In the era when costume dramas were popular, when we saw many night trips and bright lights, most people's first reaction was the "nightlife" in the Tang Dynasty. Whether it was the love at first sight between Zi Xuan and Xu Changqing in Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man 3 or the splendor brought by the popular costume drama The Longest Day In Chang'an, it was refreshing.
What kind of form is the Shangyuan Festival celebration that originated in the Tang Dynasty? In the Tang Dynasty, where nightlife was underdeveloped, there was such a colorful night market, and this time we are going to talk about the Shang Yuan celebration of the people in the Tang Dynasty.
Chang 'an City and "Night Forbidden"
In the distant Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an City, with a vast territory of peace and prosperity, inherited the fine tradition of "night forbidden". Except for people who came out to tell the time at night, people in the Tang Dynasty could only sleep at home honestly at night, and there was no entertainment at night at all. This "night forbidden" move was also for the sake of safety, and security measures could not be spread all over the city.
After breaking the "night ban", people's living standards generally improved and their lives were prosperous, but this peaceful and politically stable situation was the result of the hard work of the civil servants in the Tang Dynasty. So with the spread of Taoism, the "civil servants" in the Tang Dynasty began to call for legal holidays, so on the last day of the Spring Festival, the traditional festival Lantern Festival became the legal holiday for civil servants in the Tang Dynasty at that time.
In the ancient Shangyuan Festival, people generally spent it in a festive and lively way, and it was a custom to watch colored lanterns. In order to promote the work of civil servants, Shangyuan Festival was taken off all the time, and it was a good night. With the promulgation of the "False Ning Order" in the Tang Dynasty, Shangyuan Festival became an explicit law on "holiday" in China history.
The holiday was extended after the short one-day Shangyuan Festival holiday. In order to continue the prosperous times, the upper-level officials were worried that such an all-night Shangyuan Festival would be a bit violent and would affect the work, so some officials suggested not to party all night, and Tang Ruizong in the Tang Dynasty could only listen to the suggestions. However, when Emperor Xuanzong was in power, seeing such a good day to celebrate the whole country could arouse the people's emotions, so he simply extended the holiday to three days, funded from the state treasury, and the lower-level officials contributed to fund the people of the whole city to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
During the Lantern Festival, in order to ensure the safety of the whole city, colorful lanterns were hung all over the city to dispel the overwhelming darkness, and the mystery and darkness were dispelled. People reveled under the lanterns. In this "bright" night, people drank meat porridge, ate delicious food such as noodles, silk cages and fire moths, sang and danced, and tug-of-war and solve riddles on the lanterns started all night.
Shangyuan Festival = Valentine's Day In ancient times, there were many restrictions on women, so they couldn't go out at will, and it was not allowed to sneak out at night under the "night ban" rule. Moreover, at that time, the pursuit of marriage was "the right match" and they were allowed to be distributed by their families. However, the parents' arrangement is not necessarily in line with their own wishes, and the accumulated complaints can't be released at will. Therefore, Shangyuan Festival became a "large-scale blind date" meeting for women in the Tang Dynasty. During this period, men and women took this opportunity to complain and express their love, and some even staged a script of elopement.
This is not without historical records. In the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, it was said:
"In the first month of four years, the emperor and the queen wandered around the city to watch the lights burn. Thousands of ladies-in-waiting were also released, and they traveled at night. Because they were in contact with outsiders, they escaped and did not return. "
It refers to the fact that during the Tang Zhongzong period, ladies-in-waiting who traveled on Shangyuan Festival eloped with people outside the palace in order to get rid of the shackles of the palace, and some ladies-in-waiting and their sweethearts had a tryst on Shangyuan Festival, which also became Valentine's Day at that time in a subtle way.
There are also many poets who are quite inspired by the celebration of Shangyuan Festival and have created some beautiful sentences accordingly. Ouyang Xiu wrote such a beautiful sentence in "The Birth Checker":
"Last January night, the lights at the flower market were like day. The moon rose above the willow tree, At dusk he had a tryst with me. On January night this year, the moon was still lit. I didn't see last year, and my tears wet my spring shirt sleeves. "
catchy, and Xin Qiji on the other side also wrote a well-known sentence: "Many people look for him. Suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light. "
Lantern culture
As people's daily necessities, lanterns have a long history since ancient times. Before the Tang Dynasty, the lantern-burning culture worshiped the primitive mystery and the "God", which was a more formal instrument. In the Tang Dynasty, for the sake of lighting and the rise of Shangyuan Festival, the entertainment was increasing. When Shangyuan Festival developed in the Tang Dynasty, burning lanterns became an entertainment and practical lamp culture side by side, and the burning lanterns on Shangyuan Festival symbolized the existence of "carnival night".
Before the Tang Dynasty, decorating lanterns was a folk activity. It was a rare and neglected culture to hang lanterns in memory of emperors and meritorious leaders. However, in the Tang Dynasty, with the development of technology, the lantern culture was gradually enriched. Lantern burning was not only a memorial lamp, but also a symbol of celebration, which was passed down from generation to generation.
As for the lantern lighting in the Tang Dynasty, it is recorded in Yunxian Miscellanies: "White Luan turns to flowers, Huanglong spits water, golden turtle, Yin Yan, Fuguangdong, Cangxingge, and all lamps are also lit." The burning lamps produced by various animal styles make the burning lamps full of vividness.
the innovation of lamps with the development of technology, people in the Tang dynasty began to pay attention to the invention of lamps, and then invented the "shadow lamp". Shadow lamp is similar to modern light and shadow lamp. The group on the lamp paper reflects the shadow through the built-in candle flame to promote the rotation of the lantern, and the reflected shadow group will appear on the ground. The light is beautiful and the image displayed by the shadow is vivid.
The development of shadow lamps shows us the rich creativity of the people in the Tang Dynasty, and "thermodynamics" also emerged in the Tang Dynasty. Vivid shadows and vase-like lamps are the embodiment of the wisdom of the people in the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to shadow lamps, in order to show superb skills, people in the Tang Dynasty also invented lamp styles such as lamp trees, lamp wheels, lamp buildings, etc., and there were also giant lamps, and at that time, there was also a derived professional "lamp gift" related to lamps.
The lamp tree was developed on the basis of lamps in the Sui Dynasty, because it is like a branch of a tree and a branch of a lamp stand.
Lamp wheel, a lamp based on Buddhist lamps, is full of Buddhist elements. The lamp wheel has seven layers, and each layer has seven lamps, just like a gear.
the lantern building, which is a building diffracted by the lantern wheel, is a floor modeled by the lantern wheel. It is recorded in "Hua Ji Li Shang Yuan Lantern Building" that: "Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty built a lantern building in Shangyang Palace, which is 15 feet high, hanging from the pearls and jade, and the breeze is coming, and it suddenly becomes a rhyme."
With the completion of the Lamp Tower, it also showed the powerful national strength of the Tang Dynasty and became a symbolic building. The height of 15 feet is equivalent to the modern 46 meters. This giant lamp tower, with many precious stones clanging on it, is magnificent.
Dengbi, similar to a profession of watchman, is made of wood carvings, holding colored lights, and waiting for people to stand. As for Dengbi, it is recorded in "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao Dengbi": "In Ning Palace, every night, wooden carvings are listed in front of the account, decorated with colorful ribbons, and each holds a lantern, so it is said that it is self-conscious.
Singing and dancing on the Shangyuan Festival
The Tang Dynasty people started to tread songs, which originated from the Han Dynasty. As a form of dancing, it was popular in the Tang Dynasty. No matter the dignitaries or ordinary people with prominent status, they would tread songs on the Shangyuan Festival. During the party and government period in Tang Ruizong, more than 1, girls from Chang 'an were selected to tread songs for three days and nights under the lantern wheel.
There are even more records of poems in the Xuanzong period of the Tang Dynasty. In Gu Kuang's "Listening to the Mountain Partridge" in the Tang Dynasty, he said, "Stay in Taohua Village at night, and take a song to meet the dawn." It is described that during the Shangyuan Festival, the folk people danced and danced all night. Bai Juyi also described the singing in "jathyapple on the fifteenth day of the first month": "Lights are everywhere, and songs are everywhere, so it is no harm to miss the emperor and not be tired of Hangzhou." It is also a festive and lively scene that describes stepping songs.
The predecessor of tug-of-war is not only the celebration of stepping on a song, but also a modern league building activity called tug-of-war in the Tang Dynasty. In the distant Tang Dynasty, it was called "tug-of-war", and people gathered together to hold a happy tug-of-war on the Yuan Festival. "Feng's Wen Jian Ji" describes: "The two hooks are linked together, and the big group is bounded by the neutral banner. The drums and drums are noisy, which makes each other pull, and the loser loses, which is called tug-of-war." At that time, the "pulling hooks" were not much different from modern tug-of-war.
The earliest custom of Shangyuan Festival (Lantern Festival) is to drink meat porridge. Among Shangyuan cuisines in the Tang Dynasty, mainly rice congee and meat porridge are among the best cuisines in the era of lack of materials. In the Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty, it is recorded as follows: "On the 15th day of the first month, the dark day is creamy". "Paste paste" is commonly known as meat porridge.
Of course, the Shangyuan Festival in the Tang Dynasty is not just monotonous with meat porridge. There are also simple examples in the above, including glutinous rice products, cocoon delicacies, cake-like food, fire moths, and jade beam cakes similar to modern mung bean cakes. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the custom of eating glutinous rice balls spread to our modern Lantern Festival began to rise, but it was a tradition that Tang Dynasty continued to eat certain foods on the fifteenth day of the first month.
Conclusion
The Tang Dynasty is a dynasty with strong national strength, peaceful country and people's security. The holiday mobilized by leaders for the rest of civil servants has evolved into a day of national celebration. No matter the interpretation on TV or the records in history books, a colorful Shangyuan Festival has been displayed. The celebration of Shangyuan Festival has also become a pioneering work of the Tang Dynasty, breaking the darkness and mystery of ancient times, promoting a happy atmosphere and showing the Shangyuan Festival celebration in absolute beauty.