Siheyuan: Full of Love

In fact, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month has a long history.

It can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty more than two thousand years ago.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, an order was issued to designate the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as the Lantern Festival.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the sacrificial activities for "Taiyi God" were set on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

When Sima Qian created the "Taichu Calendar", he had already designated the Lantern Festival as a major festival.

Another theory is that the custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist theory of Three Elements.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month is the Xiayuan Festival.

The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower Yuan are the three officials of heaven, earth and man respectively. The official of heaven is happy, so lights must be lit on the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival lasted only one day in the Han Dynasty, but extended to three days in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, it lasted as long as five days. In the Ming Dynasty, the lights were lit from the eighth day to the seventeenth night of the first lunar month, a total of ten days.

It is connected with the Spring Festival. It is very lively during the day and the lights are lit at night, which is spectacular.

There are several versions of folk tales that record interesting events of the Lantern Festival.

According to legend, there was a minister named Dongfang Shuo during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. One winter, it snowed heavily for several days.

He went to the Imperial Garden to pick plum blossoms for Emperor Wu and found a palace maid preparing to commit suicide by jumping into a well, so he went up to her to inquire.

It is learned that the palace maid's name is Yuanxiao. Because she missed her family too much, she could not fulfill her filial duties to her parents and decided to die.

After hearing this, Dongfang Shuo promised him that he would find a way to reunite her with her family.

One day, Dongfang Shuo set up a fortune-telling stall on Chang'an Street, and the prediction for everyone was "You will be burned to death on the 16th day of the first lunar month."

For a time, there was a great panic and everyone was looking for ways to resolve the disaster.

When Emperor Wu of Han knew about it, he asked Dongfang Shuo for ideas. Dongfang Shuo replied, “Don’t the palace maids in the palace often make glutinous rice balls for you during the Lantern Festival?”

On the evening of the 15th, she can make the glutinous rice balls, burn incense and offer sacrifices to the emperor, and order every household in Kyoto to make glutinous rice balls.

Hang up lanterns, light firecrackers, set off fireworks, and invite people from outside the city to come into the city to watch the lanterns.

On this day, the family of the palace maid Yuanxiao also came into the city to watch the lanterns. After seeing Yuanxiao, the family was finally reunited.

After a busy day, Chang'an City was peaceful and tranquil.

Emperor Wu was delighted, and he ordered that every fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people should make glutinous rice balls as a sacrifice to the God of Fire, and that the whole city should hang lanterns and set off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Because the glutinous rice balls made during the Yuanxiao Festival are the best, this day is called the Yuanxiao Festival.

There is also an interesting legend.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai usurped the fruits of the Xinhai Revolution and became the president.

During the Lantern Festival one year, he felt that the word “Yuanxiao” was not right. Isn’t the homonym of “Yuanxiao” “Yuanxiao”?

So he ordered the people in the city not to call it "Yuanxiao" anymore.

The name of Yuanxiao was changed to Tangyuan, which is popular in the Jiangnan region.

Later he felt that it was not a good idea either, as the “圆” in “汤圆” is homophonic with the “袁” in “元”.

Isn’t cooking glutinous rice balls just about boiling water?

He then ordered that the name be changed to “Tangtuan”. All shops selling Yuanxiao were not allowed to write the word Yuanxiao on their doorstep advertisements, but had to write “Tangtuan” instead.

There was a shop selling Yuanxiao on Qianmen Street. One day, the young shopkeeper let slip when he was hawking his wares, and shouted "Yuanxiao..."

Suddenly, he was slapped twice in the face by an official under Yuan Shikai and fined two hundred silver dollars.

It is said that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, after returning home, one of his most favored concubines brought him a bowl of Yuanxiao.

He said: Please have a bowl of Yuanxiao.

When Yuan Shikai heard this, he was so angry that he slapped the concubine twice.

Regarding the issue of changing the name of Lantern Festival that year, someone even wrote a doggerel poem about it.

The poem about the dumplings dates back to the previous dynasty, floating on the water when steamed and boiled.

During the Hongxian period, a ban was issued, forbidding people from shouting "Lantern Festival" on the streets.

There is also a folk song circulating: The President is a true sage, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the hardest day to sleep!

Big heads are worth copper coins, and Yuanxiao is replaced by glutinous rice balls.

After the Lantern Festival next year, who will call for Tangtuan again?

The Lantern Festival in Beijing has not changed much since the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, the four main fillings for Yuanxiao were hawthorn and white sugar, white sugar osmanthus, jujube paste and pine nuts, and red bean paste. Of course, there are much richer fillings now.

The custom of watching lanterns during the Lantern Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty.

The Lantern Festival in the Ming Dynasty lasted from the eighth to the eighteenth day of the first lunar month and was mainly concentrated outside the Donghua Gate.

What night is it that the spring lanterns are lit? The girls of Yanjing are walking on the moon.

The lanterns are swaying and the pearls are shining on the gorgeous house; the moonlight is radiating its bright light all over the Forbidden City.

Therefore, Shangyuan is also known as the Lantern Festival.

Even later, it will still be lively for five days and five nights.

In the old days, women would walk together to “walk away all diseases” in order to pray for longevity and freedom from illness.

In addition, women would come to Zhengyang Gate and touch the door nails on it. “Ding” (nail) and “ding” (ding) have the same pronunciation as each other, so they pray for a prosperous family.

Due to various reasons, not many of these customs have been preserved.

"Da Zhuang, do you think I should go to Zhengyang Gate to touch the door nails?" You Fengxia ate the glutinous rice balls with a bulging mouth.

"Why are you touching the door nail? Hey? You've already eaten three, and you're not allowed to eat another one!" Zhang Dazhuang instructed.

"Pray for a child! There has been no movement for so long."

Zhang Dazhuang smiled and said, "This is my fault. It has nothing to do with you. Let's not rush."

"You were not in a hurry last time, but you are anxious again. This time you are not in a hurry again." You Fengxia muttered.

"And the moth, it's the Lantern Festival and it doesn't even come to see me."

Zhang Dazhuang said helplessly: "They came a long time ago, and I told Xu Damao that we would have lunch together at noon today.

Who knew that you were still awake at almost noon, and they went back again. "

You Fengxia blushed: "I slept too late yesterday!"

"Okay, after dinner let's go sit with the deaf old lady for a while."

You Fengxia nodded.

After the two of them finished their meal and cleaned up, they went to the deaf old lady's room.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw an old lady there.

And he didn't look very happy.

You Fengxia smiled and said, "Madam, I brought you some Yuanxiao. Let's cook some for dinner."

The deaf old lady said happily: "My dear daughter, you still care about me, an old lady."

Zhang Dazhuang greeted the aunt.

After a few people chatted for a while, Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e also came.

Lou Xiao'e also brought some Yuanxiao for the deaf old lady.

"You two girls are really something... I am so lucky!"

"Da Zhuang, I saw that there was no one there, so I knew you were with the old lady." Xu Damao said with a smile.

Then he asked quietly, "When did you wake up?"

"It's almost noon." Zhang Dazhuang whispered.

"Hey, let's have dinner together tonight? Call Shazhu, and after dinner we'll go out and visit the lanterns."

Zhang Dazhuang nodded.

After a while, Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu also came over.

The deaf lady pretended to be displeased, "Zhu Zi, you silly boy, your wife is in poor health, why did you let her go out for a walk?"

"Madam, it was Huairu who insisted on coming here."

The deaf old lady took Qin Huairu's hand and said, "Good child, don't move unless necessary in the future. Leave anything to Zhuzi."

An old lady standing nearby looked at Qin Huairu's belly with some envy.

It is impossible for me to have such a big belly in my lifetime.

Xu Damao also told Sha Zhu about having dinner together in the evening.

The group chatted together for a while.

Then they all went home.