Li Bai, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, once wrote in his famous work "Gifting Wang Lun": "Li Bai will want to go on a boat and overhear the song of stepping on the shore", and the "stepping song" written here is exactly a form of song and dance that was circulated in the ancient southern folk of China.
Stepping on the song is also a form of secret rendezvous between young men and women. There are three poems in this set of "Stepping On the Lyrics" by the Tang Dynasty poet Xie Yan, which describes the scene of girls coming out of the Xiang Pavilion and meeting somewhere to sing and dance at night. Here is the last one to appreciate how wonderful the folk customs of the Tang Dynasty really were.
"Treading Lyrics"
[Tang] Xie Yan
The night star sank, and the moon shadow slanted deeper.
The skirt is light and moving, and the beard is thin and the flowers are not strong.
The breeze blows and gently exposes the wet red yarn.
Looking at each other happily, the blue lantern shines on Jiuhua.
Xie Yan, year of birth unknown, died in 643, a native of Weizhou (衛州, in modern Weihui, Henan). His original surname was Zhile (直勒氏), whose ancestor had been northern Qi and later changed his surname to Xie. Xie Yan served in the Sui Dynasty as a member of the Sui Dynasty. At the beginning of Tang Zhenguan, Tang Taizong was appointed as a Hongwenguan Zhi scholar, moved to the Wei Dynasty GongCao, and finally became xiangtan ling. His good work endowment, "Quan Tang Poems" has four poems.
"The night star sinks, and the moon shadow is deeper", these two sentences are actually a general explanation of the front, because in the previous two lyrics, the poet has described in detail the carnival scene of the girls "with a heart of integrity, people competing for fun (tendency) and endlessly", "hand dancing, footing". And to point out that "the night is long" and "deeper" here not only means that time is silent and merciless, but also conveys that the cheerful hour is always short, always regrettable.
The poet did not go out of his way to write about the girls wandering, after all, the earlier scenes of dancing with their hands and feet already showed everything. Nowadays, it is only necessary to truthfully describe the current natural celestial situation: "the star sinks" indicates that it has been a long time since night, and the "moon shadow oblique" points out that it is too deep. The reason for this phenomenon is probably because the girls are too involved, immersed in the ocean of joy, and do not perceive the rapid passage of time.
"The skirt is light and moving, and the beard is thin and invincible", 珮, now unified and simplified to the word "pei", refers to the ornaments tied to the belt, see Xu Shen's "Saying": "Pei, big belt Peiye". 鬟, "Mane, total hair also." From the hips, the sound of the voice" ("Saying Text"), Zheng Zhen notes: "The plate is like a ring." "An ancient unmarried woman's circular hairstyle, that is, combed into a ring bun on the head or next to the forehead, its style is high and low, long and short, size and so on. For example, Du Fu's poem "Moon night": "The incense mist and clouds are wet, and the qinghui jade arm is cold." ”
In the last lyrics, the poet once delicately described that "the wind brings Shu back to the roll, and the hairpin flowers are raised low", depicting the carnival scene of the girls dancing on the stepping song field vividly and vividly. As the time of singing and dancing lengthens, the girls' physical strength will of course not be able to keep up, and because of the long time of dancing, their clothes and headdresses will produce a disordered image. Whether it is the jade pendant that rises and falls with the light skirt, or the chaotic headdress, it reflects the naughty appearance of the girls after the carnival.
"The breeze blows the treasure, and the wet red yarn is lightly exposed", the treasure is meaning sleeve. There is also this work "treasure socks", that is, belts, ribbons tied around the waist of ancient women. For example, one of the Sui Dynasty Emperor's "Happy Spring Travel Songs": "Jin sleeve Huainan dance, treasure socks Chu Palace waist." These two statements are actually true here. However, if you consider the Tang Dynasty costumes, the waist belt and the red yarn on the back of the arm are relatively more appropriate.
Whether it is the "breeze" of the late night or the "light dew", it is a more obvious natural thing. It is in such a delicate and realistic depiction that the girls are willing to tao tao's cute appearance is presented in front of everyone one by one, so vivid, so lively and lovely. At that moment, the belt that seemed to flutter in the night wind and the bright red veil that was wet by the night dew appeared in front of the eyes, while the delicate girls were drowned in these backgrounds, gradually blurring in the dust of history.
"Looking at each other happily, the blue lamp illuminates Jiuhua", the orchid lamp, referring to the exquisite lamp, the source is in the "Book of Southern Qi Liu Xiang Biography": "Therefore the fallen leaves are shaded, and the bright moon is separated by the light; the hall leaves light, and the blue lamp sometimes does not shine." For example, Wei Yingwu's poem "The Countess Lie Down on the Sick Sentence": "The incense burner is extinguished, and the blue lantern is faintly shadowy." "Jiuhua, originally the name of the luxurious palace built by the Later Zhao tyrant Shi Hu, was later used to describe the colorful decoration of the palace rooms and utensils.
No matter how lively the scene is, the most wonderful festival will end. But so what? For the girls who have personally participated in the event, as long as they have devoted themselves to enthusiasm and have been happy, it is enough. Therefore, they will "look at each other" at the time of separation and feel that "happiness is not enough". And when they look back at the bustling place, they see the brilliant light shining on the magnificent buildings and palaces. There, there are still many afterglows flowing.
This five-sentence poem, the most important thing to pay attention to is the middle four sentences, the poet focuses on the scene after the girls step on the song, and the delicate feelings at the end of the event. The whole poem abandons the usual ornate words in the poems of the early Tang Dynasty, and is extremely simple and unpretentious. Behind the easy to understand, the more able to appreciate the joy that those girls can't hide.
Carefully considering this poem, the poet does not directly describe the various grand mirror images of the time of the song, but skillfully conveys the gods with things, sees the big with the small, and grasps the key sexual behaviors of the main depicted objects, so as to lead the grand scenes from time to time. This kind of practice of wanting to stop talking and trying to cover up the praise can not only enable the viewer to immerse themselves in the grand situation of the song and dance evening, but also can perceive some social trends in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
(Picture from the Internet, invasion and deletion)