Zheng Yan
Xu Yueqing of Song Dynasty has a poem "Tian Kuang": "Tian Kuang is a festival, and the spirit of the earth is different. Today's book test, the same day is the birthday. Marxist-Leninist court gentry." "Tiankuang" means a gift from God, and it was a festival in the Song Dynasty.
"Song History, Benji Eighth, Zhenzong III" records: "Bingshen, in the first month of the fourth year of Xiangfu in Dazhong, the decree takes the sixth day of the sixth day of the book to descend again as the Tiankuang Festival".
Song Zhenzong was the emperor Zhao Heng who signed the "Chanyuan Alliance".
In the autumn of 1004, the Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Kingdom and the Liao Shengzong personally led the army to invade the Song Dynasty. Under the persuasion of the Prime Minister Kou Zhun, Zhao Heng, who was afraid of the enemy like a tiger, was forced to go to war. After a battle, the Song and Liao parties negotiated peace in Chanzhou. The "Chanyuan Alliance" was signed, and the Song Dynasty gave Liao 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk every year. The two countries took Baigou River as their border.
Zhao Heng took the "Chanyuan Alliance" as a "great achievement" and was complacent. Unexpectedly, one day, Wang Qinruo, a favorite minister, said to him: "The alliance under the city, "Spring and Autumn" is ashamed. The action of Chanyuan is the alliance under the city. What a shame that it is an alliance under the city that is so precious!" Wang Qinruo wanted to frame Kou Zhun, but he didn't expect to hurt Zhao Heng's vanity, and Zhao Heng was unhappy about it.
In order to cater to Zhao Heng, who is good at observing words and deeds, Wang Qinruo planned a farce of edicts from the sky and Mount Tai's enshrining Zen.
Zhao Heng was in a position to make up a swindle of "Edict from Heaven". He led his ministers to Mount Tai in a car with "Edict from Heaven". He held a grand ceremony to thank Heaven's grace and sacrifice. Officials have a day off, go to Taoist temples to offer incense, and build dojos in the Shangqing Palace.
Zhao Heng also ordered to expand the Dai Temple and built a magnificent Tiankuang Temple.
Zhao Heng set up the Tiankuang Festival to fool the people. As time went by, the original meaning of the Tiankuang Festival was gradually forgotten by people, and the custom of drying clothes and books was derived. There is a folk saying "June 6th, drying red and green" say.
In the Ming Dynasty Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng's "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" records: "On June 6th, the sun is driving, and the people are also drying their clothes. The old Confucian ruins the book, and the poor girl is ruined. Repeatedly diligent in the sun, the morning is harvested." The Qing Dynasty Fucha Dunchong's "Yenjing Sui Shi Ji" said: "On June 6th, the capital shakes and hangs clothes and books, which means that there will be no insects." Pan Rongbi's "Dijing Sui Jisheng" says: "On June 6th In the Luanjia Warehouse of the Imperial Household, the Imperial History Entrustment and other places, the pilgrims of honor and the history of the imperial poetry and books of the past dynasties are dried.”
Regarding the drying of books, there is a legend of Xuanzang drying scriptures.
Master and apprentice Xuanzang returned from India to collect scriptures, but the scriptures were wet by the river.
On June 6th, when the sun was high in the sky, they put the scriptures on the high cliffs and rocks to dry one by one.
This scene is also described in Chapter 99 of "Journey to the West".
Therefore, on this day, Buddhist temples review and inspect their collections of scriptures, so it is called "Sutra-Reflection Festival".
Gu Lu, a literati in the Qing Dynasty, recorded in "Qing Jialu" that some women who believed in Buddhism would go to temples on this day every year to read the scriptures and recite the Buddha, saying that if they read the scriptures ten times, they could be transformed into male bodies in the next life.
The north enters the rainy season in the sixth month of the lunar calendar, and in the south of the Yangtze River it is rainy season. Books are prone to dampness and mildew. As soon as the literati encounters a sunny day, they will take out the books to dry, and June 6th is mostly sunny and sunny. Sufficient but not very poisonous, drying books in the sun can not only play the role of drying and mold removal, but also drive away silverfish hidden in the scrolls.
Pan Pingjun of the Qing Dynasty wrote in the poem "Sunshine Books on the Sixth of June": "The three volts are in the morning, and the old books are scattered in the leisurely courtyard. It is like traveling for thousands of years, and it is a half-life relationship. Reading a happy year is not an old man, and the title is shocked and moved again. Hu'er keep checking, the family background is only green."
When it comes to drying books, there is another anecdote.
During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Zhu Yizun, a well-educated scholar in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, was full of knowledge, but he failed to meet his talents and failed many times.
One year on June 6th, he learned that Emperor Kangxi was in a small dress to visit Zhejiang in the south, and he bare his chest and belly in the scorching sun where Kangxi must pass. After seeing it, Kangxi asked strangely: "What are you doing? ?" Zhu Yizun replied, "I'm full of knowledge and I'm going to get moldy, so I'll get some sun today." His grotesque behavior caught Kangxi's attention. It happened that in this year, the 50-year-old Zhu Yizun was once again educated in high school. The word division, so Kangxi sealed it as a review of the Hanlin Academy, responsible for writing the history of the Ming Dynasty.
After this incident spread, scholars followed Zhu Yizun's example to publish books on June 6, hoping to meet the Ming Lord like Zhu Yizun.
But they bask in the real book, not the belly.
In this way, reading books on June 6 has become a fashion for readers.
A folk proverb says: "On the sixth day of the sixth month, please ask your aunt." According to Chinese folk customs, every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the married girl is to be taken back to her mother's house.
A folk song sings: "When the wheat is collected and the fight stops, no one's daughter will look at her mother. If the daughter does not look at her mother, she will die if her father-in-law is not dead." It seems that if the daughter does not return to her mother's house on June 6 The consequences are serious.
Why does the married daughter go back to her parents' house on June 6?
There is a popular story among the people.
According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the prime minister of Jin State, Hu Yan, liked to be ostentatious.
His in-law Zhao Shuai was also a minister in the court, and he couldn't get used to his behavior, so he bluntly rebuked him that he shouldn't be like this.
But the arrogant Hu Yan blamed Zhao Shuai in front of everyone.
Zhao Shuai was so humiliated that he died of anger.
The following year, Jin State suffered a disaster, so he went out of the capital to put food and told his family that he would come back to celebrate his birthday on June 6th.
After Guyan's son-in-law found out, he wanted to kill Guyan on his birthday.
After Guyan's daughter found out, Xingye rushed back to her parents' home to report the news, so that her father could be prepared.
After Guyan learned about this, he felt that he had done too much and felt remorse.
He took the initiative to bring his daughter and son-in-law home, eat delicious food, and apologized, which will be the case every June and June every year.
Later spread to the people, it gradually became a festival for married daughters to return to their parents' home, and it was called "Aunt's Day".
I think this legend is a bit far-fetched.
On June 6, the daughter's return to her parents' home is still related to the farming time and folk customs.
In the past, after a daughter was married to her husband's house, she had to be diligent in everything and be careful everywhere, honor her parents-in-law, serve her husband, manage farm work, take care of housework, and take good care of her children after having children. Even if you miss your mother's family in your heart, you can't just lift your feet and leave. According to traditional Chinese etiquette, you must choose a day to return to your mother's family.
As the saying goes, "Ten li is different from the customs", one side of the water and soil raises the other side, due to the different customs and customs, there are local rules in different places.
Generally speaking, it should be selected during the slack season.
As the saying goes, "June 6th, leave the wheat", June 6th is just after the wheat harvest, the field is stopped, the grain is dried, the grain is put into the warehouse, and the autumn crops are also sown, which is relatively a slack season.
Going back to her parents’ home at this time is also a good time, not only to report to the parents how the husband’s family’s harvest is, but also to check whether the parents’ home has a bumper harvest and whether there is enough food to eat, so as to be aware of it.
Therefore, on June 6th, when the girl returns to her mother's house, she will bring steamed buns with new wheat flour, and put a few red dots on the bun's head, indicating that it is a good year.
In some places, it is fashionable to use new flour to steam a big moon-shaped steamed bun and bring it back to her parents' home, which means that the family has gained a bumper harvest.
Under normal circumstances, the child should follow the mother to the grandmother's house. If it is a baby in her arms, a peach branch should be inserted to avoid the invasion of poisonous evil on the road.
Moreover, June 6 is also an auspicious day.
As the saying goes, "to run away, three six nines", six is a homonym of Shun, two and six overlap, meaning "six or six Dashun", which means that the journey back to her mother's home is smooth and safe.
As the mother's little padded jacket, the daughter will definitely be loved by her mother when she returns to her mother's house.
My mother was worried that her daughter would be angry at her husband's house and would not have enough food and clothing, so she took the opportunity to cook some delicious meals for her daughter.
If the uncle comes with him, he has to prepare a table of dishes solemnly. No matter how poor or difficult it is, at least four dishes of hot and cold dishes are prepared. For better families, six or eight dishes are prepared. Inseparable from steamed buns, pancakes and other pasta.
After the meal is full, the niece will talk to her mother, brothers and sisters about her family's shortcomings at her parents' house, and the uncle will help her father-in-law with some chores and tidy up the courtyard.
When they go back, the family will also steam some new wheat buns for the daughter to bring back as a gift.
A red mark is printed on the forehead of the grandson (daughter) who came with him to dispel poison and ward off evil spirits and keep him safe.
If it is a newly married daughter, the mother's family also needs to put minced meat in the steamed bun. The steamed bun has an open shape and is called "Zhangkou steamed bun", which indicates that the in-law's family will have children and inherit the lineage.