Data supplement
Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional folk festivals in China, which are of great significance in the minds of ordinary people-however, I think most of the time we just find a reason to improve our lives.
In fact, in addition to folk love for the Dragon Boat Festival, the royal family also has a special liking for this festival. Especially in the Qing dynasty.
For the royal family in Qing Dynasty, Dragon Boat Festival is as important as Spring Festival. To this end, they celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival for five consecutive days from May 1st to May 5th. During this period, we should respectfully take out zongzi every day and offer sacrifices to all the immortals and ancestors.
Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong paid the most attention to the Dragon Boat Festival.
Emperor Qianlong celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival in three forms.
One is eating zongzi.
Zongzi is the "protagonist" of the Dragon Boat Festival, and Emperor Qianlong certainly dare not "neglect". There is no other food in the court during the Dragon Boat Festival. Everyone peels the zongzi and eats it together, which is called "Zongzi mat". Ordinary people eat zongzi, three or five is enough; Zongzi piled up in front of Emperor Qianlong, so that his old man could enjoy it slowly.
According to "Jiangnan Festival Customs", in the eighteenth year of Qianlong (1753), there were 1332 zongzi on the table of Emperor Qianlong, but there was no evidence.
In addition to Emperor Qianlong, empresses and princes should eat zongzi with their stomachs open. There are 400 zongzi on their dining table. There are 650 zongzi on the dining table of Empress Dowager Cixi and concubines.
Let's imagine Qi Fei taking Zongye and Fen under the command of Emperor Qianlong.
The second is to write poetry.
As a poet, Emperor Qianlong never missed the opportunity to write poems. How can the Dragon Boat Festival be an exception?
During the Dragon Boat Festival, the Imperial Dining Hall will be very lively. If you are too busy, you have to borrow someone from other places to help you cook and work day and night to make zongzi. In addition, we should continue to develop new types of zongzi, and make innovations in the shape, size and stuffing selection of zongzi.
On the occasion of "dumpling skin", there is a dragon boat hanging on the wall, a big green gourd music clock on the table, and Five Blessingg Wu Ruihua in the bottle ... Even the incense used in each palace is made of the roots and stems of Acorus calamus. Emperor Qianlong was very satisfied and wrote a poem praising: "Zong Xi Pu Ling made the sky new."
The third is to play games.
One of the essential activities for people to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival is "rowing the dragon boat". In the Qing dynasty, there was also a "dragon boat rowing" in the court, and the location was Xiyuan or Yuanmingyuan. Emperor Qianlong personally watched every time.
Zhao Bai recorded the scene of "rowing a dragon boat" by the imperial court in Xiao Ting Miscellanies: "Lan Rao encouraged, and the standard fluttered." That's quite spectacular.