Flower Dynasty Festival · The most cherished day of the year
Today, the twelfth day of February in the lunar calendar, is the annual Flower Dynasty Festival.
Flower Dynasty, a day to celebrate the birthday of the flower god,
In the old days, people laid out flowers and cakes in the flower temple,
Young men and women gathered under the trees of flowers and trees to sing and dance,
The ancients believed in animism,
Good days will come with the blossoms.
I don't know which day, the first apricot blossom in the cold cliff cracked, and the spring light was released. Immediately after the peach blossoms are about to bloom, the pear blossoms are also coming, and the begonias and cherry blossoms are also coming together. When they vigorously occupy the land of China, the Flower Dynasty Festival will arrive.
Compared with the Lantern Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, the reputation of the Flower Dynasty Festival is not so loud today. But it has a long history, as early as the Spring and Autumn "Tao Zhu Gongshu" has been recorded: "February 12 is the day of a hundred peanuts, no rain and a hundred flowers ripe." The ancients were close to the flowers, and in their hearts, these silent and delicate beings could accompany the twilight, marry relatives and friends, and naturally should also have birthdays and anniversaries. Such a childlike innocent idea made Hua Chao wrap up in a romantic atmosphere from the beginning.
At that time, people liked to put "flowers on the moon and the moon" and said: "Flowers move the spring heart in the night of the moon, who can't bear to miss each other." Two festivals, one is the spring order is halfway, a hundred flowers are in anticipation, the most enjoyable, a clear autumn, the bright moon, poetry and wine talk, in the year from afar, let people have expectations for the life of chai rice oil and salt, which is the ancient people's most sincere belief in the gift of nature. Because of expectations and beliefs, this spring encounter is always cherished.
Flower protection
Every morning of the Flower Festival, the girls will roll the curtains out of the cabinet, swim in the spring wilderness, and hang the five-colored paper notes on the flower branches, which is called "red viewing", called "flower protection". "Spring to the flowers toward the green dyeing bushes, branches cut the ribbon and the east wind" is written this custom, the Tang people also have a sentence "Shuo wind if intentional, easy not to destroy", the way to the pity of the flower protectors, not only the wind, people are also the same, because cherishing, is the warmest guardian in the world.
This gentleness that benefits the grass and trees has long been recorded: there was a virgin named Cui Xuanwei in the Tang Dynasty, who had a famous garden and flourished flowers and trees. Xu was to see that his love for flowers was sincere, and the flower spirits turned into maidens to visit, and also taught him to prepare colorful veils, paint the sun, moon and stars, and hang them in the flowers and branches in the garden. In that year, the flowers and festivals were fiercely windy, and the luoyang city broke the trees and flew sand, and only the flowers and trees in the Cui family were protected and did not move. This story is very popular with flower lovers, and hanging flowers is customary.
The Tang people's flower-obsessive nature has a top-down component. Tang Taizong, Emperor Wu, and Muzong were all "flower idiots", not only planting flowers, protecting flowers, and appreciating flowers, but also taking advantage of the good flowers to eat some. Every year during the Flower Dynasty Festival, Wu Zetian would make the palace women pick hundreds of flowers, mash them together with rice, steam them into cakes, and feast on the courtiers. The pastries produced in this way combine the richness of flowers with the fragrance of the valley, and soon spread to form a festival.
The Enthusiasm of the Song people for the Flower Dynasty increased unabated, and even the tongsu people participated. Therefore, every time you go to the Flower Dynasty, it is more lively, "the middle of the country strikes the market, and the red green travels". In addition to stepping on the green, enjoying flowers, and collecting elegant flowers, it is also popular to plant flowers, pick vegetables, flutter butterflies and other activities, which adds a lot of life atmosphere. At this time, both men and women are happy to put large flowers on the sideburns and flaunt the market. They are no longer content to be mere spectators, they want to participate in the blossoming of the flowers, to show off the grandeur, to rub spring into their own existence.
Flower viewing, flower protection, flower eating, hairpin flowers, reflecting people's nostalgia and cherishing of hurried flowers. Because I once cherished it, I was not afraid of the passage of time, and the flowers flew away.
Spring
According to legend, the flower god is in charge of the long spring and summer of plants, so it is not only the flower lovers who are happy to spend the flower festival, but also the flower farmers and grain farmers.
Because it is the time when Fangfei is brewing, farmers like to spread all kinds of seeds on this day, and it is best to gather "hundred seeds" to pray for a good harvest. The method of foreshadowing is also very simple: it is a good day, which is an auspicious omen of the ripening of all things.
In addition, flower farmers will also set up offerings in the Flower Temple during the Flower Dynasty Festival, and perform performances to entertain the gods to celebrate the gods' jubilation. In the northeast, vegetarian food is used for worship, and Suzhou will slaughter livestock to celebrate the birthday of the immortals. Either way, sincere wishes are universal: pray for the blessing of the flower god, smooth wind and rain, a hundred flowers blooming, and abundant grains.
Such activities will continue until the night, people carrying various "flower god lanterns" around the flower temple, the lively scene is probably no less than the night market on the Yuan Festival.
Because the spring ploughing time is precious, in the old days, the government would also persuade farmers in the countryside during the Flower Dynasty Festival. In fact, what is the use of persuasion? The flower farmers and grain farmers who know the change of the seasons have long been secretly rubbing and preparing, and they cherish the unfinished good spring light every year like cherishing life.
Pity people
Every time you come to the Flower Festival, you can't help but fantasize about the ancient collections: the girls set up a seat under the flower tree, where they can talk and laugh unscrupulously, draw flower lots, fly flower orders, fight hundred grasses, sing and dance... A gust of wind came, the flowers fell all over the sky, and the bright smile drunkenly fell under the flowers, this scene was enough to freeze for a hundred years.
Every time the flower dynasty moves the spring heart, one year, Qian Wei took care of political affairs in Hangzhou, one day out of the palace gate, the west lake embankment is already peach red willow green, thinking that he and his wife have not seen each other for several days can not help but have a lot of thoughts, put up a pen to write a letter, one of which is: "Strange flowers bloom, can slowly return."
Today's Zhuang people also pass the Flower Dynasty, calling it the "Hundred Flowers Fairy Festival". In the festival, young men and women gather in the pingba with kapok trees, singing from afar, throwing hydrangeas and giving flowers as a medium in sincere love songs, and the hydrangeas obtained are not brought home, and when the sunset breaks up, hang on the kapok tree where the hundred flower fairy lives, praying for the hundred flower fairy to bless the love forever, and the heart is white.
Whether it is the conversation between girlfriends or the whispers between lovers, "companionship" makes this festival as sweet as nectar and as rich as the fragrance of flowers. Sometimes it feels like people's emotions are like the blossoms of spring, making people feel like a spring breeze, like finding a place of spiritual refuge.
So to this day, even if the flower festival is no longer famous, but a good day of blooming flowers, as long as there is love in the heart, where there is no joy.
Flower God
The Flower Festival, after talking about the festival, can not fail to mention those people related to flowers. In ancient China, there has always been a "flower god", and among many historical figures, a "spokesperson" has been found for various types of flowers - their people may have anecdotes related to flowers, or famous sentences depicting this flower, or they are related to the spiritual character of this flower... Legend has different versions, a spring flower, often several flower gods. Choosing people as the representative of flowers is also a way for the ancients to play with flowers, which can be described as a unique "flower god culture".
Peach Blossom Male God Cui Huo
On one side, the knot is good, and the poem is overshadowed
In the spring, Cui Huo, who was alone in the green, opened the firewood in the courtyard and begged for a bowl of water to drink. The young girl who answered the door took the water, and then reclined on the peach tree in the courtyard, and the peach burned, and the girl under the flower was even more delicate than it.
The following year, Cui Hu remembered the young girl and followed the old path to visit. But I saw that the courtyard door was closed tightly, there was no sound, only peach blossoms. He was lost in his heart and left a poem on the door: "Last year and today, in this door, people's faces were red with peach blossoms. People don't know where to go, and peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze. ”
A few days later, Cui Hu visited the mountain village again, only to hear the cries and sorrows in the courtyard. An old man came out and asked, "Are you the thin-hearted Cui Lang?" You kill my daughter! It turned out that the young girl fell in love with him at first sight, only hoping that he would visit again, but after waiting for a year, because the family went out, she missed it with Cui Hu. When I came back and saw the inscription poem, I thought that my fate had ended, and I was depressed and died. Cui Hu saw the girl's remains and cried out, "Cui Hu is here!" With this cry, the girl woke up slowly and came back from the dead. Heaven is beautiful, and Cui Hu and the young girl eventually become dependents.
The late Tang Dynasty Cui Hu did have his own people, and indeed left a divine stroke of "human face peach blossom". But his entanglement with the peach blossom girl comes from the notebook novel "Benshi Poem", which is more like the literary and artistic association unfolded by the peach blossom poem, which may not be a real thing. However, because of this legend, Cui Hu was still chosen by his descendants as the god of peach blossoms.
Peach blossom male gods Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao
Taoyuan Immortal Realm, drunk and forgetful
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang Province hid a variety of precious herbs, as well as hidden roads to the Immortal Realm. Legend has it that some villagers Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao went into the mountains to collect medicine, lost their way to grain, and fortunately found a large peach tree on the cliff, so they picked peaches to fill their hunger. Then, along the stream under the peach tree, I met two beautiful women who invited them to return to their homes and marry each other. Liu Ruan and the two were intoxicated and gentle, and they were in a trance for more than ten days before they remembered that they should go home to report that they were safe. The beautiful woman could not stay bitterly, so she pointed out the path down the mountain.
Out of the mountains, the vicissitudes of the world are no longer the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the Jin Dynasty. Liu Ruan only then woke up to the fact that what he encountered was a fairy, and the peach blossom depths were really a fairyland. Go? Liu Chen thought to himself, no matter Han Jin, it is good to live in peace, so he married and had children in the human world. Ruan Zhao, however, saw through the red dust, cultivated the immortals into the Dao, and disappeared without a trace. Because of this "immortal relationship", Liu Ruan and the two became peach blossom gods, but the peach trees and streams that led to the fairyland, just like Tao Yuanming's peach blossom source, were no longer seen by future generations.
Lady Peach Blossom
Buried Taolin hates red face
There is also a recognized peach blossom goddess, who is the Lady of The Spring and Autumn. She was originally a princess of Chen Guo, and when she married to the Kingdom of Shi, she passed through Cai Guo, and Cai Hou was rude to her. Hou Hou was furious when he heard the news, and persuaded King Xing of Chu to destroy Cai and capture Cai Hou. Cai Hou held a grudge, and knowing that the King of Chu was lustful, he deliberately praised Lady Xi's beauty. The king of Chu was really moved, and he destroyed the country and snatched away the beauty.
Lady Xi wanted to commit suicide, but the King of Chu threatened The Life of Princess Xi and forced her to seek perfection. In the Chu Palace, although Lady Xi was greatly favored, she never smiled slightly at the King of Chu. According to folklore, she entered Chu for three years, and finally took advantage of the fact that the King of Chu was out, escaped from the palace to see the Marquis of Xi, and the two were martyred in the peach forest. As a result, Mrs. Xi was called "Lady Peach Blossom" by later generations, and people also set up a "Peach Blossom Temple" to worship her.
However, After all, Lady Xi was a "red face disaster", which directly led to the collapse of Cai and Xi, although her temperament was strong, it was also a fact that she was committed to the enemy. This has caused posterity to mixed reviews of her, and the evaluation has constantly changed with the wind direction of the times.
The ancient people's view of peach blossoms was also very different in different eras: in the pre-Qin Dynasty, the use of peach blossoms as a metaphor for red faces was purely praise, and there was also the meaning of blessing many children; after the Tang and Song dynasties, the style of peach blossoms gradually declined; by the Ming and Qing dynasties, pink peach blossoms had been classified as "vulgar" and even used as a metaphor for prostitutes. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which had strict requirements for women's conduct, people worshipped madame as the goddess of peach blossoms, in which emotions were quite complicated, both pity and allusion.
White peach blossom god Yang Liulang
Plainly dressed as a skilled martial artist
The flower god can not only be a talented beauty, but also a warrior who licks blood from the blade. The representative of the "Yang Family General" of the Northern Song Dynasty, Liulang Yang Yanzhao, is the flower god of Bai Bitao.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yang family spread the story widely. Yang Liulang in novels and operas is "silver armor and silver armor Suluo robe, white dragon horse under the crotch, bright silver gun in the palm", heroic posture, brave and strategic. What is even more valuable is that even if the villain is slandered and the enemy country is opposed, he does not change his heart to the country. This righteous atmosphere is reminiscent of the prevailing saying of "peach wood to remove impurities" at that time.
At that time, peach blossoms were also bred by florists to develop many new varieties. Among them, the white peach is very different from the pink peach blossom, and the white flower has heavy petals, which is like the white robe of Wusheng and has a clean and upright temperament. Therefore, although there are already many peach blossom gods, Yang Liulang was specially proposed and took charge of the white peach branch alone.
The apricot blossom god Dong Feng
Magic Hand Rejuvenation Honors the Apricot Forest
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was divided into three parts, and The State of Wu in Jiangdong produced a famous doctor Dong Feng. At that time, there was a famous Hua Tuo in the world, scraping Guan Yu's bones to cure poison, and diagnosing Cao Cao's pulse in the air. Dong Feng has never treated a big person, but he can be called "Jian'an Divine Doctor" with Hua Tuo. Most of the people he healed were ordinary people, not only skilled in medicine, but also always with kindness.
Dong Feng lived in seclusion in his home in the mountains of Fujian Province, looking for him to see a doctor, without spending money or giving gifts, only needing to plant trees as a medical fee. For those cured of serious diseases, five apricot trees must be planted in the back mountain; those cured of minor diseases must plant one apricot tree. In the past ten years, the surrounding area of Dong Feng's residence has become a spectacular apricot forest, with more than 100,000 apricot trees, flowers in spring, and fruitful fruits in summer. When the apricots are ripe, people can exchange them for millet, and Dong Feng then takes the grain he receives to help the poor. Sitting in the apricot forest and hanging pot in the world, Dong Feng is revered as the god of apricot blossoms. And the world's honorific title of the healer" "Man in the Apricot Forest" is also derived from his deeds.
The wind evaluation of apricots also has a similar evolutionary process to that of peaches. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius gave lectures on the altar of apricots, and "apricots" used to be a very elegant image. In the Song Dynasty, Ye Shaoweng wrote "A branch of red apricots out of the wall" purely to depict the spring scene, and it was absolutely unthinkable that posterity would use "red apricots out of the wall" to refer to women's infidelity. However, people appreciate the "light red" and delicate state of apricot blossoms, and after the Song Dynasty, it is gradually popular to use it to compare beautiful women. By the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, apricot blossoms had become synonymous with merry women.
Therefore, in addition to Dong Feng, the apricot blossom god also has female candidates. For example, Ruan Wenji, this woman's name is not known, only the erotic notes "Chao Xiaozhi" mentions that she "inserts sideburns and likes to use apricot blossoms". Such an apricot blossom god is not only far-fetched, but also far from the style.
The pear blossom god Xie Daoyun
Pear blossom ice and snow quality, light silk to send thoughts
Pear blossoms, Ruixue, and willow silk are all white and light things, and the ancients often compared them to each other. It was this connection that allowed the later generations to choose a talented pear blossom goddess: Xie Daoyun.
The most famous thing about this talented woman in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is the allusion of "Xie Family Light Silk": the famous scholar Xie An explained poetry to his children, and when the sky fell suddenly, Xie An gladly asked: "What is the snow like?" The nephew used the term "sprinkling salt" to describe it, but the niece Xie Daoyun said: "If the willow is not raised by the wind." Xie An was thrilled.
Later, Xie Daoyun married the Hao royal family, and at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the world was turbulent, and her husband and children were killed by the rebel army. Xie Daoyun embraced his 3-year-old grandson, personally armed with weapons, led the female relatives of the family to resist, and was eventually captured because they were outnumbered. The leader of the rebel army admired her talent for a long time, admired her backbone even more, and immediately released her and sent someone to protect her. Xie Daoyun went into seclusion and spent the rest of his life in peace.
Xie Daoyun has both the famous phrase "Yong Shu" and the character of being as pure as snow, so the pear blossom that communicates with light silk and white snow asked her to be the flower god.
Li Hua Shen Han Yu
Snowflakes in the sky as a long song
Plum blossom is white, should be praised by the scholars who love high purity, but it always opens at the same time as peach blossoms, people often call peach and plum together, over time, there are fewer people who watch and praise plum blossoms alone - they are all peach blossoms, robbing the limelight!
However, there are still people who understand the magic of plum blossoms. Han Yu, the head of the "Eight Greats of the Tang and Song Dynasties", did not hesitate to speak out and praised Li Hua. He has several long poems of Yong Li Hua that are widely recited, and the most famous "Li Hua Gift Zhang Eleven" begins with the words: "At the end of February in the west of Gangneung City, the flowers do not see peaches but see Li." "Only looking at plum blossoms, not peach blossoms, can be described as different customs." Another poem says, "Whoever flattens the earth with thousands of piles of snow will cut and carve this smallpox." "Plain and magnificent, quite rich in plum blossom charm." Therefore, later generations selected the flower god, and they all believed that Han Yu was worthy of being called Li Hua's confidant.
The Southern Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli also thought about it: Why do you only see Li and not peach? One day, he accidentally looked at the peach and plum at night, only to see that the red peach blossoms were obscure and the snow-white plum blossoms were particularly eye-catching. It turned out that Han Yu was all enjoying plum flowers at night!
Begonia flower god Sun Daoxuan
Misinformation of spring flower letters, why drunk on the spring wind
Begonia flowers interesting talk, there is the famous "begonia spring sleep" - Tang Xuanzong summoned Yang Yuhuan, she did not wake up from a hangover, when she came to Tianzi, her cheeks were red, her sideburns were chaotic, and she was beautiful. Xuanzong then smiled, "This is the begonia flower that has not woken up!" ”
There is also an anecdote about Su Dongpo. It is said that the prostitute Li Yi (a saying Li Qi), repeatedly asked him for ink treasures but could not, and at a wine banquet and toasted and asked for poetry, Su Zi first sold GuanZi: "Dongpo resident Wen has been famous for a long time, what is there to say about Li Yi?" Then, in the surprise of everyone, he continued: "Just like Nishikawa DuGongbu, Although Begonia is good, he does not chant poetry." "Shudi begonias are famous, but Du Fu, who has lived in Xichuan for a long time, has never written begonia poems, and I can only praise you for such a begonia-like beauty, and I can't write words to praise you!"
Yang Yuhuan, Li Yi, Du Fu, and Su Dongpo all have a lot of ties to Begonia. However, the begonia flower god rated by the Ming Dynasty was a less famous woman: Sun Daoxuan.
Sun Daoxuan was a talented daughter of the Song Dynasty, thirty widows, and a lifelong observant of the festival. In the Song Dynasty, there was also a poem "Sun's Daughter" reminiscing about her deceased husband's begonia flower word "Remembering Qin'e", and some people misrepresented it for her, and then pushed her to be a flower god. Begonia is delicate and easy to fall, the meaning is either red makeup, or for hurt spring, how to look at it has nothing to do with Sun Daoxuan. She was probably the most elected of the flower gods.
Even if few people know about the flower festival today, when they look up and see the flowers blooming from tree to tree, people will become gentle, because we are convinced that beauty will always come with flowers. Born beautiful is difficult to give up, may you and I, who like flowers, smell the flowers, accompany the four seasons, all the way smoothly, a lifetime of joy, and the rest of your life, all for the flowering period.
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