Folding willow to express one's feelings

By studying ancient poems, we found that in ancient China, whenever pedestrians went away, people who saw them off often folded willows to show their farewell and blessings. This unique way of seeing off is quite popular among literati, adding a bit of romance to the original lonely, melancholy and sad parting scene. It is generally believed that "seeing off the willow" originated in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, while "I have been there, and the willow is reluctant to part" in the Book of Songs is considered to be the first to express one's feelings by singing willow, so as to hurt others. In the Han dynasty, "folding willows to bid farewell" gradually became a trend. "Sanfu Huang Tu", which records the social life of Chang 'an, the capital of Han Dynasty, said: "Baqiao is in the east of Chang 'an, and it is a bridge across the water. The Han people saw the guests off at this bridge and folded their willows to see them off. "Liu Zhe Farewell has a fixed farewell place and a specific connotation, which marks the finalization and maturity of this farewell form. In the Tang Dynasty, due to the implementation of the imperial examination system and frequent border wars, ordinary people sought fame, or left their hometown to seek official posts by writing, or went to frontier fortress to make contributions, and the wind of "breaking willows to bid farewell" became the main way for people to bid farewell at that time. The so-called "east gate willow, royal river green trees, those who have climbed recently, should stay more." "The passionate and romantic poets in the Tang Dynasty took it as a concrete image in their poems, quoted poems into sentences and recited them repeatedly. For example, Quan Deyu's poem "Send a message to congratulate you" says: "New knowledge is given as a gift, while the old couple give it as a basket. "At the same time, emotional expression has also expanded from expressing the pain of parting to expressing the pain of lovesickness on both sides. For example, Li Bai's "Xuancheng sent Liu's deputy envoy to Qin": "Sauvignon Blanc has no collar. "So, why did the ancients adopt this unique way of seeing off? What is the original intention of "folding willows to bid farewell"? Many people have studied and discussed this issue all the time, but there are still different opinions. There are mainly the following viewpoints: 1. The custom theory is explained from the ancient funeral customs, and it is believed that the ancients used willow trees to make cars, cars and other funeral tools, borrowing the regeneration function of willow trees, showing the hope and desire of the living for the regeneration of the dead; From "where will you go" to "where will you go", Liu has become the mascot of people's simple desire to pray for longevity and peace when they travel far away or are separated from their relatives and friends in real life. Second, explain the life theory from the biological point of view. Willow is easy to grow and full of vitality. I hope that people who travel far away can quickly adapt to the soil and water in a foreign land and live a healthy life, and take pleasure in it and integrate into the local people soon. Everything goes well. As the Chu people in the Qing Dynasty said in Volume IV of Jian Xuan Guang Ji: "Those who bid farewell have nothing to fold, but must be in the willow. It's not convenient for Jinting, and it's not convenient for people to go back to their hometown like a tree leaving the soil. I hope they are safe everywhere, just like a willow tree can live everywhere, so I wish them good ears. "This sentence has a profound philosophy and a higher cultural taste. Third, the theory of cultural inheritance Some people think that the earliest origin should be "I have been there, Yangliuyiyi; Today, I will think about these ancient poems, "Rain and snow are raining". This poem is from The Book of Songs and is a famous sentence. "Willows and Yiyi" expresses the feelings of parting of soldiers before going out to war, and lays a cultural tone for later farewell poems. As one of the Five Classics, The Book of Songs has a profound and broad cultural background. In this sense, "farewell with a broken willow" is actually a cultural heritage. Fourth, it is said that some people think that "folding willow" and "inserting willow" originated from the custom of Cold Food Festival. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liang Zongqi wrote "Chronicle of Jingchu Years": "The Cold Food Festival between Jianghuai, every family broke the door." Willow trees are inserted in front of every household to commemorate the introduction of Jie Zhitui, the minister of Jin State in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is said that he tried to protect the monarch Zhong Er from 19 and was loyal to him. Later, Zhong Er became a monarch, but he was forgotten. He and his mother made a living by farming and weaving in Mianshan, and finally they were burned to death under the withered willow trees in the mountain. People miss Jie Zhitui's pursuit of political clarity. From this point of view, folding willows has the significance of commemoration and nostalgia, which has become the origin of "folding willows to bid farewell" in later generations. Five, homophonic said that some people gave an explanation from phonology, thinking that the ancients paid attention to homophonic expression. "Liu Zhe, stay." In this way, Liu's homonym can easily become a medium to express emotions. Folding willows to send each other is an expression of deep affection for parting. Moreover, the willow branches, which are inextricably linked with the wind, are in line with parting, and the situation of willow falling is similar. Nature is to send willows to each other. On the belief of intransitive verbs Modern scholars trace back to the origin of "seeing off a willow", which includes the concepts of "worship of tree gods and reproductive beliefs". They believe that willow is regarded as a magical power to ward off evil spirits and strengthen the body in China culture, a sacred tree that is respected and worshipped, and a symbol of reproduction and reprint, and then gradually evolved into a farewell form. Although the above viewpoints have enriched and developed the cultural connotation of "farewell", the original meaning of this farewell form has become more and more confusing, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. The author believes that the formation of any custom comes from people's production and life, which is the concrete expression of people's material culture and spiritual culture at that time. As Guo Yuhua said in the article "Civil Society and Ritual State-An Interpretation of Power Practice", "Folk rituals mainly exist as a survival technology, and they follow a survival logic." Tracing back to the source, the origin of "breaking the willow to bid farewell" should also come from people's production and life. Therefore, we believe that "breaking the willow to bid farewell" originated from the system of "changing smoke into fire" in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, originated from the ancient people's worship of fire, and was a concrete reflection of real life in customs. As we all know, fire plays an unparalleled role in the history of human progress. It makes mankind bid farewell to barbarism, strengthens physique and improves the ability to transform nature. It is one of the indispensable factors for human beings to move from barbarism to civilization. At the same time, the huge disaster caused by fire has caused great damage to the safety of human life and property, which made the ancients feel afraid of fire. This complex psychology of respect and fear is manifested in life, including the worship of fire and the taboo of using it. According to expert research, for a long time, Zhou people used Mars as a celestial phenomenon to arrange their own production and life. At that time, Mars in the sky and fire on the earth were thought to have some mysterious relationship. In mid-spring, when Mars dawns in the east, it is considered as the beginning of the new year. At this time, a grand sacrificial ceremony was held. One of the ceremonies is to put out all the old fires handed down from the previous year and replace them with new ones, which is the starting point of production and life in the new year. Its name is "melting fire"-this is what the Analects of Confucius _ Yang Huo's "melting fire drill" talks about. It was a great event in life at that time that people were forbidden to make a fire before a new fire came. "Zhou Li _ Qiu Guan _ Si Xuanjia" says: "In mid-spring, it is forbidden to use wooden priests to repair fires in junior high schools." In the Zhou dynasty, there was also a special official named Si Shi, who presided over the fire ban and was responsible for changing the fire in mid-spring. He shook the muduo to inform people to turn off the fire, and three days later he brought people a new fire. In ancient times, different kinds of wood were used in four seasons. "The Analects of Confucius" Ma Rong said: "Zhou Shuyueling has more popular articles. Take the fire of elm willow in spring, jujube apricot in summer, mulberry zhe in summer, oak in autumn and locust tree in winter. Drilling different kinds of wood a year, so it is called' changing fire'. " Spring is associated with elms and willows. Spring is a frequent season for soldiers to go out to war and wanderers to travel far away. Naturally, it is necessary to give pedestrians a new fire of willow branches to avoid disasters, pray for the preservation of the fire, facilitate the recruitment of people, and warm the body of the wanderer. In order to ensure that the fire will not go out halfway, the willows should be folded up and sent to each other for a rainy day. This should be the original origin of "folding willows to bid farewell". With the development of material civilization, people's understanding of fire is becoming more and more rational and objective. Life no longer needs to drill wood for fire and keep fire, and the original meaning of worshipping fire and keeping fire gradually fades away. Later generations followed the meaning of farewell, and over time, they formed the custom of "folding willows to bid farewell" and had different understandings of its cultural connotation. Even in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the ancient tradition of burning fire still lingered. The image of Han Yi's "Candles in the Han Palace at dusk, Light Smoke Scattered into the Houses of Five Hous" vividly depicts the scene of giving fire in the Tang Dynasty. According to Li Chuo's Notes on Years Old in the late Tang Dynasty: "On the Qingming Day, I took a fire from a willow branch to offer a sacrifice to my near minister." "Song Shi Lu Yuan" also records: "In the Tang Dynasty, only Qingming presented the fire of elm willow to Qi Li, the minister of customs. It is precisely because of this that it was generously given to the auxiliary ministers, the three ambassadors, the Zhifengfu, the Bachelor of Shu Mi Zhi, and the Han Ambassador, which was very unusual. " We noticed that the time and materials for giving fire were completely consistent with the Western Zhou Dynasty's "No Smoking and Giving Fire". "Giving the fire of the elm willow to the pleasure of the near minister" also fully proves that the theory of giving fire is not the author's wild speculation, but has existed since ancient times. This proves from one side that there is a close relationship between "breaking the willow to bid farewell" and "banning smoking and changing to fire", but at this time, the subject and object of making a fire have changed, making a fire has become the privilege of rulers and the exclusive privilege of feudal nobles, while ordinary people have no chance to do so. Therefore, we can say that "breaking the willow to bid farewell" and "turning smoke into fire" have the same origin, but their social functions are quite different. To sum up, both "breaking willow to bid farewell" and "changing smoke into fire" came from the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the materials used were similar. It seems difficult to use the word "coincidence" to explain the relationship. Moreover, judging from the production and development track of the custom of "folding willows to bid farewell", it actually experienced an evolutionary process from the needs of real life to expressing emotional sustenance, which conforms to the law of development of things and the level of human cognition. Source: Contemporary Business Daily