The Tang Dynasty poet Li Shi once issued such an exclamation in "The Monk's House of the Helin Temple":"Stealing a floating life for half a day." In the chaotic world, even a moment of leisure is rare and precious!
In this way, whether ancient or modern, a holiday that can enjoy a leisurely and relaxed mood is a precious ~
Ming Qiuying's "Alone Paradise Map" (partial) Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, USA
In ancient times, the relatively complete leave system with written records can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty. However, at that time, there was no such thing as "holiday", and people at that time called vacation "Rest Mu".
The Han Law records: "Officials rest for five days. That is to say, every four days of work, officials "rest" for one day, in this cycle, somewhat similar to the modern weekend double break.
The word "Humu" is not difficult to understand literally: "Everyone is tired from work, rest and bathe, and enjoy the holiday."
Most of the ancients had long hair tied, and on weekdays, officials generally lived in the yamen office, and it was not convenient to take a bath, so taking advantage of the vacation, bathing and changing clothes was a very necessary and relaxing thing.
Of course, Xiu Mu does not necessarily have to take a bath, and going to the water's edge is also a great pleasure of the holiday.
▲ Ming Qian's "Lanting Repair Map" (partial) collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Bathing and playing on the outskirts of the city-state, it was called "fúxì" in ancient times. Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's famous "Orchid Pavilion Collection" mentions "Repairing Zen Shiye", which also refers to similar activities.
In the Han Dynasty, the system of "five days off and one rest" lasted for about seven or eight hundred years, and it was not until the Tang Dynasty that it slowly evolved into a system of "ten days and one rest". In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of holiday was also called "Ten Rest". "Ten days" originally meant "ten days", and the ten days off naturally meant "nine days of work and one day of rest".
The Tang Dynasty poet Wei Yingwu wrote in "Visiting the King on The Day of Rest": "Nine days drive away one day of leisure", that is, it is related to the system of ten days of rest. In Bai Juyi's poem, "The public gate day is two decades, and the public holiday month is thirty", and the "thirty years" in it is not the meaning of "thirty", but "three days off".
Although the Tang Dynasty, which "took nine days and one rest", seemed to have reduced holidays, in fact, there were far more other types of small long holidays in the Tang Dynasty than in the Han Dynasty.
The "Six Classics of Tang" records that the winter solstice holiday is seven days; the Qingming Festival is four days off; august 15, the summer solstice, and the waxing day are three days each; the Dragon Boat Festival, the Qixi Festival, the spring, the spring equinox, the autumn... Each solar term is also on holiday.
Some scholars have calculated the sum of various holidays in the Tang Dynasty, which amounted to 77 days. In the precious holidays, keju, swing, and polo are often played by people.
▲Tang Zhanghuai Prince Tomb Mural "Polo Drawing" (Partial)
Or take the leisure route, like Bai Juyi, Yuan Shu, Han Yu, Zhang Zhi and other great poets, go to the countryside to enjoy feasts and drinks.
Every year in the third and fourth months of the lunar calendar, the spring rains begin to fall, the flowers are full of trees, and the banks of the Qujiang River in the south of Chang'an City are full of tourists.
The poet Bai Juyi was a big fan of Qujiang and wrote more than 60 poems for "Qujiang".
Once, Bai Juyi was absent from his friends' holiday party for some reason, and Han Yu even wrote a poem "Tongshuibu Zhang Member, Qu Jiang ChunYou Sending Bai Twenty-two People" to ask him the reason why he did not arrive - "The Qu River is full of flowers and trees, and it is not willing to come when there is a bottom busy?" ”
Later, Bai Juyi took the initiative to invite Han Yu and Zhang Zhi and others to visit Qujiang again, and returned the poem "Reward Han Waiter Dr. Zhang Traveled to Qujiang After the Rain" and solved the "mystery of breaking the contract" with his friends.
The holidays of the Tang Dynasty were indeed leisurely. However, if we talk about the dynasty with the most holidays in ancient times, the Song Dynasty still came out on top.
In the "Miscellaneous Records of Wenchang" written by Pang Yuanying of the Song Dynasty, it is recorded: "Officials take seven days each for New Year's Day, Cold Food, and Winter Solstice; three days each for Shangyuan, Summer Solstice, and Zhongyuan; one day each for Lichun and Qingming; three days of monthly regular leave; and sixty-eight days of the year." ”
In addition to these 68 days of regular holidays, the Spring Festival holiday of the Song Dynasty is enviable: every year on the twentieth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, officials "seal" the holiday, wait until the twentieth day of the first month of the following year, and then "open the printing" office, the holiday is as long as one month. If you count all the holidays in the Song Dynasty, you spend one-third of the year on holidays.
Meng Yuanlao once described the relaxed and pleasant holiday life of the Song people in the "Tokyo Dream Record":
Southern Song Dynasty Ma Yuan's "Hua Lantern Banquet Figure II" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
To a certain extent, the relaxed and moderately leisurely holiday life promoted the economic development of the Song Dynasty, and also provided a space for the flourishing of art and literature in the Song Dynasty.
We modern people often ridicule the holiday as "people following the crowd", but looking at Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming on the River Map", people take a holiday to play on the street, but we will feel that even if it is a thousand years apart, the bustling crowds, the bustling street markets, and the crowded shops in the Capital of the Northern Song Dynasty... Still wrapped in the hot breath of life.
This leisurely, playful holiday picture is not a portrayal of people's love of life...
Song Zhang Zeduan's "Picture Scroll of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Today is the first day of the May Day holiday, and the last day of the holiday, May 5th, is summer.
Late spring and early summer, everything is shown, it is a good weather for travel, I wish everyone a wonderful holiday of leisurely travel ~ ~