Chapter 350 Gift
In ancient China, especially during the Tang and Song dynasties, the Lantern Festival may not be the most important festival of the year, but it is an extremely special festival.
First of all, it is after the New Year and before spring ploughing. It is not the busy farming season yet, but the weather has warmed up and is not as cold as during the New Year, so it is a good time to go out.
At the same time, perhaps as a common characteristic of human beings, spring festivals have always been lenient towards women. In the Song Dynasty and before, although women have always had a status, women of all ages were allowed to go out and play, but this was limited to two spring festivals...For the countryside, the most appropriate day is undoubtedly the Shangsi Festival (March 3) after spring ploughing. This day is a good day for outing, bathing, and getting rid of evil spirits. In the city, it is undoubtedly the Lantern Festival, and lanterns and praying are also eternal themes.
In fact, the extra respect and leniency shown to women during spring festivals is most likely the product of a compromise and combination of basic human sexual desire, reproductive worship, and free love with agricultural society.
This can be clearly seen in some specific development contexts of many primitive tribes and early civilized civilizations...It doesn't matter whether it is good or bad, but this is indeed inevitable in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.
It can only be said that even a gradually conservative and continuously repressive China cannot stop this most basic human desire and need.
After all, foreign monks also steal lamp oil, and the Central Asian warlords who integrate politics and religion also like to keep male prostitutes. We are all human beings and are essentially the same.
Of course, in the Song Dynasty, the Shangsi Festival, which was recorded in the "Book of Zhou" and was doubly recognized by the Confucian ancestors but was more unrestrained, suddenly disappeared in the north and the Central Plains, while the Shangyuan Festival, which had a more restrained theme, was further promoted by the official authorities... From this perspective, it seems to be a victory for feudal ethics.
It also seems to be a fact that sexual repression in traditional Chinese society has further deepened and the actual social status of women has weakened.
However, in this way, for five days before and after the Lantern Festival, it was said that "women strolled in the streets from night to dawn, and men and women mixed together", and "all four gates were wide open, day and night", so that even prison institutions could take the opportunity to display torture instruments, and it almost became the Song Dynasty version of Carnival, which was also another result of release.
Among them, it is generally recognized that the Lantern Festival pattern in Tokyo City has always been different from other places.
For five consecutive days, from the 14th to the 18th of the first lunar month, millions of people came out of the city, inside and outside the city, and in the countryside. Colorful lanterns were all over the city, even extending to Yuetai and Qingcheng outside the city. The whole city almost became a sea of lights at night.
Among them, the unique light scene in the west of the city, the dense sea of lights in the south of the city, the luxurious light market in the east of the city, and the vast light field in the north of the city have always been famous.
But none of these can compare to the mountain of lanterns in the middle of Imperial Street opposite the Xuande Building.
The so-called lantern sheds and lantern mountains are large-scale colorful shed-style lamps that were built by royal order to craftsmen during the New Year. Their shapes and sizes vary every year. The taller ones are almost as high as the Xuande Tower, and the wider ones are almost level with the Imperial Street.
In fact, on the second day of the Lantern Festival holiday every year, which is the evening of Lantern Festival, the common people of Tokyo would often gather on both sides of the Imperial Street from broad daylight to reserve seats, waiting for the lighting of the mountain of lights and the lantern sheds in the evening... This is just like the Spring Festival Gala in later generations. No matter whether it is good or not, it is always a specific reserved program, and it is the main show.
However, if one counts carefully, it has been seven years since the Jurchens besieged the city in the second year of the Jing Kang period (the first year of the Jian Yan period), and there hasn’t been a proper lantern shed in the city of Tokyo.
But this time, during the New Year, there were vague rumors that the emperor was very pleased and had allocated special funds to summon craftsmen to make lamps... Taking into account that there had been no major wars last year and the emperor's authority had reached a point where it could not be shaken at all, plus there was the excuse of Empress Dowager Yuanyou returning to the capital, so people tended to believe it.
Most of the senior officials had no intention of refuting the rumors because they had heard the conversation between the Minister of Revenue Lin Jingmo and Emperor Zhao with their own ears, so they knew that last year's financial construction plan had actually been exceeded.
Well, in this case, it might be a good idea to make tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of strings of cash just to show off... and it could also make the Lantern Festival market more lively, collect more commercial taxes, sell more lottery tickets, and recover some costs... It might not be a bad idea!
However, rumors were just rumors. Until the beginning of the Lantern Festival in the eighth year of Jianyan, no one saw any lantern shed in front of Xuande Gate. Only lantern riddles were set up in the corridors on both sides of the Imperial Street. Then, as usual, vegetarian food from Xiangguo Temple was given to important officials above the level of Secret Council. Everyone could not help but feel a little disappointed with the court and the government.
But even though you are disappointed, it is destined that no one will bring up this excuse... If someone really wants to bring it up, there is no need for the government to say anything, as other officials will use the excuse of "the country is not stable and we should be frugal" to embarrass you.
Of course, as mentioned before, with no major military operations in the country for a whole year, the economy fully recovered, and the court exceptionally stable, although this year's Lantern Festival in Tokyo City did not have the large-scale participation of the royal family and officials, its scale was still close to that of previous years.
In fact, perhaps because they have been suppressed for a long time, the level of activity among the people seems to be even higher.
For five consecutive days, not to mention the lantern market and lantern riddles in the evening, even during the day, the Cuju field in the north of the city held five consecutive days of performance matches. The lottery shops near the gates of the inner city even added special lottery tickets with Shangyuan movable type. Every day, prizes of ten cents and a hundred strings of cash were drawn on the spot. It is said that the prizes for the five days were personally sealed by the three empress dowagers and two imperial concubines on the same day... The first day was opened at the Suzaku Gate, the second day at the Xuanqiu Gate, the third day at the Wangchun Gate, and on the fourth day, many people flocked to the Lijing Gate, Luhe Gate, and Chongming Gate. The whole family bought dozens or hundreds of prize tickets, but unexpectedly, the prize was still drawn at the Wangchun Gate!
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