Posting the word "福" is a long-standing custom in our country. During the Chinese New Year, when people post Spring Festival couplets, they also don't forget to paste the red word "福" in a conspicuous place at home, which means continuous good luck and is also the whole family's expectation for the new year.
According to Wu Zimu's "Meng Liang Lu" of the Southern Song Dynasty: "No matter how big or small the family of scholars and common people are, they all sweep their doors, remove dust and filth, clean their courtyards, change door gods, hang bells and kui, nail peach charms, and put up spring signs. "Sacrifice to the ancestors." The "Spring Card" in the article is the word "福" written on red paper.
It is said that the word "福" should be pasted squarely, but there is another allusion to the word "福" being pasted upside down. Legend has it that during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang used the word "福" as a secret sign to prepare for murder, and Queen Ma wanted to eliminate it. This disaster forced every household in the city to put the word "福" on their doors before dawn. One family was illiterate and posted the character "福" upside down. Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to kill the man, so he became angry at the family whose house had the word "福" upside down, and ordered the Imperial Forest Army to kill all its members. Empress Ma argued: "That family knew you are coming today, so they deliberately turned the label with the character "福" upside down. Doesn't that mean "luck arrives"?" Zhu Yuanzhang heard the truth and ordered his release. From then on, the custom of pasting the word "福" upside down spread. From then on, the custom of pasting the word "福" upside down became widespread.
The ancients once summarized the important contents of blessing into five aspects based on the customs of the era, which were called the Five Blessings. In different eras, the five blessings refer to slightly different things. The five blessings mentioned in "Shangshu·Hongfan" are: "The first is longevity, the second is wealth, the third is well-being, the fourth is good virtue, and the fifth is longevity." "Han Feizi" says: "Full life is the key to wealth and honor. It is called blessing. "Xin Lun" by Huan Tan of the Han Dynasty said: "Longevity, wealth, honor, happiness, and many descendants." In later generations, people also said "blessing, wealth, longevity, wealth, and happiness." Only the combination of the five blessings can constitute a happy and fulfilling life, which has become the major goal pursued by the Chinese people in life. People's psychology of praying for blessings is a common life pursuit and a casual behavior popular in people's daily lives.
With the changes of the times, the "Fu" culture has become a highlight of the Spring Festival folk culture. Walking in the streets and alleys during the Spring Festival, you can see various blessing characters almost everywhere. The expectation of "blessing" also permeates it. The most important one is to infiltrate the word "blessing" into various Spring Festival elements. The bright red hanging money uses the Chinese character "福" in seal script to express the joy. Residents also replaced the traditional door god paintings with the Chinese character "福". Attentive citizens also discovered that even the red envelopes given to children as lucky money were printed with various blessing characters.
If you want to explore the expression form that uses the word "Fu" most frequently, the paper-cut works in the Niansu series are well deserved. This year is the Year of the Rat. Ms. Bai Yushuang, a paper-cutting artist in our city, added the image of rat into the word "福". Although the forms are different, the theme is the same - I hope my family will have lots of blessings in the Year of the Rat. In Ms. Bai's paper-cut works, in one of the huge characters with the word "福", a well-behaved little mouse looks at the various vegetables and fruits inside with longing eyes, looking lively and cute; there is another work with the theme of mice stealing grapes. The little mouse with a greedy face has touched the bunch of grapes with the tip of its mouth, and there is actually a big red word "福" behind the mouse. Ms. Bai said: "It's the New Year, and people want good luck in the coming year, so the word 'blessing' is usually directly reflected in paper-cut works, and then combined with different expressions to set off the New Year atmosphere."
In the early years, people used to find people with good writing skills to write Spring Festival couplets and blessing characters on their behalf, and some also wrote their own ink. The ink word "福" is set against the red paper, making it appear solemn and festive. Modern calligraphy enthusiasts have begun to use gold powder to write the Chinese character "福", coupled with fiery red lanterns and beautiful hanging money. The bright color of the golden "Fu" character can highlight the festive atmosphere.
Article Su Bei/Text
Article Su Bei Yaping/Photography
Posted with blessing characters upside down
The Spring Festival hangings are covered with "福"
The hanging money has the word "福" hollowed out
The red envelope containing the New Year's money also has the word "福"
In traditional houses, the word "福" is also engraved on the wall
The word "福" on the eaves of traditional houses
The word "福" on the blue and white porcelain bowls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties