2023 is coming to an end, and no matter how the year goes, the New Year's Day of the new year is just around the corner. According to research, "New Year's Day" is also known as "New Year's Day", as early as the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, there has been a record of New Year's Day, one of the five emperors is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the first day of the new year is the Dan, collectively known as "New Year's Day".
According to the annotation of "Shuowen Jie Zi": "The Yuan is the beginning, and the Dan is the Ming." In layman's terms, "Yuan" refers to the beginning, and "Dan" refers to the morning, when the sun rises on the morning of the first day of the new year, the old year is declared over, and the new year begins in people's beautiful vision.
For the ancients, New Year's Day refers more to the Lunar New Year, which is different from the date of New Year's Day in the modern Gregorian calendar, but the two are similar in the sense of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. When we are still worried about the New Year's summary, the ancient literati also recorded what they saw and felt in poems on New Year's Day, pinning their feelings on the past and their expectations for the New Year.
Let's take a look at what blessings the ancients would say when the old and the new alternate, and also provide a little inspiration for your New Year's Day blessings.
"Lang Shining and Other Qianlong Emperors' Chronicle Scroll". Source: The Palace Museum
Bless yourself: not afraid of the past and high morale
If you want to say blessings, it is first related to yourself, and the poet Meng Haoran is one of them. In 727 AD, this year, Meng Haoran did not have a good time, and he still failed to win the list after a year of rushing for the exam, and he had to return to his hometown on the occasion of the New Year. On the way home, Meng Haoran wrote the poem "The First Day of the Tian Family":
Last night, I went back to the north, and now I am in the east.
I am already a strong man, and I am still a farmer.
The mulberry field ploughed his father, and the lotus hoe followed the shepherd boy.
The Tian family accounts for the climate, and it is said that this year is abundant.
Meng Haoran's emotion is estimated to resonate with many people, standing at the end of the year and looking back, I found that this year passed really fast, the bits and pieces of last year seemed to happen yesterday, overnight, the stars changed, and the new year began, I just want to sigh, where has this time gone.
Time flies by, but the year-end summary of the poet Meng Da can only write a few strokes that are quite unsatisfactory: now I am in the prime of life, I should have made a name for myself and made great achievements, but a year has passed, and I still do not have an official position. If you only look at these two couplets, where is the poet sending New Year's wishes to himself, it is clear that he is writing a "complaint" about the past year.
However, Meng Haoran, as a hermit admired by Li Bai, could not indulge in resentment at unsatisfactory on the occasion of the New Year. The poet turned his pen and painted an idyllic picture of the New Year. Although his career was not smooth, Meng Haoran was not depressed, living in the countryside, he worked with the farmer during the day, and went home with the shepherd boy in the evening. Back in the village, people have predicted the New Year, farmers look forward to a good harvest in the New Year, Meng Haoran may have given his New Year's blessings, hoping that the next year to go to Chang'an to test can harvest a lot and usher in a good result.
This poem is both the poet's year-end summary and his New Year's outlook. Although the past year was very unsatisfactory, but the past is gone, since I am not willing to live in seclusion in the countryside, then I will regain my strength and make persistent efforts in the new year. Meng Haoran's calm relief of the past ups and downs and his optimistic attitude towards the new year and new scenery may also bring you a little comfort and confidence when you are saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
Portrait of Meng Haoran. Photography / Turui, source / Picture Worm Creative
Also in the face of the passage of time, Meng Haoran rekindled his fighting spirit after a short period of depression, and some poets chose to accept it calmly and deal with it calmly. Although the poet Song Boren was erudite, he was also quite unsmooth on the road to the imperial examination, and he finally chose to live in the countryside for a long time and lived a hermit life. Song Boren lived in a simple place, even when the New Year came, few people came to visit, and he celebrated the New Year, the poet had a feeling, and wrote a poem "New Year's Day" on the occasion of New Year's Day:
There are no greeting guests in the middle, and getting up early is just as usual.
The school board is changed with people, and the plum blossoms are fragrant every other year.
The spring breeze laughs back, and the clouds are abundant.
How hard to persuade the cypress wine, the heart is peaceful and long-lived.
The poet Song Boren's New Year can indeed be described as "lonely", with no relatives and friends around, and few festive atmospheres at home. If you are in a foreign land at this time, you will also spend the New Year alone, and you may be able to find resonance in Song Boren's poems.
How to spend a New Year that seems to have no sense of ceremony? Song Boren's answer is to be calm and peaceful. Although there are no relatives and friends around, there are plum blossoms around the side, and the dark fragrance floats; although life seems to be dull, it is not a good choice to drink tea, be leisurely, and welcome the next year with a contented and happy attitude.
Song Boren's "Plum Blossom Joy Divine Spectrum". Source: Carved Dragon Chinese Ancient Books Full-text Database
If you need a positive and optimistic New Year's greeting, you might as well find inspiration in Bai Juyi's poems. When Bai Juyi entered the year of the sixtieth year, he wrote a poem "Five Songs on the First Day of the Seven Years":
Celebrate the lazy and kneel late.
If you don't feel this body because of the season.
The old people are worried about the years, and the rest of the decay is happy to enter the spring.
The seventh rank of the year is opened, and there are only a few people.
Three glasses of bluetail wine, a plate of gum tooth satire.
Except for Cui Changshi, no one fights with me.
Today, Wu and Luo are happy to remember each other.
Do you know if you dream of it, you have passed the year of your birth.
Cui He was at the same age, and Du was not at the same age.
There should be no hiding place, only rejoicing.
Although he was over 60 years old when he wrote this poem, Bai Juyi did not feel any worries at all, but was full of confidence. In the eyes of Lotte Layman, there is no need for people to worry about the passing of their years, and it is not a great blessing to be able to celebrate the New Year and indulge in drinking at the age of 60 like himself. New Year, New Year, why indulge in the passing time, it is better to have fun, enjoy the joy of the New Year, and enter the New Year with a high-spirited attitude.
"Mo Miao Zhu Lin Book", Qing, painted by Ding Guanpeng. Source/National Palace Museum, Taipei
祝福亲友：遥寄相思 祈盼团圆
As the year draws to a close, in addition to writing down your own New Year's resolutions, sending blessings to your relatives and friends near midnight has also become a must-have item for New Year's Eve. Many times, the blessing of others inevitably seems patterned, how to get rid of the conventional blessing routine, to listen to the answers of the ancients.
On the occasion of the New Year, relatives and friends reunite, the scene of welcoming the New Year can always make people happy, if we talk about the poems that depict the folk scene of welcoming the New Year, we have to mention the poem "Yuan Ri" by Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty:
In the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu.
Thousands of households always replace the new peach with the old one.
In Wang Anshi's poems, the first day of the new year has a lively and joyful scene, and Vientiane is renewed. Every household sets off firecrackers to drive away evil spirits, welcomes the warm spring breeze, and drinks Tusu wine happily, and the whole poem is filled with joy and inspiration to remove the old and welcome the new. If you want to send an ingenious blessing to your relatives and friends on the occasion of the New Year, it is better to use Wang Anshi's poems: I hope we can get together in the spring of the New Year, talk about wine and poetry, enjoy the good scenery together, and wish the new year to be brilliant.
"The Scroll of the Celebration of the Village of the Sui Dynasty", Ming, by Li Shida. Source: The Palace Museum
If you are alone in a foreign land, it is difficult to get together with relatives and friends, how to relieve the feeling of loneliness and lovesickness? Cui Tu's poem "Except for the Night in Bashan Road" may have the answer:
Passing the three bus roads, the body is in danger.
Troubled mountains and snowy nights, lonely candles and strangers.
gradually distanced from flesh and blood, and turned to servants.
That can be drifting, tomorrow is new.
This poem was written by the poet when he was fleeing from the chaos and wandering in the Bashu area. New Year's Day, which is supposed to be a time for family and friends to gather, is left alone, trudging alone on a rugged and distant road, living in a dangerous place thousands of miles away from his hometown. Outside the window is the mountains and snow, and the house is alone, only a little candle and lonely stranger company. Although sad and lonely, the poet still comforts himself that there will be new things in the new year, and the days of wandering will always end. Every time it is time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, the feeling of wandering in a foreign land will always be very strong, but you might as well tell yourself that the days of wandering will always come to an end, and the coming year will be a new scene, and the next year will be a good situation.
Bless the country: Vientiane is renewed and thriving
As one of the traditional festivals in ancient China, New Year's Day has a very important position, and all dynasties will hold sacrificial celebrations on this day. For example, the Han Dynasty would hold a grand court meeting on New Year's Day, and a group of officials needed to worship the emperor according to their dignity and inferiority, while in the Tang and Song dynasties, they liked to hold court banquets to celebrate the festival with the people.
Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who created the rule of Zhenguan, showed the emperor's spirit in a poem "Keeping the Year":
Twilight view oblique palace, gorgeous Qi Palace.
The cold leaves the winter snow, and the warmth brings in the spring breeze.
Step-rich Shumeisu, coiled flower roll candle red.
Celebrate the new year and welcome and send off all night.
At this time, the Tang Dynasty was strong and prosperous, and on New Year's Day, the palace was a prosperous scene to welcome the New Year and bid farewell to the old year. In the pen of Tang Taizong, the palace under the sunset is not lonely and gloomy, but more gorgeous in the twilight. The palace is full of lights inside and outside, and the scene of the New Year is warm and solemn, and the whole country welcomes the New Year and bids farewell to the old year. Tang Taizong saw the prosperous scene in front of him, and while he was happy, he also wished for a smooth wind and rain in the coming year, and the year was better than in the past.
What kind of scene is the New Year's Day palace banquet in the eyes of an ordinary official? The Tang Dynasty poet Li Xuan was born during the Yamato period of Tang Wenzong, which was different from the prosperous style of the Zhenguan period, and the Tang Dynasty society at this time had gradually declined.
The jade seat is approaching the new year, and the people of all countries are in the court.
The fire is even double dawn, and the battle is lined up in five springs.
Ruixue sells mandarin tiles, and the auspicious light is in the sun wheel.
Tianyan didn't dare to look at it, and said that he would congratulate the air frequency.
Through Li Xuan's poems, we can imagine the scene when a small official participates in a grand palace banquet. Li Xuan followed the footsteps of the hundred officials into the palace, and what caught his eye was the Son of Heaven sitting on the throne and the envoys who came to worship. After the end of the worship out of the palace gate, the golden sun shines on the majestic palace, the snow reflects the red wall of the palace tiles, recalling the scene of the worship just now, Li Xuan, who usually rarely sees the Son of Heaven, does not dare to look directly at the emperor, and now stepping out of the palace gate, he bowed a few times in the direction of the emperor. This is not so much a poem to celebrate New Year's Day, but rather a work diary written by an ordinary official of the Tang Dynasty who had to work overtime on New Year's Day.
"All Nations Come to the Dynasty" axis, Qing. Source: The Palace Museum
Another Tang Dynasty official also described his participation in the palace banquet of the court in the poem, and Yang Juyuan wrote in the poem "Yuan Ri Guan Dynasty":
The Arctic Changzun reported the holy period, and the Zhou family asked the Yuan turtle.
The face of the sky enters the dawn and thousands of officials worship, and everything knows the spring on the first day.
He returned to the Zodiac Daozheng, and his clothes hung high on Bishan.
Weichen is willing to offer Yao people to wish, longevity wine every year too liquid pool.
Different from Li Xuan's cautiousness, Yang Juyuan's mood when he participated in the palace banquet was obviously much more relaxed. Compared with the work diary written by Li Xuan, the poet Yang Juyuan seems to know more about the way of being an official, and the poem is more like writing a New Year message for the emperor, especially the couplet at the end of the poem is full of praise. Although I don't know if the emperor made Longxin happy because of this poem, but looking at Yang Juyuan's career, it is indeed quite smooth, which must have something to do with his good poetry ability.
Poetry at a time of national prosperity records the beauty of court feasts, while poets at a time of national peril, eagerly awaiting social changes and the arrival of a new state at the turn of the old and the new. This is the case with the Qing Dynasty patriotic poet Zhang Weiping's "New Thunder":
Creation is silent but affectionate, and every time it is cold, it is born in spring.
Thousands of red and purple are arranged, just waiting for the first sound of new thunder.
This poem was written in the fourth year of Daoguang, more than ten years before the Opium War, the poet is full of anxiety about the current situation, but did not give up hope, although the whole poem does not see the words "New Year's Day" and "New Year", but full of the poet's ardent expectation that the new thunder will sound and the new situation will come as soon as possible.
New Year's Day has evolved in Chinese history for thousands of years, and in the course of history, the date of New Year's Day has changed several times, and the way of celebration has changed a lot, but what has always remained the same is that people wave goodbye to the old time at this moment, looking forward to the arrival of the new time. In the New Year's Day masterpieces of the past and present, the ancients either recorded traditional Xi, or depicted the New Year's scene, or gave personal feelings, or expressed their ambitions, and when bidding farewell to 2023, you may wish to bring the blessings that the ancients have hidden in the poems for thousands of years, and look forward to a new beginning in 2024.
Source: WeChat public account "National Humanities and History"
Author: Gao Huilan
Editor: Wu Xicheng
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