China News Service, Lanzhou, February 8th: Title: New Year's Eve at the Han Dynasty Frontier Fortress: Everyone enjoys a "mixed-up" reunion dinner with New Year's money
China News Service reporter Feng Zhijun Li Yalong Gao Ying
Similar to today's lucky money, as early as the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago, people had the custom of giving each other new year's money when bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. In the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum, a large number of Chinese bamboo slips in the collection contain detailed records of the New Year's Eve, which makes people feel the rich atmosphere and sense of ritual of the ancient Chinese New Year.
"Fortunately, the Duke has been blessed for a long time. His descendants have not done well. He gives money every year, and leads his wife to be called the prefect day and night. There is no need for trouble!" "Jian's Letter to the Duke's Wife" on a silk script from the Han Dynasty unearthed from the Xuanquanzhi site in Dunhuang. It is a letter between friends. Throughout the letter, the writer expresses greetings to the recipient, the father-in-law, and his wife, and thanks the father-in-law for giving his children the money every year.
The picture shows the Han Dynasty silk script "Jian Zhi Zhonggong's Lady" unearthed at the Xuanquanzhi site in Dunhuang. (Photo courtesy of Gansu Bamboo Slip Museum)
The "year-given money" in this letter may refer to a kind of coin that originated in the Han Dynasty and was privately minted by the people and not used for circulation - "weariness (pressure) wins money", which is worn as an ornament to ward off evil spirits during festivals. Usually there are some auspicious words on the front, and patterns meaning good wishes on the back. Another possibility is the wax money given during the wax festival.
"La Qian is equivalent to the current New Year's money. Everyone has a share, and people will give it to each other." Xiao Congli, director and research librarian of the Collection and Research Department of the Gansu Bamboo Slip Museum, told reporters that, for example, the money unearthed from the Jiaqu Houguan Site in Juyan The 16 wooden slips record in detail the situation of the local garrison distributing wax money to the border guards in the early Eastern Han Dynasty - "If you don't invade the long stone field of the tunnel, you will get eighty yuan (tongla). In December, Renxu's wife Jun Ning will take it." …”
According to Xiao Congli, the Spring Festival in today's concrete sense can be traced back to the Laba Festival in the Han Dynasty, which is now the Laba Festival. The wax festival in the Han Dynasty means the beginning of the new year, and grand sacrificial ceremonies will be held across the country to offer sacrifices to hundreds of gods to pray for a good harvest, bid farewell to the old, welcome the new, and bring good fortune. Before and after the December Festival, official organizations and private citizens have gatherings and feasts, which can be said to be a national carnival.
"Meeting (present) officials, inflicting torture, and cutting meat to weigh it..." According to an unearthed account book of Han Dynasty, after the wax festival, the central court would specially give money and gifts to hundreds of officials. Officials in office and Registered criminals can receive bacon, and the government will also distribute bacon money and bacon to ordinary people.
For the border guards in Hexi, who are far away from the Central Plains, the December Festival is a "good opportunity" to enrich their boring lives and improve their food. Among the Han bamboo slips unearthed in Gansu, there are many records of giving bacon money and bacon to officials and soldiers, which reflects the concern and comfort of the Han Dynasty officials to the garrison soldiers.
According to records on Han bamboo slips, at the New Year's Eve reunion dinner table for border garrison soldiers in the Han Dynasty, there were not only inland foods brought by soldiers from the Central Plains to the frontier fortress, such as sweets fried with barley flour, but also mare's milk wine, which was consumed daily by the ethnic minorities in the frontier fortress. It can be seen that due to the long-term integration of multiple ethnic groups, the New Year's Eve activities two thousand years ago have become quite mixed, and the living habits of nomadic people and agricultural people have been cleverly integrated.
A slip unearthed from the Han Dynasty beacon site in Qingshuigou, Dunhuang clearly bears the word "beginning of spring". (Photo courtesy of Gansu Bamboo Slip Museum)
The Lunar New Year is often also the beginning of spring. "Ancient China was a traditional agricultural society, and spring plowing represented new hope." Xiao Congli said that while conducting grand New Year's Eve activities, the ancients of the Han Dynasty also attached great importance to spring plowing and spring sowing when all things revived. A slip unearthed from the Han Dynasty beacon site in Qingshuigou, Dunhuang clearly bears the word "beginning of spring". The official account books of the Han Dynasty unearthed from the Juyan site also have records such as "twenty-five stones of small yellow stones" and "three stones of small stones of ordinary types", which record the number of grain seeds distributed to the local people in the fields.
Regarding nomadic hunting, the central government of the Han Dynasty also had legal documents for ecological and environmental protection with strong environmental awareness. In the "Four Seasons and Moon Orders and Calls" unearthed in Xuanquanzhi, Dunhuang, the people were clearly reminded that early spring is the time when birds hatch their young, and it also listed regulations prohibiting people from climbing trees to dig out bird's nests.
The picture shows the "Four Seasons and Moon Orders" unearthed from the Xuanquan Palace in Dunhuang. It is the most complete legal document on ecological and environmental protection in the Han Dynasty that has been seen in China. (Photo courtesy of Gansu Bamboo Slip Museum)
"In addition to the military management of frontier fortresses, the Central Plains dynasty also had more advanced systems, ideas and cultural influences, which made the surrounding nomads gradually identify with the Central Plains' ideology and culture." Xiao Congli said, and the central government also accepted and absorbing some excellent traditional customs of nomadic peoples, thus giving Chinese traditional New Year's Eve rituals and customs a new sense of ritual, which has lasted for thousands of years. (over)