Wish you a happy Qingming Festival.

This post was last edited by kareale88 on 2019-4-7 08:59. Here is a detailed guide to traveling back in time during Qingming Festival, which will tell you which dynasty will offer the longest holiday period for this festival. A friendly tip: when traveling through time, be sure to repeat in your mind, “Not Zhu Yuanzhang, not Zhu Yuanzhang...” April is a season that brings joy – there’s the Qingming holiday at the beginning, followed by the May Day holiday. If you take some more time off during those twenty-odd days in between, it adds up to over a month of vacation time, which sounds really great. Of course, such things can only be imagined; wiping the saliva from the corners of the mouth, one has to open their eyes and get back to work. With less than a week left until the Qingming holiday, it’s likely that everyone’s thoughts are already far away. So today let’s talk about things related to this holiday. For convenience’s sake, we might as well travel back in time and experience the Qingming Festival as it was practiced by ancient people. First stop: The Tang Dynasty. As the saying goes, in every fat person’s heart lies a vision of the Great Tang Dynasty. Indeed, after going through times of chaos, the people of the Tang Dynasty longed for days of plenty and comfort, and thus began to admire the beauty of a plump figure. For those suffering from laziness, the Tang Dynasty is truly a paradise one aspires to, because the Qingming Festival was officially included among the \"Five Rites\" starting in the Tang Dynasty, thus becoming a **legal holiday**. According to the records in \"Tang Huiyao, Volume 82: Leave,\" it is stated: \"On February 11th of the 24th year of the Kaiyuan era, an edict was issued stating that four days of leave should be granted for the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival.\" Edict of the 15th day of the second month, 13th year of Dali: From now on, the Cold Food Festival shall be combined with the Qingming Festival, granting a five-day holiday. An edict issued on March 9th, the sixth year of Zhenyuan: For the Cold Food and Qingming festivals, it is appropriate to follow the example of the New Year’s Day festival, granting three days before and after each festival. ”In other words, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, a four-day holiday was observed for both the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival; by the time of Emperor Dezong Li Shi, this holiday period had been extended to seven days. Besides that, there were countless other holidays during the Tang Dynasty. For example, there is one day off for each solar term, and with twenty-four solar terms in a year, that amounts to twenty-four days off ； *Employees have a ten-day break per month; there are three such periods in a month, resulting in 36 days of leave per year ； There are also seven days of holiday each for the Spring Festival and the Winter Solstice ； Mid-Autumn Festival, Laba Festival, and Summer Solstice all offer three days of holiday time ； Furthermore, on the emperor’s birthday, three days of holiday were granted. With that in mind, nearly a quarter of the year in the Tang Dynasty was spent on holidays. And what did people do during these holidays? Of course, they went out to eat and enjoy themselves. It’s no wonder then that people in the Tang Dynasty tended to have plumper figures.

This post was last edited by kareale88 on 2019-4-7 at 08:59. Stop 2: The Eastern Han Dynasty. “The division of the realm into three kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty…” is something that everyone is familiar with. The place we are traveling to this time is the Eastern Han Dynasty; more precisely, it’s Shanxi during that period. After all, the initiative to commemorate Jie Zitui was initially taken by people from Shanxi; in ancient times, the state of Jin was roughly what is now Shanxi. Previously, you must have eaten, drunk, and had fun to your heart’s content during the Tang Dynasty; our purpose in coming here is to help digest and calm our minds. The leave system during the Han Dynasty was fairly humane; according to the Han Laws, \"officials were entitled to one day off every five days.\" ”It’s five days of work followed by one day off to take a bath and visit family back home. In addition, there are five days off for each of the Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice, but don’t even think about getting time off for the Qingming Festival. But let’s not forget that the place we are crossing through today is Shanxi. Shanxi is really exceptional in this regard; their Cold Food Festival lasts for 105 days! Don’t get too happy yet; a festival doesn’t mean time off. On the Cold Food Festival, one still has to do what needs to be done, only without lighting fires – one can only eat cold food. 105 days – only cold food to eat, and that too in the dead of winter. You should know that in the winters of the north, it’s not possible to light a fire for warmth, nor is it possible to eat even a single bite of hot food – it’s deadly. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao could no longer tolerate this situation, so he issued the \"Order on Secret Punishments,\" which explicitly stipulated that the Cold Food Festival should be abolished (\"It was reported that in Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Yanmen, people extinguished their fires 105 days after the winter solstice to observe the Cold Food Festival, in memory of Zi Tui; this order prohibited people from observing such a festival.\" The offender’s parent shall be punished with half a year in prison, the official in charge shall be punished with 100 days in prison, and the local chief shall have one month of his salary seized.)

This post was last edited by kareale88 on 2019-4-7 08:59. Stop 3: The Song Dynasty. Well, after over a hundred days, everyone must be freezing cold; let’s go to the bustling markets of the Song Dynasty to have some wine and warm up. The Song Dynasty was an extremely vibrant era; it continued the Tang Dynasty’s practice of observing seven days of holidays around the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival, yet the atmosphere of these festivals became completely different. First of all, the food is different. Before the Song Dynasty, during the Cold Food Festival people ate cold foods, or rather, cold rice. But in the economically prosperous Song Dynasty, things were different – there was a wide variety of delicious dishes. Here are a few examples: Qingtuan: a traditional snack from the Jiangnan region. It is made by mixing the juice of artemisia with glutinous rice flour, and then wrapping it around fillings such as red bean paste or lotus seed paste. It isn’t sweet or greasy, and has a mild yet lingering aroma of grass – making it an ideal snack for outings during the Qingming Festival. Wheat cake: also known as wheat porridge. It is a porridge made from barley flour, to which dried fruits such as almonds, peanuts, and raisins are added. After it sets, it is cut into pieces and drizzled with syrup or honey; it is fragrant, chewy, sweet without being cloying. Suanzi: When the word ‘suanzi’ comes up these days, it makes one think of a Xinjiang delicacy, but that’s not the case. During the Song Dynasty, sazi already existed. It is made by mixing honey with water to form a dough, which is then fried to become crispy and sweet, offering a delicious taste; it is also a must-have delicacy during the Cold Food Festival. Furthermore, another activity during the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival is going on an outing in the countryside to enjoy the spring scenery. People in the Song Dynasty seemed to enjoy excitement; they could turn any festival into a carnival. For example, around the Lantern Festival, along the imperial streets of Bianjing, there were various performances such as magic shows, acrobatics, monkey shows, and operas – all of which were truly astonishing and ever-newing. When it came to the time when lanterns were lit, thousands of them would be turned on at once, creating a dazzling display of light that shone day and night. A long holiday like Qingming Festival is certainly one that no one would want to miss. After the ritual in the suburbs, people sat down on the ground and shared the blessings there. The men drank and toasted to each other; when in the mood, they would even compose poems. Meanwhile, the women laughed and played around, picking flowers and playing with the willows. Children should be the happiest, as on this day they can buy many toys, such as flower bats, small swings, toy cars, and pavilions... After playing in the morning, they can continue to stroll and shop along the banks of the Bian River. Zhang Zeduan’s \"Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival\" depicts the lively scenes of this day.

This post was last edited by kareale88 on 2019-4-7 09:00. Station 4: Traveling to the Ming and Qing dynasties – choosing an emperor is a very important task. When traveling through time, one must silently repeat in their mind, “Not Zhu Yuanzhang, not Zhu Yuanzhang…” Why not Zhu Yuanzhang? As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang was a super workaholic. To what extent could he get busy? According to the \"Great Ming Code,\" Zhu Yuanzhang would get up at four in the morning and remain busy until late at night, without taking any breaks throughout the year. On average, he would review over 200 memorials per day and handle more than 400 government affairs. It’s one thing if the emperor was busy on his own, but Zhu Yuanzhang also involved everyone else in this workload; as a result, throughout the Hongwu era, there were only three days off per year: the Spring Festival, the Winter Solstice, and Zhu Yuanzhang’s birthday. Still want a holiday during Qingming? Friend, you’re overthinking it. After Zhu Yuanzhang’s death, the number of holidays throughout the year increased significantly: 5 days for New Year’s Day, 3 days for the Winter Solstice, and 10 days for the Lantern Festival. In addition, there were 3 days of leave per month, bringing the total number of holidays to over 50 days per year. However, the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival were no longer included in the list of official holidays. After the establishment of the Qing dynasty, it largely followed the systems of the Ming dynasty; as a result, the practice of granting holidays for the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival was abolished. However, folk customs had already taken root, and on these days people would still go to the outskirts to visit graves and go on spring outings, and this custom has continued to this day.

:Lol, you used it for a theme some time ago; I thought it was beautiful, so I borrowed it to use here.

On a day for enjoying the outdoors, one needs a heart ready to appreciate it.