Smell the feast
The feast, as the name suggests, was the first banquet that the new scholar attended after he knew that he had been admitted. When introducing the Wen Wedding Banquet, the Tang Dynasty deliberately attached a small note to the "Banquet of the Imperial Counselors", indicating that this was a banquet ordered by the emperor and had a strong official color.
In the Tang Dynasty, the location of the wen wedding banquet was mostly chosen on the shore of the Qu River. Initially, after the edict for the banquet was issued, the new recruits had to pay some money and goods, and they all held a feast together, and feasted and drank under the flowers and trees of the Qujiang River. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Wenxi Feast had been transformed into a gathering in the form of a "gift banquet" funded and presided over by the government.
At the official feast, the imperial court would also give each of the new recruits a "red silk cake". Although we don't know the exact recipe and taste of this dim sum, the readers at that time must have been proud to get the red aya cake.
Acquaintance feast
The joy of high school students has not faded, and a new round of social networking has begun. In the ancient Chinese imperial examination, whether candidates can pass the examination or not, in addition to looking at the level of personal knowledge, the personal likes and dislikes of the chief examiner and the examination officer are also very important factors.
Therefore, after the new student enters high school, he invites the chief examiner of the year to dinner, thanks to the insight of the chief examiner, and by the way, paves the way for his future career, which is also a must-do.
The participants in the acquaintance banquet are not limited to new recruits, but also include the chief examiner and his family, his party and some well-known people in society. To a certain extent, this also promoted the phenomenon of forming friends between the owners and protégés and engaging in party struggles in the imperial court in the future. For example, in the middle and Tang Dynasties, the famous minister Quan Deyu served as a Zhigongju for three consecutive times in the last year of Tang Dezong's Zhenyuan Dynasty, and in the "Niu-Li Party Controversy", the representative figures of the Niu Party, Niu Monk, Li Zongmin, and Yang Sifu, were all protégés of Quan Deyu.
Cherry feast
The list is in February, and March and April are the ripening seasons for cherries. How could the soldiers let go of this great opportunity to taste the early adopters, so it was better to get together again on this pretext.
The Tang Liangjing City Fang Kao quotes the "Chronicle of the Age of Renxia" as saying: "The Cherry Feast of the Jinshi, on the Buddha Tooth Pavilion of chongsheng Temple. The location of the cherry feast is pointed out, and the Tang Shuyan records the process of a cherry feast: in the fourth year of Qianfu, a man named Liu Qin passed the jinshi examination. This Liu Qin has a mine at home, and usually spends a lot of money. When the newcomers discussed that everyone should pool their money to hold a cherry feast, Liu Qin had secretly made a deal about the cherry feast.
On the day of the cherry feast, the cherries bought by Liu Qin were piled up as high as a hill, and they were also accompanied by sugar and cheese, which could be eaten with cherries. The recruits each received a small box of sugar cheese, and the amount of sugar and cheese consumed was several liters. I wonder if the new recruits will shout "boss atmosphere" to Liu Qin at the banquet?
The poet Du Fu once wrote a poem about the use of cherries: "Red cherry branches, hidden silver wire cages." Qianchun recommends the mausoleum and will never die forever. "It proves that the cherry is a rare fruit used for worship in the mausoleum. The Tang Dynasty Li Shu's "Chronicle of the Ages" also said: "On April 1, the Inner Garden Quasi-Cherry Sleeping Temple recommended and awarded different gifts. ”
Now, being able to afford to eat cherry all year round is regarded by netizens as a symbol of local tycoons; and in the Tang Dynasty, if someone can eat the cherry of the season when the cherry is ripe, it is enough to prove the honor of his identity.
Apricot Garden Flower Feast
The Apricot Garden Flower Exploration Banquet can be described as the most powerful of the many banquets participated by the new recruits. It is held in the apricot garden west of the Qu river.
In this banquet, eating and drinking is not the main content, and the highlight of the banquet is "exploring flowers". On the day of the apricot garden flower feast, all public and private gardens in Chang'an City are open to new recruits. At the beginning of the banquet, the new recruits introduced two young and handsome people as "two street flower scouts" to pick famous flowers in the famous gardens of the city. Many people can also take the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the new recruits.
Of the two flower scouts, the one who returned late or picked fewer famous flowers was also punished. But the punishment is nothing more than a few more drinks. After the title of the gold list, accompanied by famous flowers and wine, even if there is a delay on the way to pick flowers for a while, it is a happy thing to think.
In the second year of Qianning (895), He entered the army and Weng Chengzan, who was selected as a flower exploration envoy at the apricot garden flower exploration banquet, wrote three poems of "Exploring Flowers" to express his joyful mood. One of the clouds: "Hongya sent a flower to check fang cong and drink a few cups." Three hundred deep purple incense, the Ming Dynasty opened for me for a while. "The image of the new soldier galloping on horseback and spirit jumped on the paper.
Burn the tail feast
Regarding the origin of the word "burning tail", a more widely circulated theory is that after the carp jumps the dragon gate, it must burn off the carp tail one day to become a real dragon; from an ordinary student to a jinshi, it is also equivalent to "fish dragon", and a banquet of "burning tail" is needed to complete the identity transformation.
Probably because of this symbolic significance, the Tang Dynasty people attached great importance to the burning tail banquet, and the banquet was also extremely extravagant and luxurious. Tang Dynasty Wei Juyuan once wrote a book "Recipes", in which the "Burning Tail Menu" is a complete record of the dishes of a certain tail feast, including a total of 58 dishes such as cold cuts, hot dishes, dim sum, etc., and under each dish, there are simple explanations of the practice, reflecting the era of Tang Dynasty food.
Editor 丨 Zhao Hao