Seven ancient poems of Xiaonian: Huqing Xiaonian Festival, Jiangxiang Zheng Xiaonian
Xiaonian is not a fixed time and concept, but a folk colloquialism and habit. When it became popular, it is impossible to know, because there is no writing circulating.
In the Tang Dynasty, Xiaonian did not refer to the New Year, but to the small time, which was related to ancient language and spoken language.
Fire sacrifice rituals that have been passed down from ancient times were merged into the winter wax festivals during the Zhou Dynasty. The Han Dynasty's Wax Festival, around the eighth day of the Waxing Moon, was not fixed. But lakyak-day has a tradition of offering sacrifices.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Day of Lapa was set at Lapa, and there were also important rituals for the sacrifice of the stove.
During the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty, the sacrifice of the stove was postponed to the 24th day of the Waxing Moon in the folk, sending the stove god, praying for blessings, and officially entering the new year's eve period of the year.
Wen Tianxiang, whose ancestral home was Jiangxi at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, was captured at the age of 42 in Nanling, Guangdong Province, and imprisoned in Shangdu in the north, writing two poems about Xiaonian.
"Yan Shuo is poor, and Jiangnan worships Xiao Nian."
When he was born and happy, he died in his life.
The noise of a thousand mountains and snow, the sky is flying.
Going out is vague, looking around but dazed. Late Song and early Yuan Dynasties · Wen Tianxiang "Little Year"
In the north of Yanjing, I spent the last month of the year, when Jiangnan celebrated each other's new year.
There will always be infinite joy in life in these years, but my life and death have formed an indissoluble relationship.
Here, I saw crows flying over a thousand mountains in the snow, and I saw geese constantly flying from the south.
Only when I went out, I felt depressed and cold, and looked around dazed.
Wen Tianxiang was imprisoned in the Capital of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, when most of the capital did not have the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty after the capital of Beijing, although it was the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, the people who came and went were Mongolian nobles, Semu people, and Han Chinese New Year customs were not promoted here.
And Wen Tianxiang should have a small range of freedom in these five years, such as someone to go out and walk around under supervision.
No matter whether the place he is in is bustling or remote, he should not see the New Year atmosphere in Jiangnan. Because the sound of firecrackers is the most direct celebration. Therefore, he can only relive the situation of entering the small year in the hometown of Jiangnan through the calendar.
So what time is the little year he said?
"Strong heart negative Light Yue, sick quality fell in The Swallow."
Three days before the Spring Festival, Jiangxiang is a small year.
If there is water in the old age, the customs are different on different days.
The family temple is barren and slippery, who burns paper money. Late Song and early Yuan Dynasties · 24th Day of Wen Tianxiang (Chinese New Year's Eve ) (24 December 1279)
Wen Tianxiang clearly pointed out that the small year of his hometown was the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon, and the folk called it Xiao Chinese New Year's Eve.
This was the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month he had been captured in Shangdu.
It was three days before the spring.
I was full of ambition, did not recover the rivers and mountains, but as a sick hostage to the land of the northern swallow.
It's deserted, and you can't hear the sounds of the New Year.
And my hometown of Jiangxi and Jiangnan is the time to live a small year of sacrifice.
The years are like flowing water, and the customs here are very different.
I was just thinking about the family temple in my hometown, which was now deserted in the smoke and rain of late winter and early spring, and no one gave my ancestors sacrifice paper money.
It can be seen here that the southern and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as Lingnan, are popular in the 24th year of the Waxing Moon. In addition to the sacrifice of the stove, there is also an important ritual that is to sacrifice the ancestors.
However, Because of Wen Tianxiang's resistance to the Yuan, his mother died, and his two sons died, and he also rushed to the country with death, and in prison, he did not change his ambitions. Wen Tianxiang knew that his vein was extinct, but he did not regret it, but in his memory, his hometown and homeland should be the most lively little year and small Chinese New Year's Eve at this time.
Before the Southern Song Dynasty invaded and conquered the Yuan Dynasty, the economy was quite rich.
"According to ancient legend, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of La, the king of the stove wanted to say something to the heavens.
The cloud car wind horse small stay, the family has cups and plates of abundant ceremonies.
Pork head rotten hot pisces fresh, bean sand and pine powder bait balls.
The boy offered his daughter to avoid, and the wine burned money stove Junxi.
Sons of struggle Jun Mo Wen, cat dog horns Dirty Jun Mo Fu;
Send the king drunk and full to the gate of heaven, and the long and short do not return to the clouds,
Begging for the return of the city of Scoring. "Southern Song Dynasty Fan Chengda", "Ten Songs of The Layue Murata Lefu and the Three Sacrifice Stove Words"
The southern Song Dynasty Fan Chengda's poem on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon describes the liveliness and abundance of the small year in the countryside.
The family worships the god Vesta with a table full of fish and meat dishes. Meat has a pig's head, two fish, and a variety of dumplings made of bean sand and pine powder. Men offered wine to vesta, but the women avoided it at this time, and sacrificed vesta by burning paper money.
Wen Tianxiang also has a small year sacrifice family temple, which is not written here.
But in this family, the men are worshipping the god Vesta, the women are hiding in the room, the servants are talking, the cats and dogs are fighting,
Tributes to gods and ancestors are actually forms, and the result is that families lively divide and eat them. Coupled with the sound of firecrackers that must rise and fall in the small year, it is enough to imagine the grand scene of the small year in the countryside, with continuous lights, family reunion, lively and warm.
One family is like this, so is every family.
Wen Tianxiang was trapped in the northern capital, and the sadness that even the customs of the country would change was like the cold snow and cold air in the north, penetrating into his heart.
"When the custom of Jiangnan is heavy and small, the night of The River Huang is heavy and miserable.
He dreamed of returning home and wanted to see Yan Qin still sleeping. Ming · Xie Jin, "The New Year's Festival Has a Feeling, Part II"
However, folk customs, as long as there are people, have great vitality.
The less than a hundred years of rule of the Yuan Dynasty could not erase the folk customs. In the Ming Dynasty, the tradition of celebrating the 24th lunar month in Jiangnan was still prevalent.
At this time, Xie Jin was demoted to a guard in Hezhou (河州, near present-day Lanzhou, Gansu). This is now the Gansu area, the northern ethnic minorities settlement, with the customs of various ethnic groups, here is widely sparsely populated, there is no Jiangnan small Year's kind of grand situation.
Then Jiangnan spent the New Year, it is the day of family reunion, Xie Jin is dreaming of going home, he wants to see his parents must also stay up all night, worried about him.
Folk New Year, pay attention to reunion, every festive season to think of relatives.
"When the candles of the Void Hall were young, the son made YaoQin's father chant poetry.
There will be no purpose in the heart, and the Destiny of Lefu will return to doubt. "Ming · Wu Youbi," "Little Chinese New Year's Eve (Commonly Used to Divide the Year by The Night Before the Small Chinese New Year's Eve)"
The actual small year and the small Chinese New Year's Eve are also different because of the customs of various places.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty, Wu Youbi's hometown was also Jiangxi, but somewhere in Jiangxi where he was located, Xiao Chinese New Year's Eve was not the night of the twenty-fourth lunar month, nor the Chinese New Year's Eve, but the night before the Chinese New Year's Eve.
Or Chinese New Year's Eve is commonly known as Chinese New Year's Eve, and the first day is called a small Chinese New Year's Eve.
But you can see that every day and night of the New Year is a good day.
The first day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, all the candles are lit, the children play the piano, and the father sings and sings, a warm feeling of happiness and harmony.
"The customs of the hometown are heavy tonight, and the children's class is in the hall.
Today, when the tree breaks its nest, the feathers fall to the ground and the branches are dried.
Looking back at the front of the eaves of the hostel, there are white hair and yellow mouths below.
Looking at the sky to cut paper to tell the grave, two tears followed by three glasses of wine.
Is it that every year you sit in the sea of death and suffering, and are willing to drift with the wind for the fallen leaves? "Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties · Hiroshi Ethyl "Twenty-Four Nights of the Waxing Moon"
Hongzhi was a man who spanned the Ming and Qing dynasties, he was a jinshi at the end of the Ming Dynasty, experienced great changes in the mountains and rivers, and became a monk.
Then on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, he recalled his hometown and his family, the customs of the hometown valued the small year and the small Chinese New Year's Eve, and when the peace was over, the children and daughters went on a trip, stood under the church, gave me a New Year's greeting, and greeted the New Year.
When the tree fell and the nest in the tree was broken, I thought of my children wandering like feathers in the wind.
Standing under the eaves of a foreign land, I remembered that there were old mothers and underage children in my hometown, and I could only look at the paper-cut money in mid-air to comfort the ancestors. I have broken the country, so why wait for death to come, and let me drift like a falling leaf?
The overthrow of the state was a great sadness and irritation for many patriotic Ming dynasty people. Especially the readers, they are well aware of the nature of this foreign conquest, and they also see the misfortune after the destruction of the country.
They took various ways, either martyrdom or as remnants, to express their inner pain. Without a country, where will there be the tranquility of home, and where will there be customs passed down from generation to generation?
However, I still have to say that I believe in the power of tradition and believe in the simple feelings of folk.
After the Qing Dynasty was fixed, there was a long time, and the emperor was only a small year.
For example, during the sixty years of Kangxi's reign, there was never a sacrifice to the stove and the small year. However, contrary to the imperial palace, the people of Beijing on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, the family sacrifice stove, the households celebrate the New Year, and its grand situation eventually affects the court.
Doesn't the emperor want to have fun with the people?
Yongzheng was a diligent and enlightened emperor, who knew that this was a Custom of the Han People, but this custom inevitably penetrated the city of Beijing, and Han officials and Manchu families were greeting the New Year, so he stipulated that the stove should be sacrificed in the Kunning Palace on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, synchronized with the people.
His son Qianlong inherited and carried this forward. The 23rd day of the Waxing Moon festival is a small year, and folklore has actually become an official festival.
It is only that the folk customs of the north and the officials preserved between the north and the officials strengthen the twenty-third lunar year.
In the south, according to tradition, the folk custom of the 24th Lunar New Year continues.
These two days are called small years.
"The cave court is three days old, and the years are late and regret the remnants."
The water falls on the lake thin, and the shadow of the sand flat geese is faint.
Curtains are lined up, and fishing nets are draped.
To celebrate the small New Year's Festival, partial to a leaf fly. "Qing · Kuang Min ben "Twenty-four Days of Dongting Zhouzhong ( Commonly known as the twenty-fourth day of the month of Lala is the Small New Year's Festival. ） 》
Kuang Min was originally a native of Hunan, and the folk customs here are still the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon. He was traveling on Dongting Lake and saw the fishermen's New Year scene.
On the shore, everyone is drying nets, showing the end of winter fishing, and when everyone is celebrating the New Year, the wine flags on the shore are displayed, showing that the atmosphere of entering the New Year is happy here. Everyone drank and relaxed, and every household celebrated the festival of the New Year.
Only he was still on the boat at this time, was he rushing home, or was he leaving his hometown?
In the bright state of this poem, I guess I am anxious to rush back to my hometown, although he is still on the road, but he has already felt the atmosphere of the stable and lively New Year's Festival, and it is very difficult to ship and drive faster at this time.
Whether it is the 23rd or 24th of the Waxing Moon, it marks the celebration of entering the New Year and begins to have the most moving Taste of the Traditional New Year. Lively, festive, auspicious, every day is a good day to welcome the spring.
Hatsuyoshi Katsuyuki interprets the love and beauty in the poems for you. Image from the web.