This pursuit of the sense of ceremony in the Spring Festival is no exception.
Since Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, every year in the twelfth lunar month, the emperor personally wrote the words "Fu" and "Shou" and awarded them to empresses, attendants and courtiers to show their favor. Master Qianlong wrote the word "fu"
During the Qianlong period, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, in the off-year period, whenever a kitchen stove was sacrificed, Grandpa Qianlong personally performed a special ceremony-drumming and high-fiving on the kang to sing.
According to Qing and Yao's Miscellaneous Notes on Bamboo Leaf Pavilion, "Kunning Palace offers sacrifices to stoves every year, and drums are set on the kang. Last in, first out. When the high temple arrived, I sat on the kang and knocked on the drum board to sing "Visiting the Xian". " The queen is here, the high temple is the dragon master, and the dragon master is probably singing drum books on the kang. Imagine this picture, I really want to roll my eyes at Master Gan Long!
The next important festival is New Year's Eve. Although the Qing Palace did not watch the Spring Festival Gala, it had an extremely luxurious family dinner. However, there is no good feast, but it is also a feast. It's good for people to sit there and pose, but they can't really eat and drink.
And the emperor into the rice, wine, tea, but also to kowtow to the banquet. In other words, not only the banquet is uncomfortable, but also the people who eat it are uncomfortable. Imagine, just after eating a mouthful of rice, Master Gan Long quickly knelt down and replied, "Stand up." He took a sip of tea and knelt down again. He added that "there is no ceremony". It's strange that you can eat well with such red tape.
At the same time, China and Shao music will be played at the beginning and end of the banquet. Neutrality and less music are the highest standards in the music system of the Qing Dynasty, and they will be played in major festivals and celebrations, especially the Chinese New Year! Audio can be found online, which is not particularly festive. )
The zhonghe shaole band in the wedding photo album
Zhonghe whistle musical instrument, photo by Lou Xu
On New Year's Eve, in addition to a formal family dinner, there is also an anticipated jiaozi. Jiaozi is a vegetarian stuffing, which was advocated in the early Qing Dynasty. On the one hand, because the Qing emperor Nurhachi fought all his life and killed countless people, Nurhachi swore to heaven that he would only eat vegetarian stuffing jiaozi every New Year's Eve. On the other hand, the emperor believed in Buddhism, and the jiaozi he ate was cooked with jiaozi, who respected Buddhism. So, don't use meat stuffing in jiaozi.
Vegetarian stuffing jiaozi's fillings are mainly dried vegetables, including longevity vegetables, day lilies, fungus, mushrooms, shredded bamboo shoots, gluten and so on. However, in the middle and late period, emperors began to eat meat. For example, Emperor Guangxu recorded in the Qing Palace Food Stall: "In the eleventh year of Guangxu, hall of mental cultivation cooked grandpa jiaozi for a long time. It's the first time to eat twelve-year-old pork stuffing. Twelve pork and spinach fillings were added for the second time. "
Emperor Qianlong attached great importance to this meal of jiaozi. He once held a "cooking ceremony" in Hongdetang. This "treasure" is jiaozi. According to the ceremony, adult Qianlong needs four sauces to eat jiaozi, including sauce side dishes, southern side dishes, ginger juice and vinegar. Jiaozi is divided into two bowls, one with six vegetarian jiaozi and the other with two copper coins, so as to ensure good luck for Master Qianlong in the coming year.
Jiaozi should be included in the New Year's Eve dinner, and the timing of cooking jiaozi should be just right. Generally, when the emperor boarded the steps of Gan Qing Palace, the chef began to cook jiaozi, while the emperor sat firmly in the east cabin of Zhaoren Hall on the left side of Gan Qing Palace, and jiaozi had just cooked. Don't underestimate this simple cooking, which has been trained for many years.
According to the official regulations, from the end of the twelfth month to the first month, every time the emperor crossed a threshold, the squire eunuch would put a whip. In the long run, the chef can judge the time to cook jiaozi according to the firecrackers.
But it's New Year's Eve in jiaozi, but it's already the first day of the Lunar New Year. According to the Qing History, "On New Year's Day, when people are happy, they leave together, such as eating flat food and becoming famous, taking the meaning of young friends."
"Zi" means "Zi Shi", that is, from 23:00 to 1: 00, which is homophonic with "Jiao". Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young" and "happy reunion". Therefore, jiaozi is wrapped on New Year's Eve, and it really tastes like the first day of the first month.
In childhood, besides eating jiaozi, there is also an important ceremony called "Writing on New Year's Day". In the Qing Dynasty, the Spring Festival was called New Year's Day, and "writing on the first day of the New Year's Day" was also called "opening the window to write".
In the East Warm Pavilion in hall of mental cultivation, the Palace Museum, there was a plaque with a bright window, and the imperial book of Master Gan Long hung on the wall. Every year, a ceremony of "opening the pen and opening the window" is held here.