied, they can't vent it, so they have to honestly work for the royal family.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, it can be said that the spring of the officials has arrived. Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, emphasized literature and light military force, and was the best for the welfare of civilian officials. In addition to the "ten days off" inherited from the Tang Dynasty, there are also "small long holidays" every year: "The first day, the cold eclipse, and the winter solstice are each on seven days." ”
The "Yuan Day" here refers to the Spring Festival, that is, from the Song Dynasty onwards, the "small long holiday" model has gradually formed, but the holiday festival is different from now.
According to historical records, the official festivals stipulated during the Song Dynasty are more than 50 kinds, that is to say, these festival officials will take holidays, before and after adding up, more than 100 days a year. In other words, Song officials, one-third of the year, were on holiday. Is everyone particularly envious?
Fourth, the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties took a reduced vacation
At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the life of officials was not so good, and most of the festivals during the Song Dynasty were banned during the Yuan Dynasty, so that the holidays were greatly reduced.
The Ming and Qing dynasties basically adopted the vacation system of the Yuan Dynasty, and it is conceivable that there were not many holidays at that time. Even in the Ming Dynasty, only high-ranking civil officials enjoyed the rotation system, and others honestly went to work.
In addition to the change of the rotation system, the "small long holiday" has gradually become a "small short holiday", and the original 7-day holiday has been changed to 3 days. However, there is a situation in which officials can take a three-year holiday, that is, when their parents die, officials have to return to their hometowns to keep filial piety, which is the so-called "Ding worry policy." Of course, no one wants to let go of this kind of holiday, because they all want their parents to be healthy.
Through the vacation system of successive dynasties, we can see that since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the holidays have been continuously improved and reformed, including loose and harsh, reflecting the cultural background of different dynasties. Through the ancient official holiday system, some prototypes of today's holidays can also be found.
I don't know which dynasty's vacation system is most envied by everyone?
(References "Han Law", "History", "Tang Huijiao", etc.)