Ancient chic ice lamp
Author Fucha Baoren
The winter climate of the Great Northeast is harsh and cold, which can be described as dripping water into ice. In order to adapt to the harsh climate, the Manchu ancestors who have lived here for generations have created many material environments for fishing, hunting, clothing, food, housing, transportation, etc., and all aspects of production and life. The change of climate has made the production and lifestyle of the northern peoples change from time to time, which has also produced many slang customs and Kanto ice and snow culture related to it.
The ice lantern, which is known today in the north and south of the great river, is the unique invention of the Manchu ancestors. Their earliest ice lamp was filled with water in a bucket, placed outside the cold house to freeze the ice, and after the bucket was partially frozen, the water was poured out and taken to the house. Pour the outside of the bucket with hot water to pour out the ice in the bucket. This way, you can get a round piece of ice with a hole in the middle. People then put bear oil, pig oil or suzi oil in a lamp bowl in the middle of the ice, and a simple ice lamp that is crystal clear and not afraid of wind and snow is made.
The Manchus also have an ancient ice lantern practice of using the ice worn by fishing on the river in winter, first taking out the river ice, and then using a horse to climb the plough and transport it home. At home, people use knives and axes to carve ice into hollow shapes such as tigers, bears, fish, and birds in the middle, and erect them in front of their homes. At night, lard or suzi oil and bran lamps are lit, and bright ice lamps illuminate the door of the house without fear of wind and snow, and people pray for good hopes.
The earliest record of ice lanterns is 900 years ago in the Jurchen period of the Manchu ancestors. In the first month of the first year of zhenyuan (1153), one day the king of Hailing, Yan Liang, suddenly remembered the story of his ancestors who poured water on the earth city to build an ice wall to resist the enemy, so he ordered the soldiers to build an "iceberg" more than ten meters high in the palace, and displayed lights on the mountain. On the fifteenth night of the first month, he and his concubines and concubines enjoyed the "iceberg" lanterns together and celebrated the Lantern Festival.
In the Qing Dynasty, it was very common to make ice lamps in the northeast, and the Manchus and Han people were making ice lamps. On the 27th and 8th of the waxing moon, large households or merchant shops in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and other cities and towns began to make ice lamps in front of their doors. Most of them go to the rivers to take ice and use horses to climb the plough to pull home, or build snow and water to freeze ice, and then carve into tigers, lions, pavilions, eight immortals, beautiful women, etc., and finally hollow out the middle into candles or oil lamps to light, becoming exquisite and unique ice lamps. Some are cut out of colored paper into various gods or beasts, and then pasted on the hollowed out ice to form an ice lamp. The Jilin Huizheng records that:
In winter, the scholar's family likes to make ice lanterns, condense snow into ice with alum water, and cut eight immortals Guanyin and other images on thin pieces of paper, cut to make lamps, and burn candles at night
Radiant light, almost like a carved chaos, wonderful, can be solved for a long time in February and March.
After the Chinese New Year's Eve, especially at night on the fifteenth day of the first month, the usual dark and cold streets and roads become brightly lit, and the ice lanterns with their own unique shapes shine brightly, which is really a great wonder of Kanto. The Manchurian female poet Gu Taiqing was brilliant and had the words "Wing Ice Lantern" and lamented the wonders of the ice lamp:
The pagoda has thirteen floors, and the view of the building is amazing.
Cool world to fly Qiong.
Gu Shoot Immortal Muscle Victory Snow, Jade Pei Zhen.
The craftsmanship is too light, and the fine strands are solid.
The Sea of Liu'ao is rugged.
See the snow disappear bright moon night, ten thousand cold stars.
In the early years, the Manchus in the northeast were short of materials, and there was no more material such as paper, silk, silk, satin, bamboo pieces, and iron wire to make colored lamps, so they were prompted to invent ice lamps made of local materials. With the development of the times, the manchu traditional ice lanterns are becoming more and more refined and bigger, and the exquisitely fried ice lanterns are renovated year by year, such as lion lamps, fire dragon lamps, various marquee lamps, and Sun Wukong's haunting of the Heavenly Palace, the Pig Eight Commandments Back Daughter-in-law, the Carp Jumping Dragon Gate, etc., everything is dazzling. The grand scale is majestic and magnificent, like the tower, the palace, the pagoda, the flying dragon, etc., which are breathtaking.
Shi Zhi records that as early as the Qing Jiaqing period, in Bukui (now Qiqihar City), where the Heilongjiang general was stationed, the ice lantern of the festival was already very exquisite and beautiful, "five or six feet of ice for the birthday lamp, the double torch burned in the middle, and the look was like a crystal person." According to the old chronicle book "The Old Story of Longcheng", men, women and children from four townships and eight villages entered the city by horse-drawn carriages and horses to climb the plough to watch the ice lanterns. There are poems:
The lanterns do not stop on the first night, and the village car is also light.
The wild boy girl screamed crisply, competing to see the glass old life star.
Jilin is a Manchu settlement, so ice lanterns have a long history. In the Qing Dynasty, Jilin City (now Jilin City) was the place where the Jilin general was stationed, and today's changchun, Harbin, Mudanjiang, Jiamusi and other large cities, when it was still a small town under the jurisdiction of the Jilin general, Jilin City was already the second largest city in the northeast except Shengjing (now Shenyang), so the ice lantern of Jilin City had a glorious history. Qing Shen Zhaozhen wrote in the Jilin Chronicle Poems:
Exquisite and transparent, a piece of heart with a clear bottom.
The fairy Buddha is hollowed out who has to be similar, and the beauty lion elephant is carved in snow.
Jilin City and Changchun City have held large-scale ice lantern garden parties for many times. The Harbin Winter Ice Lantern Ice and Snow Festival is now a well-known tourism brand in China.
The Manchu ice lantern has a long tradition, and today's ice lantern and ice sculpture art are elegant and vulgar, and the lights are brilliant like a dream. Ice lanterns are alive!
About the author Fucha Baoren: Mr. Fucha Baoren served as the director of the Greening Division of the Parks and Forestry Bureau before his retirement. At present, he holds the following social positions: Jilin Municipal CPPCC Researcher, Visiting Professor of Beihua University, Historical and Cultural Advisor of Shulan Municipal People's Government, Vice President of Jilin Manchu Culture and Economy Promotion Association, Vice President of Jilin Manchu Friendship Association, Director of Jilin Manchu Culture Research Association, Director of Jilin Folklore Society, Director of Jilin Changbaishan Cultural Research Association, Member of Jilin Writers Association, Jilin Taoist Xuandiguan, LingxianFu Restoration Consultant, Secretary General of Jilin City Landscaping Association, etc.
Mr. Fucha Baoren has written many books, especially books on Manchu history and culture, mainly including the series of "Manchu Past Events in the Great Northeast", which is a project for the development of local history resources in Jilin Province. The series of books is about 1.24 million words, and is divided into 5 volumes, including "The History and Culture of the Manchus in the Great Northeast", "The Old Events of the Manchus in the Great Northeast, the Culture of the Manchus in the Northeast", "The Old Affairs of the Manchus in the Great Northeast, the Culture of Slang Culture", "The Old Affairs of the Manchus in the Great Northeast, the Architectural Culture", and "the Old Affairs of the Manchus in the Great Northeast and The Shamanic Culture". Our platform is authorized to publish some articles. Those who wish to purchase this book can contact the author, Mr. Hosa Hohito.
Our platform has published part of "The History and Culture of the Manchus in the Great Northeast", and now Mr. Li has provided the "Manchu Past Events of the Great Northeast and the Culture of the Years", which we will publish one after another.
On February 5, he published "The Fifth Day of the First Lunar Month, the Manchu Sacrifice of the God of Wealth and the Breaking of the Fifth".
On February 6, "Manchu New Year Customs" was published,
On February 7, "The Festival of Manchus Receiving Aunts and Grandmothers" was published.
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