nashuaworldcup Chapter 131 New Year's Eve Arrives; Worship Ancestors for Blessings
Chapter 131 New Year's Eve Arrives; Worship Ancestors for Blessings
Hanging lanterns to welcome the New Year is a folk tradition, and it also happened in the imperial palace.
Whenever the New Year approaches, sky lanterns and longevity lanterns are set up in front of the Qianqing Palace, decorating the palace with brilliant lights.
On the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, 16 longevity lanterns and 128 small lanterns are put into the lanterns. The lantern lighting ceremony on New Year's Eve is the most grand.
At that time, a deputy palace attendant would lead the eunuch in charge of music from the Qianqing Gate to line up on both sides of the steps, while the head of the Construction Department would kneel and kowtow and shout "Light the lights".
The chief eunuch of the Jingshifang and a eunuch of the Qianqing Gate lit a "beacon lamp" under the eaves of the Qianqing Gate.
On the steps, Qing music sounded, playing the music of "Fire Tree and Star Bridge".
At the same time, the eunuchs from the Construction Department lit the longevity lanterns, and the chief eunuchs from each department lit the lanterns in the two corridors and the stone railings.
In addition, there are pepper screens and New Year scrolls that set off the festive atmosphere.
The pepper screens are made of silk. Every December, the Imperial Household Department in the palace is required to produce four pepper screens according to regulations. At the same time, according to regulations, ten sets of annual scrolls must also be prepared in advance.
The New Year's scroll is a banner that is first drafted by the court poets into a five-character auspicious couplet and presented to the emperor on the first day of the twelfth lunar month. It is then handed over to the painters of the palace painting academy to be painted into a colorful picture to congratulate the palace on the New Year's Day and Spring Festival.
According to folk tradition, Spring Festival couplets are written on red paper with ink, which is full of joy.
However, the Spring Festival couplets in the Qing Palace had to be written on white silk.
There are two reasons for this. First, the Manchu, Mongolian and other ethnic groups "prefer white" and consider white to be auspicious. Second, door couplets written in ink on white silk brocade were hung on the vermilion pillars of the palace.
"The red door shines with colors that are even more vivid," making the viewing effect even better.
There are four main types of door gods, namely the martial door god of the golden melon, the literary door god of abundant harvest, the fairy door god of good fortune and longevity, and the boy door god, each with a different look.
The writing of Spring Festival couplets was mainly done by Hanlin officials who were good at calligraphy.
Door god couplets are hung on the 24th day of the 12th lunar month and taken down on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month and stored in the warehouse.
There are also unique palace training pictures, which are hung in the six palaces in the east and west where the concubines live during the Spring Festival.
The emperor hung up the Palace Training Picture because he wanted the concubines in the harem to learn from the exemplary stories of ancient concubines in the picture and educate them to abide by the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues and practice filial piety.
The Jingren Palace hangs the painting "Yan Ji Dreaming of Orchids"; the Chengqian Palace hangs the painting "Xu Fei's Direct Admonition"; the Zhongcui Palace hangs the painting "Empress Xu's Enshrinement"; the Yanxi Palace hangs the painting "Empress Cao Emphasizing Agriculture"; the Yonghe Palace hangs the painting "Fan Ji Remonstrating with Hunting"; the Jingyang Palace hangs the painting "Empress Ma Practicing Her Clothes"; the Yongshou Palace hangs the painting "Ban Ji Resigning from the Chariot"; the Yiku Palace hangs the painting "Zhao Rong Commenting on Poems"; the Chuxiu Palace hangs the painting "Xiling Teaching Silkworms"; the Qixiang Palace hangs the painting "Empress Jiang Taking Off Her Hairpin"; the Changchun Palace hangs the painting "Tai Si Teaching Her Son"; the Xianfu Palace hangs the painting "Jieyi Acting as a Bear"
At the end of the year and the beginning of the next, banquets are the main form of celebration.
In the Qing Palace, from New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, various banquets were held frequently. In addition to the lively family banquets in the Qianqing Palace, there were also extremely grand banquets in the imperial palace.
Early in the morning on New Year's Eve, the emperor brought his concubines to the Anhua Hall to burn incense and worship Buddha, set up offerings to worship their ancestors, and pray for their protection.
Ruyi dozed off but endured it until the end of the service.
Hongli helped her up, took Ruyi's hand and said, "The harem is peaceful under the management of the Imperial Noble Consort. I am very pleased."
After breakfast at Chonghua Palace.
All the palace servants were busy bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new year.
The grand banquet held in the Qianqing Palace at noon on New Year's Eve should be said to be the real reunion dinner in the palace. Although it is a royal New Year's Eve reunion dinner, the emperor and concubines do not eat at the same table.
Moreover, there were no princes or grandchildren of the emperor to be seen, because men of all ages in the royal family were not allowed to attend the banquet.