Birthday culture
Birthdays are very important to a person. Not only do people have birthdays, countries and nations also have birthdays, and the earth and universe also have birthdays. In the near future, we may know exactly what the earth is about. My birthday is that day, and it is another day worth remembering. Jesus is a saint, so his birthday is called Christmas. Those who are less famous than Jesus are called birthdays. This birthday is not something ordinary people can call. In ancient China, only the royal family can call it birthday. The birthday of the emperor is called Christmas, and the birthday of the prince is called Christmas. The birthday of the mother-in-law is called Shou Dan. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a Fengxian Hall. The sacrificial period was Qingming, Zhongyuan, Christmas, Winter Solstice, and New Year's Day. On each of these five days, a grand ceremony would be held, with blessings and banquets. The emperor attended in person and was accompanied by hundreds of civil and military officials. It was very lively and sometimes even celebrated by the whole world. The prince's birthday is called Shou Dan. He has not yet become a saint, but the pomp is not small. Hundreds of civil and military officials lined up in order to enter the East Palace where the prince lived. They called the prince a thousand years old and kowtowed. The birthday of the empress dowager of the two palaces is called Shoudan, which is one level lower than that of the prince. The queen and concubine Bin can only call it birthday.
The emperor's birthday is called Christmas, and the birthday of the gods is called God's Birthday, which is one level lower than Saint, but at least it has the word "Christmas". During the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to worship Emperor Si, we had to find a reason, so February 3rd was designated as the birthday of Emperor Zhang Yazi every year, and the birthday of the God of the City God Temple in Beijing was designated as May 11th. Every day on this day, residents living in Beijing would go to the City God Temple to pay homage. Later, someone suggested that the City God was a born god and was no better than an ordinary human ghost. How could he have a birthday? They then suggested canceling the annual May 11th event. This discussion actually turned out to be It was also approved by the emperor. In fact, the real reason is that local officials could not bear the burden of offering sacrifices to Si and found some reason to cancel this meaningless activity. On the contrary, China has always had many ghosts and gods. If every one of them had a birthday, all living beings would be exhausted. .
In addition to emperors and gods, common people also celebrate birthdays, but they are not so particular. Most people call their birthdays their birthdays. In the past, people rarely had the concept of years, months and days, so they took out eight of the heavenly stems and earthly branches. The character is called the birth date. This character not only has the function of helping memory, but also affects the blessings and misfortune of one's life. It must be remembered firmly. When there are weddings and funerals, one must not let those semi-immortals come to help him. Fortune telling. Chinese people who read the Classic of Filial Piety and go crazy even call their birthdays the day of mother's suffering. They call their own birthdays as the day of mother's suffering. It is also the day of mother's suffering. Judging from the physical pain of a woman giving birth to a child, this makes sense. Judging from the religious meaning, it makes people feel that they have original sin as soon as they come out. Judging from the ancient saying that more children bring blessings, it is unavoidable and artificial.
Young people are not particular about their birthdays, but older people have to be more particular. Old people call birthdays birthdays, but not everyone is qualified to call them that. There are three types of longevity: upper longevity, middle longevity, and lower longevity. The upper life span is a hundred years, the middle life span is eighty years, and the lower life span is sixty years. In other words, you must be at least sixty years old before you can celebrate your birthday and call your birthday a birthday. People who wish to celebrate their birthdays are also called longevity stars. There are two types of longevity stars here. One has nothing to do with birthdays. It is an ancient method of recording calendars. Specifically, it can be seen in "Hanshu Lu Li Zhi", which is based on twelve birthdays and twenty-eight nights. As the angle, Kang has two constellations, and Libra is the longevity star. Another kind of longevity star is also called Canopus or Antarctic Old Man. This is what we often call the longevity star. It is the god of longevity in folk mythology. Its typical costume is an old man with a white beard, holding a fairy peach in his hand, and surrounded by deer and cranes. Later, people who lived longer were also called longevity stars.
Birthdays for the elderly are called birthdays, birthday parties are called birthday celebrations, living long is called longevity, and good health is called longevity. From this point of view, it seems that longevity is an extremely auspicious word. In fact, this is not the case. In ancient times, longevity was often associated with death. For example, a tomb is called a longevity tomb, the place where the deceased is kept is called a longevity hall, the coffin is called a longevity vessel, the clothes for the dead are called shrouds, and the things for the dead are called longevity materials. It is also called the end of life. This is the wonderful thing about Chinese culture. The deceased is the most important, and the folk custom is that it is taboo for the respected. Life and death make you confused. Shou originally means life, but after death, the hanged name of Shou is added to you. , it is better to say that it is implicit and free and easy to say "Jihehe Journey to the West".
Birthday is very important to a person, it is a person's personal chronicle. Nowadays, the AD calendar is adopted, so AD 0 can also be regarded as the birthday of human history. The starting year of the ancient era name can also be regarded as the birthday of a certain emperor in a certain dynasty when he was in power. A certain year is called Kangxi Years, Yongzheng years. In fact, for a person, your birthday is also a personal year of your life. For example, if your name is so-and-so and you are twenty years old this year, you can call this year the twenty-year anniversary of so-and-so. It doesn’t matter what year AD, every birthday you celebrate means you are one year older before the age of thirty, after the age of thirty it means you are one year older, and after the age of sixty it means you are “one year older” again. "One year old", this meaningful hint is the greatest meaning of your birthday to you.
People don’t remember their birthdays very well. Young people are too playful to remember, middle-aged people are too busy and have no time to remember, and the elderly are unwilling to remember. Therefore, children’s birthdays are always the birthdays of their parents. Remember, the birthdays of old people are always remembered by their children, and busy middle-aged people only have birthdays. Birthdays are more like a mood. Only the elderly and children have this kind of mood, while those who are mixed in between the old and the young always remember it. I am worried about this kind of mood.
I couldn’t remember my birthday when I was a kid, but I often found a red boiled egg or something on the table when I got home from school. Then my parents told me that it was my birthday today, and later I became famous. The skin of the hard-boiled eggs was gone and turned into egg lambs. Later, when I left home to go to school, my birthday was firmly remembered by the people in my dormitory because we had an unwritten rule that whoever celebrated his birthday would treat guests, so I was destined to have a few years of feasting birthdays. Later, I stopped thinking about birthdays and lived mediocrely every day. I always felt that birthdays had become something that didn’t mean much to me.
It’s just that sometimes I suddenly receive a call from a friend or classmate I haven’t seen for a long time. After a while of greetings, I hear her say: Happy birthday. I vaguely remembered that I hadn’t celebrated a birthday in a long time, so I secretly said to myself: Happy birthday.
I hope it will be helpful to you and hope you will adopt it