Text: Yi Ao
Nowadays, people have birthday feasts, and the pomp and circumstance is bigger than the other, with gifts, cakes, banquets, and the blessings of relatives and friends all gathered together.
Among them, children's birthdays and old people's birthday banquets have different ways to celebrate.
In fact, birthday banquets are not only the patent of modern people, in ancient times thousands of years ago, the ancients already had a way to celebrate birthdays.
Moreover, all kinds of blessings and congratulatory gifts are endless, and the holding of Catch Week and Shoutang is enough to shock many audiences!
How did the ancients celebrate their birthdays, and how did they congratulate them?
The birthday feast of the ancients
"Birthday gifts are not available in the ancients"
In the records of historical documents, the ancients did not have any concept of birthdays before the Southern Dynasties, so birthdays naturally did not exist.
But in the minds of the ancients, the solar term climate is a very important thing, which is related to the change of time and rest.
Therefore, the emergence of festivals is an inevitable result for the ancients, which is not only a symbol of commemoration, but also people's perception of environmental changes.
"All must change food, and dwelling must be moved. Don't get tired of eating, don't get tired of fine. Food and tin are eaten. The fish is hungry and the meat is rotten, the color is evil, the smell is evil, the food is not eaten, the food is not eaten, the food is not eaten, the cut is not eaten, and the sauce is not eaten. ”
The ancients understood the changes of the seasons far more thoroughly than we think, and the way of life of the ancients is described in the Analects.
What season or what kind of climate should correspond to what kind of life, among which eating corresponds to the festival.
Now we have a different understanding of traditional customs, such as moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival, zongzi in the Dragon Boat Festival and other festivals.
With the changes of the times and society, the concept of birthdays has gradually broken into the lives of the ancients.
Among them, the children's weekly rites and the birthday banquets of the elders also appeared in the daily life of the ancients one after another.
However, except for children and elders, young people rarely have birthdays, because in the concept of the ancients, young people "live" is a bad meaning, and the life span of the ancients is not long, so only when they are old will they go to great lengths to celebrate their birthdays.
"Thirty and stand, forty and not confused, fifty and know the destiny of heaven, sixty and obedient, seventy and do as you like, do not exceed the rules. ”
Compared with today's people's birthdays once a year, the ancients paid more attention to once a decade.
Every ten years, there will be a corresponding title, which also means that he has grown to another stage, in which before the thirty years stand, it is the "coming-of-age ceremony" of the ancients.
The ancients had a "crown ceremony" for men, which was called a weak crown at the age of 20, and a woman was called the "year of peach and plum" at the age of 20.
Therefore, the twentieth birthday has an extraordinary meaning for the ancients, that is, at this time, the ancients would hold their own birthday banquets.
In fact, the ancients also had a very important view of birthdays, in which newborn children carry the love and expectation of their families, so whether it is a weekly ceremony or a full moon banquet, it is a way to pray for their children or have expectations.
And although his birthday is his birth day, it is also a time when his mother experiences the "ghost gate".
The ancients paid attention to filial piety first, not to mention that in ancient times when resources and technology were not developed, women would always have a particularly difficult time in childbirth.
Therefore, when the ancients celebrated their birthdays, they generally thought of their mothers, but if their parents were not alive, their birthdays were not so important, after all, they would inevitably think of their parents when they were born.
Congratulations
Nowadays, there are many ways to celebrate birthdays, and eating cake has become the most common one.
But in ancient times, how did the ancients celebrate their birthday parties?
In fact, the banquet pomp of the ancients was also divided into occasions, among which at what age could the banquet be held and the guests entertained.
The birthday banquet of the elderly is the most luxurious and magnificent, the resources and medical conditions in ancient times are relatively poor, and the elders who are missing grades will be respected to a certain extent.
Therefore, when the ancients were fifty or sixty years old, the family would give the elders a big birthday banquet and call friends to participate in this happy event.
In the concept of the ancients, the birthday banquet of the elderly is a very festive event, and there are signs of longevity, so all kinds of congratulatory gifts and blessings are endless.
And in the eyes of the ruling class, their own birthday banquet should be paid more attention.
Among them, whether it is the aristocracy and the rich, or the person in power, will hold their own banquets in a big way, among which eating, drinking and having fun are indispensable, and the liveliness does not have to be bad now!
The birthday of the ruling class will have a certain impact on the country and dynasty they rule, and many emperors will choose to issue an "amnesty" on their birthday, in which taxation or commutation of sentences are a way.
The higher the class level, the more prosperous the pomp and luxury of the birthday party, and with the support of status and financial resources, the birthday party is no longer a simple way to celebrate.
The wisdom and social structure of the ancients were not simpler than we think, and birthday feasts were also a way to maintain one's status and rule.
People will use their own advantages to strengthen their position, and the higher the class of people, the more fundamentally different they will be from the birthday party.
Among the common people, the birthday banquet is unpretentious, and many people are running for their livelihood, so the birthday party will not be extravagant or consume too much money.
When children celebrate their birthdays, most of them improve some food at home, so that children can eat some delicious food, and when the elders in the family celebrate their birthdays, a bowl of longevity noodles has also become a "standard".
Nowadays, there are many ways to celebrate people's birthday banquets, which are left by the ancients, among which the weekly ceremony and the full moon banquet are also left over by the ancients.
Moreover, the ancients also had their own little pleasures about amusement, among which drinking wine to help fun, drinking and composing poems, and adding color to the head were unique to the ancients.
At the banquet held, the ancients wanted to make the banquet more interesting, or the host wanted the guests to have fun, so the banquet was naturally as lively as possible.
The ancients had their own unique understanding of birthdays, whether it was the way of celebration or the time of birthday, which were slowly formed by the ancients in the social environment.
Children have children's ways, and the birthdays of the elderly and elders also have different concepts, but it is undeniable that birthdays also have different commemorative meanings for the ancients.
Whether it is from the perspective of mother's filial piety, it means that he has grown up, or he has entered old age and become a "long-lived person" in the mouth of others.
The ancients understood that birthdays were not about celebrating the festival itself, but about representing themselves as having entered a new stage.
brief summary
Although the resources and technology were not developed in ancient times, whether it was food, clothing, housing and transportation, or in some meaningful festivals, the ancients did not lack celebrations, and even some projects were beyond our imagination.
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