The ancients took a season of cultivation and harvest as the "year". The explanation of "year" in the Shuowen Jiezi is: "Year, Gu Yu also." "When the grain is ripe, it means the end of the agricultural work, and the celebration is held to celebrate the harvest and comfort the hard work of the year, which is the origin of the new year.
The Book of Poetry was produced from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, although the word "Spring Festival" was not yet used at that time, but it has presented the rudiments of the traditional Chinese Spring Festival customs for nearly three thousand years, and many of the scenes and customs have become the common cultural memory of the Chinese nation. The chanting of the New Year in the Book of Poetry contains profound civilization genes and nourishes the cultural spirit of Chinese.
Ancient and pure customs
As an encyclopedia of ancient society, the Book of Poetry records a large number of human customs, rules and regulations, and historical events, of which the description of the customs of the year is mainly in the "Feng Feng • July". At the beginning of winter, people start to prepare for the New Year. At that time, the main customs were:
Prepare new clothes. The first chapter in "The Wind of July" is "Fire in July, Clothing in September". The explanation of the "Biography of Mao" is that "the frost begins to fall in September, and the women's achievements are completed, and they can be given winter clothes." The "gift of clothes" here is a custom and system that distributes winter clothes to laborers when winter is approaching. "Without clothes and brown, why did he die?" Preparing new clothes is an essential custom for the New Year, and only by working on time and on time can there be new clothes to wear during the New Year.
Sweeping dust busy years. An important task in welcoming the New Year is to clean and repair the houses, and in the "Wind and July" it is recorded that "the dome smokes rats and stuffs them into the households." Oh my wife and son, for a change of age, into this room." Clean up every nook and cranny in the house, smoke the rats hiding in the holes in the walls, seal the north window, and paste the door cracks with wet mud to prevent the cold wind from invading. After cleaning, you can take a family of men, women and children into the clean house, and leave the old and welcome the new.
Brewing blessings. New Year's day should not be without wine. "Peel the dates in August and get the rice in October." For this spring sake, to introduce mei shou. "After a busy and fulfilling year of hard work, the clans gathered together to celebrate the harvest of rice into fine wine and pray for the blessing of the coming year, and the strong sense of ceremony was overflowing with joy to welcome the new year.
Juzu Wax Festival. Sacrifice is a necessary task to welcome the New Year. "Drinking wine, killing lambs." He who walked in the court of the other side, said that the other man was a man of his life. This poem reflects the annual custom of the "wax festival" (also known as the "wax festival") at the end of the year, that is, the sacrifice of animals to the god of agriculture. At the turn of the old and the new, the farmers slaughter sheep and prepare wine, sacrifice the gods and ancestors, and after the celebration, they gather together to raise a glass to wish the elders of the clan a long and healthy life.
These ancient and pure customs contain Chinese outlook on life, time and values. Although the "Book of Poetry" has a historical span of three thousand years, we can still feel the pure and simple state of life in it.
Sincere, positive, harmonious and cheerful attitude towards life
At the end of the year, people often have a sense of passing time. In "Tang Feng Crickets", the exclamation of "crickets in the church, years and years of qimo" was issued. When it was cold, the crickets entered the church house. When people see this scene, they can't help but sigh that the time of year is rushing. "Now I am not happy, the sun and the moon are divided."
When the old and the new alternate, the old and the new are the most likely to trigger philosophical thinking about time and life. While affirming the legitimacy of people's normal pleasures, this poem also warns people that "there is no great health, and the work is thinking of their own residence." Good fun, good man Qu Qu. "Happiness should not be excessive, gentlemen are happy and have no wastes, according to etiquette, tension and moderation, in order to seek the long term, this is a positive and upward orientation of life."
In winter and summer, our wise and simple ancestors worked day and night, in addition to agricultural production, they also raised silkworms, weaved hemp, hunted, built houses, made wine, worshiped gods, and blessed. But even with such hard work, the "Book of Poetry" is always filled with an optimistic, down-to-earth and diligent mental state, always full of gratitude for the gifts of nature, the expectation of a rich life, this tenacious, contented, grateful attitude to life is the inner spiritual support of Chinese civilization that has continued to this day.
Conform to the concept of time in the sky and cycle
The Shang Shu Yu Shu Yao Dian records: "Nai Ming Xi He, Qin Ruo Hao Tian, the calendar is like the sun, moon and stars, and the time of honoring the people." "Emperor Yao ordered the Xi and He clans to strictly follow the number of days, calculate the laws of the movement of the sun, moon, and stars, formulate a calendar, and tell people the seasons of the days.
In ancient times, Chinese's perception of "year" was closely related to the growth of crops. Spring sowing, summer planting, autumn harvest, winter Hiding, the change of seasons, the rotation of stars and rivers, and the beginning of the cycle, the rhythm of life presents a natural rhythm. The view of time embodied in the Book of Poetry is not a linear development, but a cycle of day after day, year after year, and the "beginning" and "end" overlap.
After the harvest of "building a garden in September and collecting crops in October", preparations for the next year's sowing began, so that when the spring returned to the earth, it could be smoothly "sown with its beginnings". All these activities are closely related to the chronological sequence, reflecting the ancients' obedience to the laws of heaven and earth, obedience to the laws of nature, and conform to the changes of yin and yang. The New Year is a short break after the intense labor of the old years, to accumulate energy for the upcoming busyness.
The cultural psychology of reverence for the Mandate of Heaven and cautious pursuit of the distant future
Before the "change of age", the Zhou people often hold a series of sacrifice ceremonies, and after these rituals are completed, they begin to celebrate the New Year. "The great affairs of the country are in the worship and the rong." Sacrifice has an important position in the lives of the ancestors, mainly divided into two types: heaven worship and ancestor worship.
In ancient times, the ancestors were very reverential of the natural world. They used sacrifices to achieve the purpose of communicating with the heavens and their ancestors, hoping to be blessed. The "Zhou Song Feng Nian" describes the spectacular scene of the harvest year: "The abundance of years is more than a lot, and there are also high, trillion and grain. "The farmers harvested countless grains and piled them up in tall granaries.
"For the wine for the liquor, for the ancestors." At this time, the Zhou people used the fine wine brewed by grain to pay homage to the heavens and ancestors, express their gratitude, and repay the grace of protection. "With the Gift of Qiabai, the blessing of Kong is everywhere." Because of the harvest, the abundant offerings, and the proper etiquette, I hope to continue to be sheltered and blessed. The influence of sacrifice on people's lives is everywhere, and it is a sentiment of heaven and earth and ancestral grace, as well as a beautiful wish for the future to continue to be blessed.
The Book of Poetry is the source of the spirit of Chinese civilization and records the spiritual journey of the Chinese nation at the beginning. Although the New Year recorded in it is only the germ of the Spring Festival customs after that, the emotions, thoughts and spirit it contains have long been integrated into our blood and become the cultural subconscious of our nation.
Author: Li Yuanyuan
(Professor, Department of Literature and History, Central Party School (National School of Administration))
Source: Learning Times 2022.1.31
Editor-in-Charge: Mercy