Tomb-Sweeping Day falls on the eighth day of March in the lunar calendar, between April 4th and 6th in the Gregorian calendar. It is the time when the spring is bright and the grass is green. The temperature rises and the rainfall increases. It is the time for spring plowing and spring planting. The auspicious time of the year is closely related to agricultural production, so farmers' proverbs include: "Before and after Qingming, plant melons and beans", and "Afforestation is better than Qingming". The following are the wonderful couplets I brought during the Qingming Festival and their appreciation. Welcome to read them.
Where can I dream of the apricot, cheese and elm soup on the beautiful morning of the 16th day?
Who is the new lover of the sweet four-flower letter, the stone spring and the locust tree fire?
The Hundred and Sixth Day is also the same as the Hundred and Fifteenth Day, which is called the Cold Food Festival. From the winter solstice to the cold food, it may be one hundred and five days, or it may be one hundred and six days, both theories coexist. Apricot cheese, a paste made from almonds, that is, almond porridge. Yu Geng, also known as elm porridge, is porridge cooked with elm pods or elm skins. "Taiping Yulan" quoted Lu Hui's "Ye Zhong Ji" as saying: "Eat cold food for three days to make sweet cheese, boil japonica rice and wheat into cheese, pound almonds and cook into porridge." ?It can be seen that the ancients had the custom of preparing apricot cheese for cold food.
Compassion recommended and banned fire;
Regrettably, Cui Huzhi opened the door.
Tang Cuihu's poem "Traveling to the South of the City": "Last year on this day, in this gate, the faces of the people and the peach blossoms reflected each other's red." The human face has gone nowhere, but the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze. Later generations adapted this poem into a love story between Cui Hu and the girl. Meng Qi's "Poetry of Skills and Emotions" contains: Cui Hu, a famous scholar in Boling, failed to become a Jinshi and his heart and soul were lonely. During the Qingming Festival, he went for an outing alone to the south of the city and saw a village house surrounded by peach blossoms and a pleasant scenery. Feeling thirsty, he knocked on the door and asked for a drink. The person who opened the door turned out to be a young beauty. Cui Hu fell in love at first sight. During the Qingming Festival of the following year, Cui Hu returned to his old place, only to find that the courtyard walls remained the same but the people there were gone. He felt lost, so he wrote this poem on the door. Therefore, "Human Face Peach Blossom" has become a romantic allusion during the Qingming Festival. The first couplet alludes to cold food, and the second couplet originally refers to the Qingming Dynasty. It is drawn from the allusion to human events, showing pity and sadness, and suddenly evokes eternal thoughts.
The elm fire spreads during the cold festival;
There are apricot blossoms in Qiancun.
This is also a couplet used in the Cold Food Festival. At the beginning of this couplet, the "Leng Festival" is mentioned. The "Leng Festival" is the Cold Food Festival, because fire is forbidden and cold food is eaten. Then use "elm fire" to describe the spring scene, which is a bit desolate. The second line selects another spring scene, "Apricot blossoms in Qiancun". The word "noisy" expresses the interest of life very vividly. The season when apricot blossoms bloom is spring, so "apricot blossom day" refers to spring. Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem in which the judge sent a gift of porridge and wrote in reply. The porridge is fragrant and the white apricot flowers are blooming in the sky. The warbler is sitting on the canopy. ?Concise language and accurate word choice are the characteristics of this couplet. The pair of elm and apricot is very stable.
The spring breeze blows on the ground;
I miss my loved ones even more during the festive season.
Wang Wei wrote a poem about the Double Ninth Festival, one of which is widely circulated: "Every festive season, I miss my relatives more." There is a tradition of brothers climbing together during the Double Ninth Festival. The Wang Wei brothers were separated and were alone in a foreign land. It was natural to feel sad during this festival. This Qingming Festival couplet borrows Wang Wei's poems and has a unique charm. I think the relatives I miss during the Double Ninth Festival can still meet each other even though they are in a foreign land. As for the people I miss during the Qingming Festival, they are nothing more than materialized relatives, and the complicated and tortuous state of my mind is several times more complicated than the former.
Swallows come to Chunshe;
Pear blossoms lag behind Qingming.
In the Spring Society, people worship names and land to pray for a good harvest. In the Zhou Dynasty, Jia day was used, and in later generations, it was held on the fifth W day after the beginning of spring. Since Qingming is the fifth solar term in spring, it is naturally not far from Chunshe Day. Swallows return and pear blossoms fall, which is the phenology at this time. The upper couplet uses "Chunshe", which is the day of worshiping the earth, and the lower couplet uses "Qingming", which is the time of ancestor worship. The two are relatively appropriate. The upper line uses "coming", and the lower line uses "falling behind". The pear blossoms can still bloom again after coming and going, and the cyclic changes in nature are cleverly outlined. The coloring is clear and light, the meaning is far-reaching, and the antitheses are neat and tidy, which is really a wonderful pairing.
In March, locust trees and fire change;
Two points of news are known by apricot flowers.
The Qingming Festival is the March Festival, and the day or two before it is the Cold Food Festival. There is a custom of prohibiting fire during the Cold Food Festival. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Jie Zhitui of the State of Jin assisted Chong'er (Dong Wen of Jin) after returning to China, and hid in Mianshan. Chong'er burned the mountain to force him to become an official, and he died hugging a tree. In order to commemorate him, Duke Wen of Jin forbade lighting fires and cooking on the day of Jie Zitui's death, and could only eat cold food. From then on, it became a custom, and it was not until Qingming that a "new fire" was started. Locust fire means using locust wood to make fire. In ancient times, different types of firewood were burned according to the seasons to prevent epidemics. According to research by Zheng Xuan, a great scholar in the Han Dynasty, locust fire was used in winter. Therefore, this couplet says: Sophora japonica and fire change. The two equinoxes generally refer to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, but here they refer to the spring equinox. The Spring Equinox is the solar term before Qingming Festival. When the apricot blossoms bloom, around the vernal equinox, this couplet gives the apricot blossoms thoughts and feelings, thinking that it knows the news of the vernal equinox. Number versus number, phrase versus phrase, and balance between oblique and oblique, so the contrast is smooth.
When we meet, there will be a rain of peach flowers immediately;
I am happy to see the apricot blossoms in front of the tree.
The couplet uses the poem "Meeting Envoys Entering the Capital" written by Cen Shen of the Tang Dynasty: "When we meet, there is no pen and paper immediately, and I will report peace with you with a word", and the words and phrases of "Spring in the Jade House" written by Song Qi: "Red apricot branches" Spring is coming?.
The latter has always been praised by people, and the contemporary Wang Guowei once commented: "As soon as you make trouble, your realm will be completely different." Because it describes the fullness of spring so wonderfully, "Red apricots make spring" has almost become a home-cooked dish in Spring Festival couplets.
The cool breeze and bright moon are priceless;
There is love in the mountains and near the water.
There are two words "Qing" and "Ming" in "Qingfengmingyue" to point out the festival.
The locust tree is replaced by the light of spring;
The news of apricot blossoms is conveyed by rain.
This couplet uses the sentence from an ancient poem: The apricot blossom rain does not wet the clothes, and the willow wind does not blow on the face. The so-called apricot blossom rain refers to the rain when apricot blossoms are in full bloom around the Qingming Festival. Sophora japonica fire is used in winter, and naturally needs to be replaced in spring. The rain during the Qingming Festival does not get wet on clothes, so it is presumed to be the rain of apricot flowers, and one can imagine how lush the apricot flowers are. Many literati wrote couplets with a habit of dropping their book bags. They set up barriers for those who are just looking at things, but they add endless fun to those who understand.
Cold food and rain spread for a hundred and five days;
The flower trade wind comes in the twenty-fourth spring.
"Jingchu Age Records" records: On the 15th day of the Winter Festival, there was strong wind and heavy rain, which was called cold food. Fire was forbidden for three days to make barley porridge. ?This is exactly where the first couplet comes from. "Winter Festival" refers to the winter solstice. It is exactly one hundred and five days from the winter solstice to the cold eclipse day, so the cold eclipse day is also called the "150th day". The idiom of the lower couplet is "Twenty-Four Flowers and Trade Winds". The flower trade wind refers to the wind that comes in time for the flowering period. Because the wind comes at the same time as the flowering period, it gets its name. From Xiaohan to Guyu (the solar term after Qingming) there are eight solar terms, one hundred and twenty days, and every five days is one period, counting twenty periods, and each period should have a kind of flower letter. The three letters of the Lesser Winter Festival: plum blossoms, camellias, and daffodils; the three letters of the Great Winter Festival: daphne, orchids, and mountain bugs; the three letters of the Beginning of Spring Festival: welcoming spring, cherries, and spring; the three letters of the Rain Festival: cauliflower, apricot blossoms, and plum blossoms; the three letters of the Jingzhe Festival: peach blossoms, Tangdi and rose; the three letters of the Spring Breeze Festival: crabapple, pear blossom, and magnolia; the three letters of the Qingming Festival: tung flowers, wheat flowers and willow flowers; the three letters of the Guyu Festival: peonies, fermented glutinous rice, and neem flowers. The above are the twenty-four types of flower trade winds. The wind of neem flowers is the end of spring, so the second line says: "The wind of flowers and trade comes to the twenty-fourth spring". The pairing of "Cold Food Rain" and "Flower Trade Wind", and the pairing of "Hundred and Fifteenth Day" and "Twenty-four Spring" are very neat.
The tung blossoms are blooming;
The elm fire is new.
Elm fire, fire taken from elm wood. The ancients used locust sandalwood to make fire in winter, and used elm and willow in spring. The words used in this couplet are concise. Because it covers the changes before and after the cold food, the meaning is richer. At the same time, the contrast is neat, which is rare.
Peach blossoms make porridge;
Shepherd's purse hangs lanterns.
Peach blossom porridge is an old custom food during the Cold Food Festival. Shepherd's purse seeds can extract oil, which can be used for lighting lamps. And when shepherd's purse flourishes, it happens to be around the Qingming Festival. Therefore, "Shepherd's Purse Lantern" versus "Peach Blossom Porridge" is very interesting.
The national destiny is prosperous and the heroes are brave;
Jin Ou is safe and the martyrs are at ease.
Ou is a kind of vessel, usually earthenware. The Ou of gold is naturally extremely strong and is often used to describe the completeness of territory. The pairing of "hero" and "martyr", "courage" and "peace of mind" are very neat and interesting.
Exploring secluded places everywhere, Wuqiao is the best;
Having fun at any time is also a good time to drink.
Both the upper and lower couplets come from poems written by Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty. His poem "Chronicle of the Green Field Hall of Wuqiao Village in Fenghe Pei Linggong" says: peach and plum blossoms bloom on the old path, and phoenixes are carved on the new pond. Only the Prime Minister's Pavilion was added, but Wuqiao Village was not changed. There is little dust in the distance, and the sun and moon are long in leisure. The green hills are the exterior screen, and the green fields are the front hall. Divert more water and follow the trend, but don't take advantage of the situation when planting pine trees. Spend your time enjoying the scenery, and watch the mulberry crops in spring. The flower is jealous of Xie's prostitute, and the orchid steals Xun Ling's fragrance. Gossamer floats over the wine banquet, and waterfalls splash onto the piano bed. The nest is stable for life, and Xiao Cao is old and busy. After thousands of years of public service, the advancement and retreat are in the middle. ? is the source of the first couplet. Wuqiao, also known as Wuqiao Villa, was the villa of Pei Du of Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi's poem "Mao Drinking", "Mao drinks a cup and sleeps, what in the world can't be leisurely?" comes from the second couplet. Maoyin means morning drink. This couplet is strictly relative to each other and has clear levels, which is a good pairing.