Time flies quickly, from the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month to the New Year's Eve, but only six days. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

On the last day of the lunar month, the Han people in the Central Plains at this time called it "New Year's Eve". On this day, regardless of the rich and poor, everyone has a small family, all of them should sprinkle and sweep the door, remove the dust, clean the courtyard household, change the door god, hang the clock Kui, nail the peach charm, paste the spring card, worship the ancestors, and prepare the incense flower offerings to welcome the gods at night to pray for the safety of the New Year.

This set of customs, in later generations of Lingnan, is still relatively intact preserved. Before the Chinese New Year, every household has to sprinkle and sweep the courtyard, which is called "sweeping" or "washing sloppy"; Needless to say, sticking door gods, spring couplets, and New Year paintings, the Chinese have done this for thousands of years; On Chinese New Year's Eve, worshipping ancestors, shrine gods, heaven and earth, etc., this is a bit rare, and later Chaoshan called this "Tuan Nian". At this time, the Spring Festival couplets are called "peach symbols". Because the Spring Festival couplets at this time are not written on paper, but on the peach board, so there is the name of "peach symbol".

On this day, it is not only a folk carnival, but even the Dashun Palace is full of joy. After all, it is the last day of the year, and whoever is on duty in the palace will receive a big "Li Shi" wrapped in red paper. This is a recognition of their hard work for a year, and it can be regarded as an auspicious meaning.

The folk are even more lively. In the evening, after eating Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the city of the Dashun Dynasty ushered in the sleepless Chinese New Year's Eve, whether it was Chang'an City in Kyoto, or a remote small county town, whether it was a scholar's family or an ordinary family, a large family sat around the fire and talked about the world, and did not sleep. This is called "keeping the year", and the children are the happiest to get the New Year's money, although it is only a few pennies.

After receiving the money, the children will run outside to play. If it was in previous years, adults were still afraid that children would be abducted and trafficked, and this year even traffickers did not dare to act, thanks to the emperor's power and promulgation of new policies. The adults are lamenting that the year is getting better, and the children are running around the street, and they are singing nursery rhymes: "Sell dementia, sell you idiot, sell you stupid, sell you stupid, see that you sell more and give more, you want to come with me on credit." This nursery rhyme is called "Selling Dementia", and children joke about it, hoping to become smart in the coming year, and become a champion. Such nursery rhymes, there are still similar customs in Guangzhou in later generations, but it is not "selling dementia", but "selling lazy": "Selling lazy, selling lazy, selling until the end of the Chinese New Year's Eve, after the year will be a big boy, don't learn lazy again." Quietly you know, it will be too late to study hard, and it is not too late to work hard and have great ambitions! The implication of persuasion is the same.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, how can there be fewer fireworks? Since the beginning of the dynasty, fireworks have become a must-have festival for festivals. Gunpowder is used to make loud cannonballs and bright fireworks, which are set off in the festival to make it lively and festive. On Chinese New Year's Eve, only the fireworks in front of the Xuande Building of the Dashun Palace were the most prosperous. These are all fireworks jointly produced by the Ministry of Industry and the General Supervisor, specially prepared for the New Year's Eve and Lantern Festival night, and sometimes there are literati who record: "It is forbidden to call firecrackers in the mountains, and they are smelled in the streets and alleys." The palace leak is deep, and more than 100 fireworks are set off. So the music was everywhere, the candle shadows were vertical and horizontal, and the driving was still there. Its fireworks are painted with Zhong Kui catching ghosts and the like, and the medicine line is hidden inside, reflecting the red Xiaohan; The sound of firecrackers blowing all night ......"

The emperor and the people are happy, and it is estimated that they can only be truly seen in the Dashun Dynasty. Emperor Lu Chengqi of Dashun not only appeared on the Xuande Tower with Empress Zhou Zhiruo, but also watched the fireworks with the people. At this moment, the emotions of the people were even more elevated to the highest place, and they shouted "long live" from the bottom of their hearts, and the queen Zhou Zhiruo looked proud: this is all brought by her husband's hard work!

The fireworks show is the most exciting program on the New Year's Eve of the Dashun Dynasty. The cannons used by the royal family are not only loud, but also very gorgeous, made into the appearance of figures, fruits, and even made into screens, which can sound more than 100 times after being lit. At this moment, the folk market is also lit up with candles and fireworks, which are set off together with the royal fireworks. For a time, ten thousand flames bloomed in the sky, dazzling people.

In the north of the city, He Zhengdan of the Liao State made Yelu Renxian and the deputy envoy Xiao Hanjianu also went out to the streets, quietly feeling the "madness" of the Han people. It is not the first time they have come to the Central Plains, but it is the first time to experience the prosperity of Chang'an City up close. How much silver does it cost to smoke all over the sky? They all sighed in their hearts that Dashun was rich, but they were angry why they refused to pay even a little compensation to Liao.

Suddenly, Yeluren first asked in Khitan language: "Xiao Han Jianu, our Liao's 'Nai Pinch Babble' (Khitan called "Zhengdan" as "Nai Pinch Bha") is also so lively, right?" ”

Xiao Han's slave was stunned for a moment, and also said in Khitan language: "Is Yu Yue talking about 'frightening ghosts'?" ”

"Ghost frightening" is a religious activity of the Khitan people during the New Year's Day festival. On the day of the New Year's Day, the national custom of the Liao Kingdom is to use glutinous rice and white sheep pith as dough cakes and knead them into fist-sized balls. For each Khitan camp, forty-nine pieces will be given. On the night of the tent, each camp was throwing pills out of the tent window. If the number of balls is even, music is played, people attend feasts, eat and drink, and young men and women take the opportunity to begin to express their love. If the number of balls is an odd number, it will be terrible. The emperor of Liao immediately ordered two people from Wu Shi to ring the bell, hold arrows, and sing around the tent. In the tent, handfuls of salt were thrown into the furnace, and the ground was burned and the rats were swatted. At this time, the Khitans up and down the Liao Kingdom, whether they were emperors or ordinary people, had to live at home for seven days before they could go out.

Yeluren sighed first and said: "Actually, you and I don't know that the Han culture is beyond my Khitan reach. Even on New Year's Day, the Great Dynasty had to imitate the Central Plains and learn a full ......"

Xiao Han's slave heard the strings and knew the elegant meaning, and said cautiously: "What does Yu Yue mean by asking the Khitan people to learn Chinese characters?" ”

Yeluren shook his head first and said, "On the contrary, not only can we not advocate, but we must promote the Khitan script!" ”

"But from His Majesty downwards, all of them are proud of learning Chinese characters, how can they be transformed?" Xiao Han's slave said worriedly.

"Yes, but if you and I don't say it, who would have thought of it? In the future, after my Liao Kingdom is sinicized, how can I be regarded as a Khitan? "Why didn't Yeluren know that the tide was difficult to reverse? The greatness of Han culture is to assimilate you unconsciously. From this point of view, Yeluren was very much in favor of driving all the Han people in the Liao State back to the Central Plains. But in this way, the Liao State will be half paralyzed first. You must know that in the Liao Kingdom, how much rough work and dirty work are done by Han people!

At this moment, a group of attendants with lanterns slowly walked towards them. When they approached, they said politely: "Is it the Liao State He Zhengdan envoy in front?" ”

Yeluren first said in Chinese: "Exactly! ”

The chief attendant said: "Your Majesty has a decree, tomorrow the court, please Liao He Zhengdan envoy to go to the court together." ”

Yeluren nodded first, Liaoguo also has this rule, he understands. Seeing that he didn't say "leading the order", the chamberlain was a little dissatisfied, but he still said professionally: "Our family also received an order from the Ministry of Rites to teach He Zhengdan envoy and deputy envoy Xi Dachao's etiquette. ”

In the end, Xiao Han's slave knew more, and hurriedly said: "There is Gonggong Lao." (To be continued.) )