Zhan Chu, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in Bath:? This heart wants to go quietly, and it is quiet and self-removal? . Another poem related to bathing is mentioned by Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, in Bath. Don't take a shower for many years, and your skin is covered with dirt? . It can be seen that ancient people bathing is very different from us modern people. They probably only took a long bath, and they also realized a lot of great things in the bath. It shows that bathing in ancient times was not easy. Bathing was a luxury in ancient times, but in the cognition of the ancients, bathing was not a necessary habit, unless it was necessary to fast and bathe for three days when worshipping ancestors.
It is also common not to take a bath for many years. For example, Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty seldom took a bath once a year, which was actually caused by the low social productivity of ancient people. The ancients thought bathing was a waste of resources. In fact, people taking a bath has been practiced in the lives of ordinary people in China since the Qin Dynasty. But it is not necessary to take a bath at all times, and it is necessary to take a bath before major sacrificial activities. For people in the upper class, it is no problem to take a bath every once in a while. After all, they have more wealth and will not run around for a living. But for the middle and lower classes, bathing is a luxury. On the one hand, they are too busy to take a bath. On the other hand, life is rather embarrassing, and they can't spend extra money on bathing. It is not easy to eat and wear warm clothes.
The ancients thought bathing was a waste of resources. There are many kinds of resources here, on the one hand, it refers to water resources, on the other hand, it is charcoal resources for boiling water. Most people in the middle and lower classes can only meet the problem of food and clothing, and even the most basic food, clothing, housing and transportation cannot be met. Therefore, buying charcoal to boil water is a luxury. Men can make do, but it is more difficult for women to take a bath. It can be seen that people with low social productivity can only try their best to survive and don't care too much about bathing. However, you may not believe that bathing and bathing are two different things. What's the mystery?
Bathing is very different from bathing. In fact, the ancients clearly distinguished bathing from bathing. Xu Shen recorded it in detail in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, in which bathing refers to washing your hair and bathing refers to washing your body. Washing means washing hands, and bathing means washing feet. Therefore, it is easy to distinguish that bathing is equivalent to our present bathing, while bathing in ancient times only washed hands before meals and feet before going to bed at night.
Therefore, not taking a bath after the year does not mean not taking a bath for many years, just not washing your body. Because in many ancient rules and regulations, it is said that bathing is needed before major sacrificial ceremonies. Therefore, the emperor is the mainstay, and other officials, down to the people, all think that bathing is a kind of etiquette. So people have always been in awe of taking a bath, not as casual as they are now.
Bathing frequency. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, people needed to fast and bathe before offering sacrifices. Women went back to their parents' home every three days to bathe and wash their hair. In the Han Dynasty, most officials needed to take a bath every five days. This is because the emperor of the Han Dynasty couldn't stand the smell of officials, so he gave them a saying that they should take a bath every five days. Because people from all walks of life are different, it is said that the emperor decided to meet once every five days, only for those who are related to the royal family or ministers. Of course, there are people in the middle and lower classes who come once every ten days and once every hundred days. Until the early Song Dynasty, people's life improved, society prospered, and bathing and regular bathing were no problem.
Of course, there are still some poor people who can't afford to take a bath, even in the late Qing Dynasty. People who scribble without making money can't even afford to take a shower. It can be seen that in fact, the living environment of ancient people is not as good as that in film and television dramas. Comparatively speaking, there are still many places that modern people can't understand. What is even more impressive, however, is that the phenomenon of class status in ancient times was too serious, and people's lives were divided into three classes. This is unfair to many people. The only thing the poor can do is to survive, and bathing is actually a very enjoyable thing. There is a long way to go to meet the requirements of bathing.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, people not only thought that frequent bathing was not good, but also regarded anti-season bathing as taboo. Taking a bath is to choose the auspicious day of the zodiac. In order to facilitate the people to choose a day, the court in the fourth year of Qianlong specially promulgated the "Xieji Fangshu", which specifically announced when to take a bath. Ji? What day is the bath? Avoid? . Chronicle Compilation, a historical compilation of the Qing Dynasty, gave a detailed explanation on whether bathing should be avoided for twelve months a year. Taking June of the lunar calendar as an example, it is appropriate to take a bath on the first, seventh, twenty-second and twenty-seventh day of the lunar calendar. Take a bath in soup and never get sick? ; Don't take a bath on the sixth day, otherwise? It stinks? . So compared with ancient times, modern life has made great progress. We should cherish our present life and know how to be content.