Sacrificing ancestors is a grand traditional activity during the Spring Festival. Before the arrival of Chinese New Year's Eve, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already placed genealogies, ancestral statues such as grandmother Empress Gao Gao's father Emperor Song Shenzong, and tablets in the upper hall, and placed incense burners, offerings such as sheep and jujube cakes, also known as "heaven and earth offerings". The whole Shenzhou has a tradition of chasing after the end of the day, and the festival will never forget to worship the ancestors and ancestors who have gone away, and the Spring Festival of Emperor Xu is no exception.

Concubine Wen invited eight sisters to care about the royal family's ancestor worship activities.

"Holy Lord, may I ask the origin of the saying of the head of the year." Concubine Wen suddenly remembered this question.

"During the Yu Shun period, Shun was the Son of Heaven, leading his subordinates to worship heaven and earth, and since then, people have regarded this day as the first of the year."

On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, after the imperial concubines took a nap, they came to the royal cemetery, and the attendant of the Ministry of Rites reverently presided over the ceremonies: "Respectfully please long live the incense!" Then read the blessing: "Chinese New Year's Eve ancestor worship is one of the traditional customs that have been handed down in China to this day. Respect the ancestors and ancestors, fathers and queens, the empress dowager Gao, who is both benevolent and virtuous, and the sons and grandchildren keep in mind the sage concept of "all good and filial piety first" and "cautious pursuit of the future", on the occasion of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, the children and grandchildren would like to express their deep filial piety and long-term nostalgia to the ancestors and sages; furthermore, pray that the ancestors and gods can do their best to bless the future generations, so that the future generations of the Great Song Dynasty will prosper and prosper, and the blessings will continue. I wish the ancestors and the heavenly realm no worries! Enjoy the blessings of the sky forever! ”

Eight beauties sent people to offer 30 bowls of jujube rice soup, 30 cups of ten famous teas, 30 horses of the most exquisite silk silk, wine from all over the world, food boxes, meat (the same as "Zuo" meaning meat offered during ancient rituals), offering the same as "drum", meaning "Fu") Ci (the meaning of Fu Ci), burning the blessings, and completing the activities of bowing to the gods. Sometimes the gongs and drums are sounded, as if to arouse the enthusiasm of the ancestors and ancestors who are buried in the ground to receive the sacrifices; Sometimes, the string accompaniment seems to add a warm atmosphere to the life of the virtuous ancestors.

On the way back to the palace, the second sister chased after Concubine Wen and asked, "Sister, why is it so important to worship ancestors?" The rest of the beauties were also expecting Concubine Wen to answer, and the eldest sister deliberately slipped to the back of the line.

"I asked the Ministry of Rites yesterday Shangshu, he said, the meaning of ancestor worship is to be cautious and long-term, aimed at looking forward to the prosperity of the royal descendants, so when the heirs of the future generations act, the expression is serious, the ceremony is solemn, the attitude is respectful and sincere, in addition to the royal family, the government and the opposition, all originate from the traditional Chinese ethical thoughts. In the history of our country, the era of the Yellow Emperor was the era when Chinese civilization began to create greatly, and the Yellow Emperor was respected by later generations as the first ancestor of humanity. 'The Yellow Emperor collapsed, buried in Qiaoshan Mountain', which is the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in Qiaoshan, Huangling County, Shaanxi Province today. ”

After the ancestors returned, the inner eunuchs reasonably distributed the offerings, and the beauties brought their personal maids and inner eunuchs to accompany Emperor Xu to go shopping on the street.

The eldest sister is tired of walking, and listens to the opera with the four slaves and maids who are often bright and childlike, in the spacious theater, Liu Meiren sings and dances with the rhythm, and the inner supervisor and the maids stand quietly on one side, waiting for the master with delicious food and drink, often brightly admiring the silver cups and silver plates carved with patterns placed on each table, and the childlike childlike smell the steaming fragrant drink (the hot drink of the Song Dynasty), and look at the dried fruits and various pastries filled with silver plates. It's so boring!

The rest of the beauties and Emperor Xu walked and watched, in the candy stall, they happily admired all kinds of "painted sugar", Concubine Wen bought a "little sun" for each of the people, and said happily: "I wish the coming year can be shrouded by the auspicious light of Emperor Xu, no matter day or night, it is full of light and warmth", listening to Emperor Xu's intoxication.

Next to the fragrant drink stall, the "Jade Butterfly" invited everyone to drink the lychee fragrant drink, and the personal maid Ganquan asked Concubine Wen to give auspicious words, and Concubine Wen thought about it for a while. Sincere wishes: "I wish you all a happy and persistent New Year!" The crowd laughed.

The third sister proposed to buy a set of jade pots and jade cups to go back, but Emperor Xu stopped him: "Don't be a slave of material things, and listen to me." ”

The seventh sister praised: "It's good not to be a material slave, and you can also promote frugality." ”

Emperor Xu argued eloquently like a gentleman: "What are jade pots and jade cups, as early as the Tang Dynasty, there were self-warming cups in the palace, which could be heated automatically." The history books say: there is a wine glass in the inner library, there are cyan lines such as messy silk, its thin as paper, there are wisps of gold characters on the foot of the cup, the name is 'self-warming cup'. Tang Xuanzong asked him to pour wine into the cup, 'warm and warm like boiling soup'. It's such a powerful pot, and as soon as the wine is poured in, it will be steaming. It has Chinese characters on it, so it is likely that it was not a tribute, and I don't know which skilled craftsman invented it, which was unique at the time, and it was also a luxury. ”

All the beauties lamented the development of science and technology in the Great Song Dynasty, and the eighth sister then asked Emperor Xu to tell a story about the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

"Since everybody likes to be frugal, it's very good, it relaxes the mind, and I think that every time I let go, my mind drifts to heaven. Then I'll tell you an interesting story about thrift. Li Shimin was sick and wanted to take tonics, and he didn't know who gave him a bad idea, he had to eat 'fat-free fat sheep'. is both fat sheep and fat-free, this is difficult. Guangluqing Wei, who was in charge of this matter, was blind, so he went to consult Hao Chujun. Hao Chujun said: 'The emperor has the virtue of a good life, and he will definitely not do such a thing. What the hell is going to do about this? Hao Chujun said that he had to find fifty fat sheep first, and kill them one by one in front of the sheep. When the sheep in the back are scared, the fat will seep into the meat. The last one, who must have been scared to the point of madness, was the fat sheep that was extremely fat but fatless.

I don't know if Hao Chujun's rhetoric was made up, anyway, after Li Shimin found out, he felt that this matter was too cruel and wasteful, and it was absolutely impossible to do it. That's frugality, right? The beauties listened obsessively and sighed at the great pleasure of the book.

"Was there anything about waste in the Tang Dynasty?" Concubine Wen asked reluctantly.

"Concubine Ai is right. Speaking of which, during the Tang Xuanzong period, the national strength was strong, and there were many things from simple to extravagant. In addition to self-warming cups, there are also many talking heads, such as tooth plate food, also known as watching food. It is to put colorful fruits and vegetables or snacks on a delicately carved food plate (crankplate) and serve it. Generally, I don't eat it, and I eat it lightly, mainly because it looks good. ”

The imperial concubines returned happily, and the inner prison maids carried potted flowers decorating the palace with both hands, and after this period of martial arts practice to strengthen their bodies, they seemed to have divine help, and it was almost effortless. There are chubby "succulent" miniature bonsai, red or yellow moon seasons, flying cyclamen, elegant and charming "national fragrance" orchids, shuttlecock-like dragon beard trees, and auspicious peace trees and happiness trees......