Original title: Culture Weekly 丨 Don't mean to work hard to break willow songs
At the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics on the evening of February 20, 2022, 80 dancers and 365 ordinary people from all walks of life performed a "folding willow to send love" with deep feelings, expressing their love for the Olympic Games. "In the past, I used to be in the past, Yang Liu Yiyi..." It was sad to say goodbye, but the ancient Chinese handled it quite romantically. Because of the inconvenience of transportation, relatives and friends often do not know the year of the monkey and the month of the horse to see each other again, "suddenly looking back on the love is far away, involuntarily in the sky", so the ancients paid special attention to the sense of ceremony of sending farewells, or folding willows to send each other, or singing harmony with each other, or drinking and walking, making people deeply appreciate the rare and precious friendship.
Folding willows to send jun wei yang
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the affectionate interpretation of "folding willows to send love" has a long history. The reason why the soft willow branches have the meaning of farewell is first of all because of the harmonic sound of "willow" and "stay". Willow trees are very easy to survive, is one of the ancient native tree species of the mainland, inserted into the soil is alive, so the distribution is extremely wide, and once a year, the spring breeze passes by, "ten thousand hanging green silk", giving people a vibrant feeling. In addition to an inseparable emotion, there is also a hidden blessing "renewed and better" in it. At the same time, "five nine six nine, along the river to see the willow", strange on the new willow, means that the new year has arrived, but also expressed a miss. The Tang poem "Boudoir Grievances" expressed it like this: "The young woman in the boudoir does not know sorrow, and the spring day condenses makeup on the Green Floor." Suddenly seeing the strange head of Yang Willow, the repentant husband and wife looked for a marquis. "When I saw the willow sprouting new shoots upstairs, I suddenly felt that a year had passed like this, and the thought of people in the distance was born suddenly, which could be described as really moving.
Ming Shen Zhou", "Farewell Map of Jingjiang", collection of the Palace Museum
As a sentient object, Yang Liu came from the "Book of Poetry" and walked by the Baqiao Bridge in Chang'an, swaying and conveying his feelings in the masterpieces of The Tang and Song poets. The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty breeds the most prosperous place for folding willows, that is, Baqiao in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, the capital of tang. The famous ancient geographical work "Three Auxiliary Yellow Maps" records this: "Emperor Wen's tomb is seventy miles east of Chang'an City. Baling crossed the water as a bridge, and the Han people sent guests here, folding willows to bid farewell. This shows that it has become fashionable to fold willows to bid farewell by baqiao as early as the Han Dynasty. This fashion continued to flourish in the Tang Dynasty. On the banks of the Bashui River, the willows are yiyi, and the people who send them off often fold the willows here to bid farewell, in order to send farewells and misses. Li Bai wrote in the lyric "Remembering Qin'e": "Every year the willow color, Baling hurts goodbye", which is a portrayal of the baqiao folding willow.
Of course, Li Bai, who travels all over the world and makes friends, is often in the midst of parting from sorrow, and folding willows has become an important image in poetry. For example, "Spring Night Los Angeles Smelling Flute": "Whose jade flute flies darkly, scattering into the spring wind full of Los Angeles." In this nocturne, the willow is broken, and who does not remember the old garden. "Folding willow triggers a parting of sorrow, but also full of homesickness, has formed a unique "folding willow song".
Folding willow farewell as a fashion, there is even an allusion to the "folding willow bridge". The late Tang Dynasty poet YongTao once served as the assassin of Jianzhou, once he sent guests to the Love End Bridge outside the city, and was quite dissatisfied with the name of the bridge that was sent to this end, so he built a post office for the guests who were sent to him, changed the name of the bridge to "Folding Willow Bridge", and inscribed a poem: "There has always been only love that is difficult, what is the name of the Love End Bridge?" Since then, he has changed his name to Folding Willow and let him leave the hate one by one. "Away from the hatred, Yang Liu yiyi, naturally can arouse people's strong resonance."
In the Song Dynasty Liu Yong's "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas", there is "Where the wine wakes up tonight, the willow bank is windy and the moon", which has not only become a famous sentence in the history of Liu Yong's glorious words, but also the most tear-inducing sentence when the willow leaves.
Sing chords to each other endlessly
"Amorous parting from ancient wounds". There is a long tradition of conveying parting sorrows in the form of poetry and singing harmony on the mainland. Even if you are not good at poetry, many times you will send off your old friends with simple songs. For example, Wang Lun is a singer who lives in Li Bai's poems.
During the Tianbao period, Wang Lun, who lived on the banks of Taohuatan In Jing County (present-day Xuancheng, Anhui), invited Li Bai to come for sightseeing. Li Bai lingered in the beautiful scenery of Peach Blossom Pond and formed a deep friendship with Wang Lun. But there was no unbroken feast in the world, and Li Bai, who lived for several days, finally said goodbye to Wang Lun. Wang Lun set up a banquet for Li Bai and sang folk "stepping songs" to send each other. Grateful for Wang Lun's deep friendship, Li Bai wrote "Gift to Wang Lun" spontaneously: "Li Bai will want to go on a boat, and overhear the song on the shore." The peach blossom pond is thousands of feet deep, and it is not as deep as Wang Lun sent me affection. "Stepping on the song to send off, it shows Wang Lun's simple friendship, and the gift of poetry shows Li Bai's cherishing of friendship."
Yuan Li Sheng,"Farewell Map of The Mountain" (partial) Shanghai Museum Collection
Of course, the farewell singing and not necessarily tears, parting from sorrow, but more is the expectation and encouragement of friends' future. Mengfuzi, whom Li Bai liked very much, was going to Guangling (present-day Yangzhou), and naturally wanted to send him off. He saw the ship disappear in front of him on the Yellow Crane Tower, and in addition to sentimentality, he hoped that his old friend had a good future: "The lone sail is far away and the blue sky is gone, only to see the skyline of the Yangtze River." ("Send Meng Haoran to the Guangling Tomb") can be described as an open mood, bright colors, full of emotions, flowing and flexible.
Wang Changling was infinitely sentimental when sending off his friends, "The cold rain and the river entered Wu at night, and Pingming sent a guest to Chushan Lonely." "At the time of separation, the temperature plummeted, the night rained continuously, and the green mountains in the distance stood alone. However, while he was thinking about his old friends, he also hoped that his friends would not worry about himself: "Luoyang relatives and friends are like asking each other, a piece of ice heart is in the jade pot." ("Furong Lou Sends Xin Gradually") While thanking his friends for their concerns, Wang Changling said that he would still stick to the festival, and the ice was clean and clean, which can be described as touching and profound.
Wang Bo and Gao Shi are more willing to come to the rescue of friends, although we are parted, but on the road of life, we will meet confidants like us. "Confidant in the sea, if the end of the world is adjacent" ("Send Du Shaofu to Ren Shuzhou"), since everyone has the same heart, even if they are far away in the end of the world, they are the same as living next to each other. "Don't worry about the road ahead and don't know yourself, who in the world doesn't know the king" ("Don't Dong Da"), is a consolation to friends, but why not have your own confidence in the future? Sentimental but not depressed, simple and bold, is the best farewell song and poem.
Of course, the most influential farewell poem since modern times is Li Shutong's "Farewell": "Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, the grass is blue and the sky is blue." The evening wind blows the willow flute, and the sunset is outside the mountain. The end of the sky, the corner of the earth, the knowledge of the half-scattered. A pot of turbid wine is all over the place, don't dream cold tonight. "Long pavilion, ancient road, yerba buena" has created a kind of parting melancholy, coupled with wicker swaying, flute whimpering, sunset gradually falling, the parting of old friends is in front of you, imagine yourself wandering for half a lifetime, a few confidants are on the other side of the sky, this scene, can only be alone in the "turbid wine".
Twilight is far away
When it comes to the sense of farewell ceremony, we cannot but admire the great poet Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty. For him, to send off his friends, willow branches, songs, and fine wine can not be less, it is really a sense of ceremony.
His friend Yuan Er was to set off from Chang'an to the distant City of Anxi (Tang Anxi Prefecture, whose seat of government was in present-day Kucha, Xinjiang), and Wang Wei went all the way to Weicheng (present-day Xianyang), where he finally had to say goodbye. In the morning, a sudden rain just covered the dust on the road, making the air exceptionally fresh, which was a good day to travel. The wicker looks emerald green and full of life under the drizzle. Wang Wei raised his wine glass affectionately ("Sending Yuan Er envoy Anxi"): "Weicheng is raining and dusting, and the guest house is green and willowy." Persuade the jun to drink a glass of wine, and go out of the west to yang guan without a reason. "Sentimentality without a word of sadness, everything is in a wine full of affection." After the poem was completed, it was quickly criticized by people for orchestrating and singing everywhere, becoming a famous passage that has been passed down through the ages, and it is also known as "Weicheng Song" and "Yangguan Three Stacks".
Ming Tang Yin "Jin Zhao Farewell Intention" Part of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
The late Tang Dynasty poet Xu Hun served as the Taishou of Xuancheng. When his friend Fan Yun was about to leave, Xu Hun decided to bid farewell to Xie Ting in the north of the city, and afterwards wrote the famous "Xie Ting Farewell": "Lao Ge twisted the boat, and the red leaves and green mountains and water rapids." The sunset wine is far away, and the wind and rain are all over the West Building. After a few drinks, singing a farewell song, the old friend finally boarded the boat and untied the cable. At this time, it is the late autumn season, the frost forest on both sides of the strait is dyed, and the red maple leaves reflect the turquoise river, which makes the river more and more urgent. In fact, where is the water rush, it is clear that the poet is afraid of the rapid flow of the river and causes his friends to leave earlier! In addition to sentimentality, the few glasses of wine I had just drunk actually began to slowly rise, and I unconsciously fell asleep. By the time he woke up drunk, it was already twilight, and his friend's ship had long since disappeared, so he had to walk alone from the windy west building. Borrowing scenery to fable and ending with scenery, this scene of drinking and walking is actually wordless sentimentality, accompanied by wind and rain in the sky. Will it remind us of the scene where Bai Juyi sent off his friend at the head of the Xunyang River - "Drunk is not happy and miserable, farewell to the vast river"?
To this day, the arrival and delivery between relatives and friends is still indispensable, and the folk also have the saying that "the noodles of the upward dumplings descend", but in the sentimental scene, it must be indispensable to drink. At this time, perhaps we will think of Li Bai's "Jinling Liquor Store Farewell": "The wind blows willow flowers full of fragrance, and Wu Ji presses the wine to invite guests to taste." The children of Jinling came to send each other, and they wanted to do everything they wanted. Please ask Dongliushui, don't care who is short and long. (Zeng Qingjiang)
Source: Hainan Daily