How did the custom of Flower Festival evolve?

Flower Festival, referred to as "Flower Festival", is commonly known as "Flower Festival", "Hundred Flowers Birthday" and "Flower Birthday". Popular in Northeast China, North China, East China, Central South and other places. It is a very important traditional folk festival in ancient China.

The flower festival period varies from place to place, which is related to the early departure and late return of flowers from different places. Some are held on the second day of the second lunar month, while others are held on the 12th and 15th of February. During the festival, people have various traditional activities.

According to legend, during the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in Li Longji, there was a flower fan named Cui Xuanwei, who was well known.

One evening in early February, Cui was enjoying tea and flowers in the garden. Suddenly, she saw a group of gorgeous women coming to pay their respects. Among them, a petite girl calls herself Shi, but everyone calls her Shi.

The women said they would take this place to see Shen Feng's aunt. Feng Yi, also known as "Shi Ba Yi" and "Feng Shi Ba Yi", is a myth.

While speaking, a bright-eyed young woman came along. They stood up to salute and respectfully called Feng Yi.

Cui Huiyuan ordered people to honor the landlord with food, wine, fruits and vegetables. After thanking them, the daughters drank the lamp and laughed loudly.

During the dinner, Aunt Feng accidentally knocked over a small handleless wine cup, and her red skirt was stained. Xiaoyi Wen was originally a pomegranate god, and her face was full of anger, so she left from the left. The women looked at each other and panicked.

With a straight face, Xi-feng said bitterly, "How dare you be rude, little handmaiden!" The banquet broke up in discord.

It turns out that these beauties are all flower gods, and they all want to bloom in the garden on earth, but Shen Feng named Feng Yi stands in their way. The flower spirits tried to intercede with Feng menstruation, but they held back. Now all the flower gods blame her and have to ask Cui for help.

The next night, a girl from other places floated up to Cui and asked him to prepare some red silk, draw the sun, the moon and the stars, and hang them on the flowers in the garden during the 11th Five-Year Plan period on February 2nd of the lunar calendar. There will be a strange sight at that time. Cui Huiyuan's words and deeds are consistent.

At 5 o'clock on February 2 1 day, the wind was blowing, sand and stones were flying, and the world was dark. But I saw the trees swaying in the strong wind, and all the dead branches were torn off in an instant by the strong wind. Surprisingly, however, the flowers in the branches of Cui Garden, protected by colorful silk, are still pursuing beauty and brilliance as always.

That night, the flower essence turned into a group of beautiful women and came to the garden to thank Cui. They also put some petals in their sleeves and advised him to swallow them with water on the spot.

Cui took the beauty's medicine and was refreshed from then on. Later, she extended her life to one hundred years old. Because on this day every year, he will hang colorful flowers to protect flowers and finally become immortal.

Cui hung colorful flowers and eventually became a fairy. Through word of mouth, people love flowers more and more, and finally become a custom, which has become a very important traditional folk festival in ancient China.

Due to the great climate difference in China, the festival period of Flower Festival varies from place to place.

In the central plains and southwest China, the second day of the second lunar month is the flower dynasty; February 15 is the flower dynasty in the south and northeast of China, which is said to correspond to the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th of the lunar calendar. In addition, in some areas, February 12 or 18 of the lunar calendar is the Flower Festival.

Huaxin is the most accurate plant representative selected by the ancients in each flowering period. The ancients called the wind that came in response to the flowering period "Hua Xinfeng", which means the weather that brought the news of flowering.

In China, the seasonal expression of "Twenty-four Hua Xinfeng" is produced when the wind meets the flowering period, which is also the embodiment of climate change in China. The climate conditions in the north and south of China are different, so it is reasonable that the south will celebrate the festival a few days earlier than the north.

Huangdi Neijing says, "Five days is waiting, and three days is qi". According to the solar terms of the lunar calendar, from slight cold to Grain Rain every year, ***8 gas. Each breath lasts 15 days, and each breath lasts for 3 days. 8 Qi * * * is 24 issues, and each issue should be Huaxin. 24 hours has become the representative of 24 flowering periods.

Xiaohan and other plum blossoms, camellias and daffodils; At the beginning of the cold, chrysanthemum is the second, and alum is the third; Beginning of spring waits for the Spring Festival, cherry blossoms and spring; Rain and other cauliflower, apricot blossom, plum blossom; I was in a daze for a peach blossom, the second time, the third time, for a rose; There will be begonia, pear blossom and magnolia at the vernal equinox. Qingming and other tung flowers, wheat flowers and willow flowers; In Grain Rain, peony, camellia and azadirachta wait once.

Since the slight cold, every time flowers bloom in Hua Xinfeng, around Grain Rain, flowers are in full bloom, with colorful fragrance everywhere and spring everywhere. Azadirachta came last, indicating that Azadirachta was over.

Twenty-four letters later, the "green, fat, red and thin" summer with "long summer" as the starting point has quietly arrived.

Flower Festival is popular all over the country, and it is said that it began in the reign of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty. Wu Zetian loves flowers like life. Every year, on the 15th day of the second lunar month, the Flower Festival, she always asks the ladies-in-waiting to pick flowers, mash them with rice, steam them into cakes, and reward the ministers with flower cakes. From the official to the folk, flowers will become popular.

In the Tang Dynasty, people regarded the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first month, the Flower Festival on February 15th and the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th as equally important festivals.

In Song Dynasty, the date of Flower Festival was advanced to February 12th or the second day of February, and the date of Flower Festival also varied from place to place. In the Qing Dynasty, February 15th was generally the flower dynasty in the north, and February 12th was the birthday of a hundred flowers in the south.

As for the "flower god", it is said that it refers to Nu Wa, the female disciple of Mrs. Northern Wei. It is said that she is good at planting flowers, and is honored as the "Flower God" by later generations, and attached a flower festival as her festival. Feng Menglong, a writer in the late Ming Dynasty, wrote a story about a flower god punishing bullies and helping flower farmers.

During the Great Song Renzong Period, an old man named Qiu Xian lived in Changle Village outside the east gate of Pingjiang Building in the south of the Yangtze River. His wife died and he had no children. Because he was indifferent to growing flowers and fruits since he was a child, he gave up all the fields and devoted himself to them. As time went on, a big garden was built.

Qiu was an anthomaniac at first. She not only takes good care of the flowers in her garden, but also often lingers in other places.

There is an official of Zhang Wei in the city, who is treacherous, cruel and despicable, and often endangers his neighborhood with a group of domestic slaves and several rogue children.

One day, he strolled in front of Qiu Xian with four or five servants.

Old Qiu Xian is watering the blooming peony and drinking alone in front of the flowers. I don't want Zhang's official's son to break into houses and make a lot of noise, and finally trample a good garden without leaving any flowers, making a mess everywhere.

The wind swept away, and Qiu stepped forward and looked at the scattered stamens in the garden. He was sad and burst into tears.

Just as he was crying, he heard someone calling behind him: "Why does Qiu Gong cry like a lamb?"

It turned out to be a woman, about 28 years old, beautiful in appearance and well dressed, but I don't know whose daughter it is.

Qiu first told Zhang Wei about flowers.

The woman smiled and said, "My ancestors handed down a magic trick that was still full of flowers, and it tried every time."

According to her request, Qiu Xian took out the water and found that the residual flowers on the branches were really heavy, and all kinds of petals were colored, which looked much better than before.

This strange thing soon reached the ears of Zhang's official's son. He was troublesome, so he came to destroy the flowers and made an excuse to put the shackles on Qiu Xian.

The juvenile offenders bumped into each other until the evening, when a gust of wind suddenly rolled up and turned into a beautiful woman in red. It turns out that she is Hua Xian.

I saw Hua Xian whistling with long sleeves, and a biting cold wind blew Zhang's official's son away like a worm. The wind blew, and Zhang Yanzi plunged into the swamp herself.

Later, Hua Xian used magic to save the old man Qiu Xian from prison.

In this story, Hua Xian became the embodiment of justice and power, and entrusted people with the desire to combine beautiful things with justice.

After the Ming dynasty, the image of the flower god became more vivid. She is charming, holding Chinese peony and peony in her hand, or holding a flower basket containing these two kinds of flowers, peacefully guarding the good long-cherished wish of the kind working people.

According to legend, the Flower Festival is the "Birthday of Hundred Flowers", and people think that the flowers will be sunny in the morning and full of flowers all year round. There are also customs such as "putting lion flowers" and "putting magic lanterns" in various places. During the festival, people go to the suburbs to enjoy flowers together, which is called "outing", and there are customs such as "putting lion flowers" and "putting magic lanterns" in various places.

In Beijing, February 12th of the lunar calendar is Kaohua's birthday. Elegant people compose poems and chant harmony, and go out to enjoy flowers in various famous gardens in the suburbs. Shandong Shangqiu and other counties, with the sunny days of flowers, divined the abundance of wheat and fruit all year round.

In Huqiu City, Jiangsu Province, people go to the Flower Temple to offer sacrifices to the gods and wish them a birthday. Girls in boudoir cut five-color silks and stick them on the branches, which is called "rewarding the red".

Appreciating flowers is an elegance in life, and the folk cultural achievements accumulated in ancient China are particularly rich, such as the flower festival custom popular in urban and rural areas in the old society.

February of the lunar calendar is in the middle of spring, and the wheat straw and green branches are in full bloom, which provides a rich natural background for the activities of the Flower Festival. On this day, flower sellers usually tie flowers with red strips of cloth or red paper. Many flower farmers also hang colored silk and red paper on their flowers, which is called "appreciating red" or "protecting flowers".

Many flower farmers, flower vendors and farmers engaged in other planting industries will gather in front of the flower beds on this day to offer sacrifices and fruits to wish the gods a birthday, or to perform entertainment performances to attract crowds of tourists to watch and form a lively temple fair scene.

Legend has it that the flower god is in charge of the growth of plants in spring and summer, so her worship objects are not limited to flower farmers, but also farmers who grow crops, fruits and vegetables.

There are many flower temples in the Yangtze River Delta. In the old days, flower farmers in wuyue often offered statues of flower gods. On the second day of February, the flower god was born. In many places, many farmers gathered in the flower temple to offer sacrifices and wish the flower god a happy birthday.

People go to the temple fair in droves. On this night, we will hold lanterns of various shapes and cruise around the Flower Temple to prolong the activities of entertaining the gods.

In the ancient flower dynasty, literati invited three or five confidants to enjoy flowers, drink and have fun, sing for each other and sing praises to the sun. Kong, a writer in the early Qing Dynasty who wrote the famous drama Peach Blossom Fan, also wrote Zhi Zhu Ci, describing the grand occasion of the return of the Flower Dynasty: "A thousand miles of fairy land became drunk, and the staggered gates covered the sunset. Carving saddles and embroidering reins fight for the entrance, attracting red dust to the nose. "

During the Song Dynasty, the "butterfly-catching meeting" was popular in the flower dynasty around Kaifeng, which was a very interesting folk entertainment at that time.

This is a lucky day for the Flower Dynasty, when the wheat straw is brewing, every household sows all kinds of seeds, and it is said that they will gather their "hundred kinds of seeds" together and pray for a bumper harvest. The method of prediction is simple: shelter from the rain under the sun, and sunny days bring good omen for everything to be rich and mature.

The festival culture and food culture in the Tang Dynasty were very developed. It is said that Wu Zetian likes flowers. Every year on February 15th in the summer calendar, on the Flower Festival, she always asks the ladies-in-waiting to pick flowers, mash them with rice, steam them into cakes and give them to ministers. This kind of cake has the fragrance of petals and grains and soon became popular in the palace.

In a word, as an agricultural nation, the ancients in China have always had deep feelings for plants growing on the earth. Most people who love flowers are people who love beauty and life. It is China culture that breeds faint fragrance, such as "a pear flower falls evening breeze" and "a red dew that condenses fragrance".