The exorcism culture in the Forbidden City Spring League
An important custom of the Mainland Chinese New Year is to paste the Spring Festival. The Forbidden City was the place where the Ming and Qing emperors ruled and lived, and this custom is also observed during the New Year. Volume VIII of the "History of the Palace of the State Dynasty" written by the Qing Dynasty official Ortai and others records: "Every year on December 26, Zhang HangChunlian and The Door God. In advance, the Ministry of Works heard about it. On the solstice, the officials of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Three Great Halls of the Outer Dynasty supervised the same craftsmen and servants. In its inner court and other places, the eunuch of the Gate Shrine Treasury first reported to the palace superintendent, and the palace superintendent passed on the eunuch Youjin, the chief eunuch of the Construction Division. First check from the Qianqing Gate, the Qianqing Palace (Figure 1), as well as the various gates, palaces, etc., and respectfully hang it. On the third day of February of the following year, it was still passed on to the eunuchs of the Construction Division to accept it, and the eunuchs of the Gate Shrine were recycled and stored." The custom of posting Spring Leagues in the Forbidden City originates from the ancient peach symbol culture, and its main function is related to warding off evil spirits.
Figure 1 At the end of 2018, the "New Year in the Forbidden City" activity was held in the Qianqing Palace
The "Spring League" of the "Yanjing Chronicle" written by the Qing Dynasty scholar Pan Rongxi and Fu Cha Dunchong recorded the source of the mainland Spring League: "The Spring League, that is, Tao Fu Ye. Since entering the wax, there have been literati and inkers, under the eaves of the city, writing the Spring League, in order to polish the pen. After the sacrificial stove, it is gradually glued, thousands of doors, and a new look. Or use Zhu notes, or use red paper, but the inner court and the princes of the clan and other examples use white paper, with red edges and blue edges, and those who are not members of the clan are not allowed to use it. This passage shows that the Spring League originated from the "peach symbol", and began to be glued after the annual festival stove (around the 24th day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar), generally using red paper as the bottom, and the Qing Dynasty royal family could also use white paper as the bottom. Earlier records of the Spring League appeared in the Song Dynasty. According to volume 66 of the "History of Song" written by the military scientist Detuo and others in the Yuan Dynasty, the last emperor of the Later Shu Dynasty, Meng Chang, Chinese New Year's Eve the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (964), ordered the scholar Xing Yinxun to write a peach rune on the door of the palace, but he was not satisfied with the content of his work, so he personally inscribed "New Year Na Yu Qing, Jia Jie Changchun" as the content of the peach symbol. Since then, Chunlian has gradually replaced peach charms.
The role of the peach charm is to ward off evil spirits. The Spring and Autumn Period history book "Spring and Autumn Left Biography" volume 21 of the "Fourth Year of Zhao Gong" contains: "Peach arc, thorn arrow, to eliminate its disaster", it is believed that the peach wooden bow, the arrow made of thorn branches can eliminate the disaster. The Twenty-Eight Fruit Wood Section of the Book of Beginners, written by the Tang Dynasty official Xu Jian and others, contains "The peach, the essence of the five woods, is disgusted with evil qi and controls hundreds of ghosts." Therefore, people make peach charms to the door to disgust with evil, and this fairy wood is also". This passage shows that the reason why peach wood can ward off evil spirits is because it is the essence of the five woods (mulberry, elm, peach, locust, willow), so people often hang runes made of peach wood on the door to ward off evil spirits. One of the ninetieth volume of the Qing Dynasty official book "Peiwen Yunfu" contains "On the first day of the first month, the peach symbol is made, which is said to be feared by a hundred ghosts", which can reflect that the time when the ancients pasted the peach symbol was the lunar New Year period. As can be seen from the above, the New Year's Posting Spring Festival in the Forbidden City is mainly used to ward off evil spirits.
The Forbidden City Spring League is mostly on a red background (Figure 2), and its main role is also to ward off evil spirits. Human beings have known red very early, and the Fu ren invented drilling wood for fire, fire is red, and the sun in nature is also red, which gives people hope and satisfaction. Archaeologists have found red-dyed shells and animal teeth in the cave where the cave people lived on the top of the mountain, which is judged to be the earliest decoration of mankind. This shows that human beings not only recognize red, but also regard it as a beautiful color. The third volume of the Huainan Zi written by Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, contains "the sun is virtue, the moon is punishment, the moon returns and all things die, and the sun is born", that is, the sun is the god that gives life to all things, and the sun is red. The "Third on the Tan Bow" in the Book of Rites compiled by the Western Han Dynasty lithologist Dai Shengshou contains "Zhou people are still red, major events use the sunrise, Rong Shi rides on the donkey, and the animal uses the donkey", that is, the Zhou Dynasty people advocate red, and the funeral is selected at sunrise, and the war uses a bare-bodied white-bellied horse and sacrifices with red fur. The first volume of the "Book of Searching for Gods" written by the Eastern Jin Dynasty historian Gan Bao contains that "Shennong whipped hundreds of grasses with ochre whips, and knew its nature of calming poison and cold temperature", that is, Shennong used red braids to whip various grasses and trees to verify their attributes. The Chronicle of the Jingchu Dynasty, written by the Southern Dynasty scholar Zong Yi, contains the "August 14th. Min and Zhu Mo nodded the child's forehead. It's called Celestial Moxibustion. Suppress the disease", that is, red can ward off evil spirits. The Ming and Qing court stipulated that all the chapters sent to the emperor must be red, indicating that the emperor loved red. Red will make people associate with flames, blood, and the sun, so when people see red, they will feel their blood boiling and feel warm, thus giving people the expectation of eliminating disasters and driving away evil spirits.
Figure 2 Hongli Xingshu Wuyan Chunlian
In the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty, there is also the Spring League on a White Background (Figure 3), the reason of which is also related to the exorcism of evil spirits. The "Rizha Volume IV" of the Siyitang Collection, written by the Qing Dynasty official Zhou Shouchang, contains the "Spring League of the Great Inner Palace, with an example of white silk, presented by Hanlin Jinshu." But I don't understand why white, or cloud palace lacquer pillar, are big red, so it must be reflected in white, I don't know whether it is", that is, the reason for the white background is likely to use white to reflect the red palace column. In fact, this is not the case, which is closely related to the exorcism belief of the Manchu ancestors. The Republic of China scholar Xia Renhu wrote the "Old Beijing Trivia" volume IV "Gong Min" contains: "The new year and spring colors in the palace are all white, and they are written on rice paper by the South Study Hanlin. From the palace court to the kufu, its texts have a common practice, and they dare not be slightly easier. The outer princely palace also uses white, and the gaizu system is also used." It is easy to know that there is a spring league on a white background in the Forbidden City, which is the custom of the Manchu ancestors. The Manchu ancestors lived in the snow-capped deep mountains and old forests, and white was its common color, and it was the same color that worshipped the mountain forest in its religious concept, that is, white represented auspiciousness and luck. The Manchu ancestors believed that white was the auspicious color of exorcism and purity, and shamans often wore white clothes when they sacrificed. In the Manchu shaman creation myth "Heavenly Palace War", the goddesses of Gulu transform into a white, fragrant, and shining peony Dan Usiha (peony flower star) and defeat the demons. When hunting, the Manchu Xianmi wears white clothing and is easy to approach the prey, providing good conditions for successful hunting. However, if they wear red clothing, they are easy to scare away their prey and may also be attacked by prey. Therefore, the Manchu ancestors had the color concept of "still white and lowly red". After the Qing Dynasty entered the Customs, the lives of the Manchu and Han ethnic groups gradually merged, and the Spring League on the red background slowly increased.
Figure 3 The Eleventh Sentence of the Book of Hongli Xingshu is a spring league on a white background
In addition to the Spring League, there are also Spring Strips in the Forbidden City (Figures 4-5). The spring strip is a note with auspicious words written on it, and its origin is similar to that of the spring union, which is derived from the peach symbol, so it also has the meaning of exorcism. The position of the spring sticker is very flexible, the number of words is not limited, and its words, sentences, and words are not as common as the spring league, the joint law of the part of speech, as long as the language is fluent, lively, natural, and catchy to read.
Figure 4 Yin Chan XingShu Chun Tiao - Go out to see the joy
Figure 5 "Guotai Min'an" Spring Strip
The Spring Festival in the Forbidden City is the embodiment of the ancient exorcism culture of the mainland, which can reflect the ancient emperor's good wish to eliminate disasters and drive away evil spirits during the year and welcome the good fortune.
(Author's information: Zhou Qian, Institute of Forbidden Studies, Palace Museum)