Luo Yuming said that the Red Chamber | jia fu for the New Year

"Dream of the Red Chamber" as a world love novel, depicting various folk customs. Among them, the most detailed and lively is the Jia Fu New Year, accounting for the fifty-third and fifty-fourth full two times, which also indirectly indicates that the New Year is the most important festival for the people.

There is a sentence in the fifty-third time: "It is the waxing moon at the moment, and it is close to the new year, and Lady Wang and Sister Feng are in charge of the new year's affairs." "This is the beginning of the New Year's event. When will it end? Eighteenth day of the first month. But after that, there are still some aftermaths, banquets between relatives and friends. It's almost the end of the month. It was two months.

The so-called "management of the new year" is to prepare the new year goods. Rong Guofu did not write in detail, but moved to the side of NingGuofu and wrote a section of Wujin Xiaojin rent. This Wu Jinxiao was the head of the Village of Heishan, a farmer in the Tianzhuang of Ningguo Province, and he presented a long bill, writing the contents of this year's rent delivery from the village, including various wild animals such as deer, roe deer, roe deer, and wild boar, as well as various livestock such as pigs and sheep, various poultry such as chickens, ducks, geese, all kinds of wild game such as bear paws and deer tendons, all kinds of mountain goods such as hazelnuts, pine nuts, almonds, various aquatic products such as sea cucumbers, dried clams, and sturgeon, as well as various quality rice and rice grains, various qualities of charcoal, all kinds of color, all kinds of all kinds.

Some of these things are probably used for daily consumption, such as charcoal and rice, and the rest are mostly New Year's supplies. Although there are many things, there are not many to take into account the various tribes of the clan. Only to see that Jia Zhen left behind the ancestors and the use of the family, "The rest sent out other examples, piled up under the platform one by one, and ordered people to summon the sons and nephews of the clan to come with them." So he put on his shoes and draped himself in a lynx coat, and ordered people to lay a large wolf-skinned mattress in the sun on the stone rock under the pillar of the hall, and basked in the sun to watch the children come to collect the New Year's gifts. Uncle Jia was very energetic and in a very happy mood.

Prepare for the New Year to press the old money. This is also a sense of ceremony, so let the gold shop cast a special small gold and silver dollar (it's like we have to go to the bank to exchange for a new banknote). Ningguo Mansion used a bag of broken gold for a total of one hundred and fifty-three hundred and twenty-six dollars and seven cents, and a total of two hundred and twenty hammers were poured, including begonias, plum blossoms, pen ingots ruyi, eight treasures and springs and other different styles. How much silver hammer was poured did not say, it must be more than gold. In this way, how luxurious Jia Fu is in the New Year can be seen.

The New Year should have a new atmosphere. How is it "new"? The first is to clean the front and back of the house. The ancestral hall of the Jia clan was in the Ningguo Mansion, and it was necessary to prepare a solemn ancestor worship ceremony, and it was even more important to order people to "open the ancestral hall, clean up the offerings, collect the offerings, ask the god lord, and clean the house to prepare for the hanging image of the relic." ”

Then there is an obvious "new", which is "changed the door god, the joint pair, the listing, and the new oil peach charm." "The door god is attached to the gate, and it is the image of a pair of brave and mighty warriors. Originally, there was no specific reference, but later folk legends said that this painting was written by Tang Taizong's generals Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Qiong. The sign is a wooden plaque with auspicious words such as "Fu" written on it, and it is hung in different positions. As for the peach charm here, according to Deng Yunxiang's explanation, it refers to the wooden couplet card, so to "new oil" is to repaint it. These decorative mascots are placed in a prominent position and have a bright color, and after the change, the scene is completely new.

During the New Year's Festival, people always feel that the Chinese New Year's Eve is more lively than the First Day, and this is especially true in ancient times, because there are very important and solemn ancestor worship ceremonies. For Chinese who adhere to traditional culture, ancestor worship is a ritual that strengthens kinship and family ties, and it regards the endless life as the highest meaning of life.

Chinese New Year's Eve is the day of ancestor worship. Starting from Jia Mu, including Jia Jing, who never returned to the house on weekdays, the entire Jia clan, regardless of the length of men, women, children and the distance of the tribe, all gathered at the ancestral hall, stood in their places according to certain rules, and held ancestral worship ceremonies. When Jia Mu took the incense and bowed down, everyone knelt down together and stuffed five halls, three hugging houses, the eaves of the inner and outer porches, and the steps up and down the stairs, without a single empty space. Although there were many people, it was a silence, only the sound of jewelry and jade pendants swaying slightly, and the sound of shoes moving and stomping when everyone stood up and knelt. It is a very solemn ceremony, people remember their ancestors and pray that the spirits of the ancestors will bless the family to prosper forever.

After worshipping the ancestors, Jia Mu returned to her residence. Starting from Jia Jing and Jia Shu, until the servants of the two provinces came to prostrate themselves to her in turn, and after Jia Mu received the gift, she distributed the money, purse, gold and silver to everyone. This is also the same as today, the juniors kowtow, and the elders share the money. After that, a feast was put on the table. This is equivalent to the current "Chinese New Year's Eve meal". But judging from the description of "Dream of the Red Chamber", this is mainly ceremonial, not a real banquet. Because the feast "offering Tu Su wine, hehuan soup, auspicious fruit, ruyi cake" was declared over. It is mainly to take a family gathering, auspicious atmosphere.

In ancient times, a court meeting was held in the court on New Year's Day, which was the etiquette of the state. On this day, five drums, Jia Mu and others "made up according to the quality" - put on a formal dress according to the rank of their commandments, put on a full deacon into the palace to celebrate, and also gave Jia Yuanchun, who was a noble concubine, a new year. After attending the banquet, he returned to ningguo mansion to worship the ancestors. These are formal and important ceremonies. After the end, for Jia Mu, the "old ancestor", the task is almost complete, and it is time to rest. All relatives and friends who come to celebrate the festival will not, only call their favorite junior relatives or children in the family to gossip and play games. One of them is the dominoes, the predecessor of mahjong. It's New Year's Day, and playing mahjong is the right thing to do.

However, Mrs. Wang and Sister Feng, who managed the daily affairs of the family, could not stop, and every day they were busy inviting people to eat New Year wine, and the courtyard of the hall was full of drama and wine, and relatives and friends were in an endless stream, and it took seven or eight days to finish. Early and the Lantern Festival was approaching, and the two houses of Ning Rong were all illuminated. This is the last climax of the New Year, and it is also the end. On the eve of the fifteen yen supper, Jia Mu set up several tables of wine in the large flower hall and held a family banquet. As the head of the Family in the heyday of Jia Province, Jia Mu's decorations at the banquet were not luxurious, but extremely expensive, which set off the fun of Xuan He and the old lady that Jia Fu had. It is said that the rosewood carved screen set between the wine tables is embedded with an embroidery, and even the generations of rich families are rare. There were originally three sets of Jia Fu, two sets of Jin dedicated to the palace, and only the old lady still had one set by her side. The atmosphere of the New Year reaches a climax here.

Why is the Lantern Festival over and the New Year's Festival not over? Because on the seventeenth day of the first month, there is also an ancestor worship ceremony. The ancestors watched the whole process of the festival with a wordless anticipation.

A friend asked me, why do Chinese attach so much importance to the New Year? On the one hand, this is because ancient China was an agrarian society, and only by avoiding agricultural busyness and avoiding labor could we maintain a large-scale festival. On the other hand, the ancient Chinese were accustomed to looking at changes in all things with the eyes of reincarnation or reincarnation. In the cycle of time, people are always seeking new hope. The New Year means that time has entered a new cycle, a new beginning. People have reason to think that all the disasters and misfortunes of the past should come to an end, and at the beginning of a new cycle, people hope to enjoy more happiness, more happiness in the new time. So the New Year is a very strong time to express blessings. (Luo Yuming)