"You can easily recognize the east wind, and all the flowers are always spring." Chinese people love spring extremely much. When it comes to spring, people always hold extremely gentle and soft expectations. After the Waking of Insects, plum blossoms, peach blossoms and apricot blossoms began to bloom one after another. By mid-February of the lunar calendar, it was often full of spring. Of course, the ancients who loved flowers would not waste such a beautiful season. For a long period of historical period, the Chinese once had a romantic festival that belonged to flowers, called " Flower Festival ".
The "flower god" in Chinese folk legend is called Nuyi . It was originally the goddess who dominates the growth of all things in spring and summer in mythology. " Huainanzi·Astronomy Training " says: "The Nuyi drum song is to use Tianhe to grow hundreds of grains, animals, plants and trees." People believe that the birthday of the Flower God is the Flower Festival. The Flower Festival in the Jin Dynasty was set on the fifteenth day of the second lunar month. The book "Xi Chao Joy" explains this as follows: "Flowers and moons are always said in the secular world. The months of the second and eighth are half of the spring and autumn, so the two and half of the flowers are the flowers, and the eighth month is the moons and the night of the moons and the night of the moons and autumns." Flowers and moons are the nights, spring and autumns are quite romantic. In the Song Dynasty, the date of the Flower Festival was advanced to the twelfth day of February or the second day of February, which may be related to the fact that the Southern Song Dynasty court lived in the south and the flowering period was earlier than that of the Central Plains. Until the Qing Dynasty, the north had the fifteenth day of February as the flower court, while the south was still the second day of the second month or the twelfth day of February. It can be seen that various regions also celebrated their birthdays for flowers based on their own flowering period.
Flower Festival folk activities are naturally carried out around flowers. Unfortunately, today we have long forgotten this festival and rarely see the celebration of the Flower Festival in our daily lives. We can only relive those ancient and interesting customs from ancient books and poems. According to the records of ancient books, I restored some tricks and customs, hoping that everyone can relive this romantic festival of our own through a few photos.
Appreciation Red
Viewing flowers is the most core activity of the Flower Festival. On this day, every household cuts five-colored silks and hangs them on flowers and trees to celebrate the birthday of flowers, which is called "appreciating red", which means to wish the prosperity of flowers and trees and a prosperous life. There is a beautiful legend about the origin of this custom. According to legend, during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, there was a flower fan named Cui Xuanwei, who was famous far and wide. On February night of a certain year, a group of beautiful women with flowers changing essences entered his garden and told him that he wanted to welcome the spring, but his aunt, Feng, came forward to obstruct him, so he asked him to help solve the problem. Cui followed his advice, prepared colorful silk, and painted the sun, moon, and stars on it. At the fifth hour of February 21st (One Sayings on the 12th), he hung colorful silk on the branches in the garden. It was indeed a strong wind at that time, but the flowers on the branches were protected by colorful silk, and none of them were blown off. Those who love flowers compete to imitate and become a custom.
The "Birthday of the Hundred Flowers" in the Qing Dynasty Gu Lu's "Qing Jialu·February" also says: "(February) 12th is the birthday of the Hundred Flowers. The girl in the boudoir cuts five-color silk and sticks it on the flower branches, which is called enjoying red." Volume 4 of "Casting Ding Yu Wen" quotes "Kunshan Xinyang Hezhi" says: "February 12th is the birthday of the flower god of flowers, and all flowers appreciate red."
Appreciation Lamp
In addition to hanging colorful silk during the day, flowers at night are not lonely. At night, people will hang "Flower Magic Lamps" on the branches of flower trees, and the lights and red flowers and green branches complement each other.
hairpin flower
women cut silk silk as flower plug. Ming Ma Zhongxi "Xuanfu Chronicle" records: "Flowers are cut into flowers for the festival, and women in the city cut ribbons into flowers and put them on their hair buns to be the festival." Of course, the flowers bloom just in time, so it is okay to wear them with real flower hairpin . Song ' Luoyang Peony Record " writes: "The custom of Luoyang is mostly good for flowers. In spring, no nobles and humble in the city are all arranged in flowers."
Butterfly Pumping Meeting
Song 's "Chengzhai Poetry Talk" records: "The Flower Festival is on February 12th in Tokyo, which is the Butterfly Pumping Meeting".In ancient times, every time the flower court, literati and scholars invited three or five close friends. After enjoying the flowers, they drank and had fun, sang together, and chanted happily. Looking at the traditional festivals between February and March, we will find that there will be a series of spring outings during this period - the Spring Festival kicks off the prelude to welcoming spring, and the flower festival forms the climax of spring outings. Kong Shangren , who wrote the famous drama " Peach Blossom Fan ", also wrote bamboo branch lyrics to describe the grand occasion of the flower court returning from outing: "A thousand miles of fairyland becomes a drunken village, and the city cloaks are scattered in the setting sun. Carved saddles and embroidered bridles and scramble to enter the door, bringing the fragrance of the world." In the Song Dynasty, the flower court in Kaifeng was once popular with " Butterfly Pumping ", which was a very interesting entertainment activity among the people at that time.
Food cake support
It is said that Wu Zetian is fond of flowers. Every day on the 15th day of the Flower Festival on the 2nd month of the summer calendar, she always asks the palace maids to collect flowers, mash them with rice, steam them into cakes, and reward the ministers with flower cakes. This cake has the fragrance of petals and the fragrance of grains, and it quickly became more and more popular in the palace court. Later, it gradually evolved into the custom of eating rice cakes on this day, which was called "support cakes".
Wine and play
Flower weather is the best place to go out for an outing. Literary and poets often bring wine and feasts and play under the flowers, which is a very elegant event. "Zhejiang·Xinchang County Chronicles" records: "On February 15th, flowers are gathered in the morning, and I am picking hundreds of flowers to drink and drinking, which is called enjoying flowers." "Ruizhou Prefecture Chronicles·Customs" records: "Picking hundreds of flowers to drink and write poems, and apprentices compete to drink and pay homage to the longest, which is called flower wine."
Have you felt the excitement and beauty of the ancient Flower Festival? In fact, there have been many such festivals in China. They provide us with the opportunity to get close to nature and remind us of the changes in the season. They belong to the Chinese way of life. It’s a pity that as time goes by, people who know these festivals today are not as good as those who are familiar with the West’s Easter and Halloween. What a heartbreaking loss for us. I hope that one day, in the spring season, we can invite three or five friends to wear our own traditional clothes, resurrect our Flower Festival, and relive this romance that has lasted for thousands of years.
Source | Our Space
Author | Jin Shuxin
