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Chapter 225 Humane Yangzhou 28th Spring

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    Worshiping the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival [1] is a very ancient custom.

    As early as the Zhou Dynasty, emperors had the custom of worshiping the sun at the vernal equinox, the land at the summer solstice, the moon at the autumnal equinox, and the sky at the winter solstice.  "Book of Rites" records: "Son of Heaven spring Asahi, Qiuxi month. The dynasty of the sun, the eve of the evening moon."  The "Eve of the Eve" here refers to the Mid-Autumn Festival.  The custom of offering sacrifices to the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival was first practiced in the court, and later the aristocrats followed suit and gradually spread to the folk.

    Yangzhou is known as the "Moon City". This romantic city has an inseparable relationship with the moon.  "Worshiping the Moon in Autumn" is a traditional folk custom ceremony in Yangzhou.  As early as the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou, with its profound cultural atmosphere, attracted many literati and poets to linger here, leaving many poems praising the moon.

    [1] "Tower Light" by Xie Zongke. Poem

    ? Burn the empty torch long,

    Candles, dragons and osmanthus illuminate the sky,

    ? Seven layers of fire, trees and clouds generate warmth,

    The Jiuqu Shenzhu emits light at night.

    ? The rosy rays of light return to the pure world,

    The stars follow the Jiang Festival to the west,

    The Tathagata should go to the Temple of Heaven,

    Thousands of dendrobium golden lotus are fragrant around the steps.

    Zhao Mengfu and Tang Hou, a group of seven, arrived in Yangzhou on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  They rented a small cruise ship and turned into the oldest area along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

    On the night of mid-autumn, many colored lanterns are hung on every passenger boat, and hundreds of floating lanterns are floating in the river.  , the light shines brightly.

    Those lamps floating in the river became flashing star belts.  The lights are flickering and flickering, like shining pearls.  Thousands of lanterns on both sides of the river illuminate the banks of the Yunhe River, forming a star river on the water that is more beautiful and spectacular than fairyland and godland.

    Seeing the guests on the boat fascinated by the scenery, the old boatman asked: "Guest officer, where is the best place to park the boat?"

    ? Zhao Mengfu pointed to a tall, shining seven-storey high light not far away and said: "Look, can you park at that 'high light' place?"

    "Yes! Yes!" The old boatman asked again, "Where does the guest officer want to disembark?"

    "Yes!" Zhao Mengfu said, "Old man, can you bring the boat closer to the river bank, and let me enjoy the beautiful scenery on the bank."

    "Okay!" The old boatman shook his hand vigorously. After a while, he asked again, "How is the distance? Can you see clearly?"

    "Very good, very good," Zhao Mengfu happily twirled his short white beard, "It's very clear."

    The old boatman said: "If it is daytime, you can't see everything on the shore clearly from this distance."

    "No way!" Zhao Mengfu said, "It's so clear at night, how can you not see clearly during the day?"

    "Because in the past two days, there has always been a thin layer of white mist on the surface of the water. However, the scenery is also beautiful when the boat is sailing in it. It seems that the boat is sailing in a river of clouds"

    "Oh~, the old man's analogy is very appropriate, very appropriate!" After finishing speaking, Zhao Mengfu walked to the front of the boat, put his hands behind his back, and stood on the bow of the boat, looking at the brightly lit shore.  The wind was blowing gently through his long hair.

    Last night, Zhao Mengfu and Tang Hou stayed up all night.

    Going out in the morning, Meng Fu felt dizzy, so he returned to the restaurant, asked his attendants to bring clean water, washed and washed his hair, and before he had time to tie it up, he boarded the boat and set off.

    Zhao Mengfu was already tall and tall, but his long gray hair was in a rush.

    It's very strange, if an ordinary young man's hair is disheveled, he will inevitably have a bit of madness.  However, Zhao Mengfu's long hair is extremely elegant, not half scattered, and he is as young and elegant as the wind, free and unrestrained, so that people feel that all handsome men in the world should have their hair loose like him, so it is called  Above is a handsome man.

    Just at this time, there was a woman standing on the bank of the river, and under the moonlight she looked even more white than snow; a faint silver halo around her was reflected in the water, so beautiful that it was like a dream, and it made people gasp  .

    Chuan'er walked slowly, but Zhao Mengfu's eyes did not leave her left and right, and his eyes also followed the woman in white.

    I just feel that the woman is also moving with the wind, walking on the water bank like flat ground.  The white clothes are graceful, the black hair is like a waterfall, but the waves are calm; she is as graceful as a frightened bird, as graceful as a swimming dragon, like a fairy flying from the nine heavens.

    Zhao Mengfu felt as if he was in a dream, he couldn't help pinching his thigh hard, oh, so it wasn't a dream!  So he smiled and recited:

    "Humanity is Yangzhou's 28th spring, and Liu Mo is happy in Huajie.

    Who will let the Weaver Girl fall into the world, so the Cowherd will be blocked in Hanjin.

    Encounter only by looking at with eyes, how can two hearts be intimate with diligence.

    The whereabouts of the incense and dust rest, annoyed to killTherefore, worshiping the moon has become an important sacrificial activity.  The Mid-Autumn Festival became popular in northern China after the Tang Dynasty.  "Tang Shu. Taizong Ji" records "August 15 Mid-Autumn Festival".  In the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was combined with myths and stories such as Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting laurel, the jade rabbit pounding medicine, Yang Guifei turning into a moon god, and Tang Minghuang visiting the moon palace to make it full of romance.  The custom of appreciating the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many famous poems of poets have verses chanting the moon.

    During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival had become a common folk festival, and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival.  The seasonal food of "small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crisp and glutinous rice in the middle" appears in literary works.  Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Menghualu" said: "On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, your family decorates terraces and pavilions, and the folks compete to occupy restaurants and enjoy the moon";  Outside. Marriage dramas in the evening; Piantian in the night market, as far as you know."

    By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival had become one of the main festivals in China.  The secular interest in festivals becomes stronger and stronger, and utilitarian worship, prayer, and secular emotions and wishes constitute the main forms of common people's Mid-Autumn Festival customs.  During the moon appreciation activities in the Ming and Qing dynasties, "the fruit cakes for offering sacrifices must be round", and every family must set up a "moonlight stand" and "worship to the moon" in the direction of the moon.  Lu Qihong's "Beijing Suihua Ji" records: "On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, people set up symbols of the Moon Palace, and on the symbols, they are like people standing; they put melons and fruits in the court, and the cakes are painted with moon palace toads; men and women worship and burn incense, and then burn them.  "" "Emperor Beijing Scenery" also said: "August 15th to worship the moon, the cakes must be round, the melons must be wrong, and the petals are carved like lotus flowers Those who have a wife who returns to Ning will return to her husband's house on that day.  Reunion Festival also".

    During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are few clouds and fog, and the moonlight is bright and bright. In addition to a series of activities such as admiring the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon, and eating moon cakes to bless the reunion, there are also activities such as dancing grass dragons and building pagodas in some places.  Up to now, eating moon cakes has become a must-have custom for the Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of the north and south of China.  In addition to moon cakes, various seasonal fresh and dried fruits are also delicacies in Mid-Autumn Festival.

    (3) Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Festival

    In Wang Zengqi's prose "Dinner Flowers", it is recorded that a family surnamed Xia worshiped and admired the moon at home in autumn.

    When I was a child, ordinary people in Yangzhou worshiped the moon every year, and the old man said, "If you don't worship the moon at home, you will encounter rain and snow when you go out."  Every mid-autumn night, each family will set up a table at the door or in the courtyard as an offering table, put moon cakes, reunion (seed sesame sugar) cakes, descendants cakes, lotus roots, water chestnuts and a bowl of cold boiled water, and then light a stick of incense, in addition to  Except for the father, adults and children all participate in the moon worship ceremony. Everyone bows to the moon three times respectively. After the ceremony, the whole family eats the offering fruit.  In fact, many families in Yangzhou City worship the moon in the same way.

    There are strict procedures and props for the moon worship ceremony. Those who participate in the moon worship must prepare several pieces of Hanfu. In addition, they must also arrange an offering table, fruit offerings, incense, candles, moonlight paper, large pots, and matches.  Sacrificial utensils include sacrificial tables, mats, one incense burner, two candlesticks, one stick of high incense, some scattered incense, three noble cups, twelve fruit plates, some firecrackers, and a small knife.

    The offerings should include lotus root, lotus pod, water chestnut, taro seedlings, pomegranate, apple, watermelon, edamame, persimmon and other seasonal fruits, as well as moon cakes, reunion (sesame candied) cakes, pagoda cakes, descendants cakes and other foods and purified water.  A bowl, a cup of tea, and a bottle of wine.

    (4) The origin of the note in the mooncake

    At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the rule of the Mongolian ruling class on the Han people was even more cruel. Only ten families were allowed to share a kitchen knife (in some places, the kitchen knife is still called "ten knives"), and they sent a "Tarzi" (the Han people to the Mongols at that time).  name) closely monitored.  The Han people have been upset about this for a long time, and it is not easy to make an open date, so they took advantage of the opportunity of giving each other moon cakes before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and put a piece of paper with the agreed time of the incident under the moon cakes to convey information, and agreed on August 15th.  Late together to kill "Tarzi".  When the appointed time came, many unprepared Tartars were killed.  Thus laying a mass foundation for overthrowing the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.  To this day, a small white paper is always placed on top of the mooncakes as a commemoration of this move.  (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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