1. Origin
Zhuzhou is said to have originated from the Three Kingdoms period: Sun Quan let the emperor's grandchildren grab at will from a plate filled with pearls, ivory, slips, ribbons and other objects. Only Sun and 's son Sun Hao grabbed the bamboo slip and ribbon with one hand, and made Sun He the prince, and Sun Hao finally became the emperor.
There are different names for grasping in the Zhou Dynasty. The excerpt is as follows:
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was called Shi'er: In Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi Dynasty, it is clearly recorded in "Yan's Family Instructions·Customs": "It is a custom in the south of the Yangtze River that a child is born once (that is, when he is one year old). In order to make new clothes and decorate the bathroom, men use bows, arrows, paper, and pens, while women use knives, rulers, needles, and threads. They also add food, drink, and treasures to play with, and put them in front of the children to watch their hair. The meaning was taken to test corruption, honesty, foolishness and wisdom, and was named "Shi'er". In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was called "Shi Xu" or "Zhou Xu": It is recorded in "Tokyo Meng Hua Lu·Yu Zi" written by Meng Yuanlao in the Song Dynasty. It is said: After the people give birth to a child, "on the next birthday, they will place a plate on the ground with fruits, trees, food, official certificates, pens, inkstones, scales and other things used for scrolls, needles and threads, and observe which ones are picked first, as a sign, so "It's a grand ceremony for children." Wu Zimu also recorded in "Meng Liang Lu" that when a family's child turns one year old, "a brocade banquet is laid out in the middle hall, incense is burned, candles are held, and gold is used." Silver toys, study books, Taoist scriptures, scales, rulers, knives, scissors, buckets, colorful satin flowers, official money, needlework, practical objects, and children's playthings, but Zhou Xiaoer was placed in the middle seat. "
The Baizi mirror of Xue Jinhou in the Qing Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, has a round shape and flat buttons. The inner area is decorated with pictures of children playing, and there are pictures of Zhou customs.
After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Zhuzhou is called "Qiyang" . It is popular among the people and a unique gold-plated silver Zhouzhou sieve has been developed.
In the Qing Dynasty, the names of "grasping week" and "trial week" were fixed. In addition to the folk, the palace also has the ceremony of catching Zhou.
Qing Dynasty silver week-catching plate
2. Ritual process
Week-catching rituals vary from place to place. Take Taiwan’s modern week-catching ceremony as an example:
1. Worship the ancestors
Tell the ancestors that the baby is one year old, and pray for the baby’s health growing up. Children wearing tiger-skin hats and tiger-head shoes are required to wear tiger-skin hats and tiger-head shoes. It is believed that the Taiwanese Tiger Lord, regarded as the patron saint of children, can ward off evil spirits and protect children from growing up safely.
2. After worshiping, prepare a rice sieve in front of the god's table and put 12 to 14 items in it, usually books, seals, pen and ink, abacus (calculator), coins, chicken legs, pork, ruler, onions, celery, Garlic, straw, swords, earphones, etc. will now also be added to items such as mobile phones and computers.
3. Then let the baby sit in the center of the rice sieve and let the baby grab whatever he wants to predict the industry and destiny the baby will choose in the future.
4. After the baby is born, let the child step on the red turtle cake
. Then the elder will take a thumb-sized one-year-old bun, wipe it on his mouth, and bless him: "He will grow up and speak good words." and throw the bun to him. Dog eats. At the same time, rice cakes/cakes are also given to the children, hoping that the children will be very popular in the future.
5. Wealthier families will take advantage of the child's first birthday to have a dinner party with relatives and friends to celebrate the child's first birthday.
3. Prepare items and their symbolic meanings
Modern week-catching items include mobile phones, toy computers, etc. In addition, many items are replaced by toys. Taiwan has a special design of toys to catch the week.
4. Corresponding rituals in the palace - Zhou Sui
In ancient times, the first birthday of a baby was called "Sui", which was also called "Zhou Sui" . Therefore, the folks call the plate specially designed to hold children's groceries "Zui plate". Today, in the Palace Museum in Beijing, there is a collection of "Guipan" used during the Qianlong period.
The colorful Baizi watch plate has five layers of paint from bottom to top: grass green, purple, yellow, green and red.There is a picture of a carved baby playing on the plate. The scene is lively and the characters are all wonderful. The color paint is elegant and rich, fresh and bright, with distinct layers and rich changes. The bottom of the plate is painted black and engraved with the regular script inscriptions "Made in the Qianlong Year of the Qing Dynasty" and "Baizi Pan".
On the eighth day of March in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign, Hongli's great-grandson Yichun gave birth to his eldest son Zai Xi, who was the fifth grandson of Emperor Qianlong. On October 22nd, Hongli came to the mansion in person to meet the fifth-generation grandson of Yuan Dynasty for more than seven months for the first time. He was extremely happy and immediately rewarded him with a Buddha of Amitayus, a handle of sapphire Ganoderma lucidum, a plate of small coral beads, and a white jade fairy boat. pieces, a sapphire baby drum, a crystal rhombus brush wash, a silver crystal three-layer box, and an agate crane-style water container.
On March 8th of the following year, to mark Xi's birthday, Emperor Qianlong also rewarded him with a red sandalwood inlaid jade small Ruyi handle, five spoons, a white wine clock, a white jade fan box, One red and white agate longevity pen holder, two agate chains, and two white jade and jasper chains.
Xianfeng On March 23rd of the seventh year of Xianfeng , Emperor Xianfeng's only son Zaichun captured Zhou Zhixi. On March 2nd, the eunuch chief Chen You wrote a "red folding piece" to ask for the emperor's permission. The Ministry of Internal Affairs made preparations, and Zai Chun began to capture Zhou at 00:00 on March 23rd, 7th year. He first captured the books, then the arrows, and finally the pens.
The emperor rewarded his only son with a white jade camel, a sapphire phoenix, a Chinese jade double happiness jade, a sapphire fish, a Chinese jade dog, a realgar bracelet, a silver spoon, a silver round box and other items; Queen Niu Hulu rewarded Ruyi, a hat ring, and the prince Crowns, jade utensils, gold ingots, ivory flower pouches, cotton-padded clothes, shoes and socks, and other money and goods; the biological mother, Concubine Yi, was rewarded with gold Ruyi and jade objects; Concubine Li was rewarded with hats, cotton-padded clothes, shoes and socks; Qi Guiren, Xin Chang Zai and the eldest princess also gave Ruyi, hats, clothes, shoes and socks respectively.
The "Allusions" chapter of the second volume of "Current Rules in the Palace" during the Guangxu period records in detail that every time the prince is one year old and "grasps the week", he needs to "example use jade furnishings, two jade fan pendants, and gold keys." One piece, a silver box, a garden, a pair of rhinoceros sticks, an arc, a arrow, a study room, a table, and a fruit table." The eunuch of the palace will sign a notice in advance and receive it from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Use .
The princess, grandson, and granddaughter of the emperor hold the same items on their trays as those of the prince, except that the princess and the granddaughter of the emperor do not need arrows.
