Chapter 37 Xuanshuang Wine·Moon Cake

It seems that not long after eating zongzi, it’s time to eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the blink of an eye. Every year, three or five years old travel, it’s inevitable to talk about the past while chatting and let me write about how the court celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival. come out.Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the most particular about enjoyment is Emperor Gaozong Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, and the other is Empress Dowager Cixi of the Yehenala family who has been hanging twice. Ever since Kangxi built a summer resort in Rehe, every year he had to wait until the golden wind was refreshing, the jade dew was frosting, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was over before driving back to Luan.Emperor Qianlong Hongli was born on August 13th in the 50th year of Kangxi (Xinmao), and he was the emperor in the year of Mao. At the same time, he was called Emperor Taibu in the year of Mao and practiced internal Zen. Therefore, the word "Mao" is special. Pay attention and have a good impression.And his birthday is also connected with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Jade Rabbit in the Toad Palace also coincides with the word "Mao", so every Mid-Autumn Festival, he always has a very happy time. Usually, the servants of jesters, in order to win the favor of this old man, have to pay more attention to it. Decorate this festival colorfully and colorfully.Since Kangxi spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Jehol Palace before returning home, he has more opportunities to borrow. Every year, Wanshou is always held in the Jehol Palace, so the Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly held in Jehol.

Qianlong celebrated the festival in Rehe, and the dining room usually prepared mooncakes for the moon offerings from the Long Live Lord in early August.It is said that the largest pagoda-style moon cake weighs more than ten catties, and its name is "Niannianyou". Two Xuanshuang moon cakes weighing three catties are indispensable sacrifices for the moonlight offering.In addition, small three-inch moon cakes are used to appreciate the moon, which are used to reward princes and officials. On the 15th day of the eighth month, when the day is right and the moon rises in the east, the emperor sets up a moonlight offering at Lianhuatao Daying or Baihuazhou.After long live the incense, burn the moon and withdraw the offerings, the big pagoda-style moon cakes are kept carefully according to the regulations, and they are saved until the New Year's Eve of that year, which is a good reputation for joy and solidity throughout the year.One of the three catty heavy moon cakes was presented to the empress dowager, and distributed to the empress and all the officials and concubines, which is called Sanfu.The other emperor kept it for his own use and gave it to his attendants.When the emperor ate moon cakes, colorful fireworks were set off everywhere to add to the fun. According to the situation at the time, it was not too much waste.Ordinary people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, only on the 15th day of the eighth month. It will take five days, except for August 15th which is the main festival, the first two days are called "Welcome Festival", and the last two days are called "Yu Festival".Her old man thought that the words "cake" and "disease" were homophonic, and the words "moon" and "cake" sounded like the "moon disease" that women hate most, so she called Cui Yugui, the governor, to pass on the order of the empress dowager. The mooncakes that have been made for many years will be called "Moonlight Cake" after the inner court. At the same time, it is stipulated that the lotus root in the moonlight offering fruit should be nine-sectioned, called "Pingan lotus root", which means festivals and festivals. Lotus teeth, called "Reunion Melon".In the palace, everyone must remember to change their words, otherwise the empress dowager will be unhappy if they hear it, and they will even reprimand her.

During the four days of "Welcome Festival" and "Remaining Festival", they all ate barbecue in Jingfu Pavilion of the Summer Palace.It is said that beef and mutton should be used to eat fried shabu-shabu, but the Qing Palace stipulated that only when the suburbs were rare, was it allowed to use Taigao for sacrifices, and ordinary beef is not allowed to enter the palace gate.However, it is really monotonous to eat fried shabu-shabu, only the mutton is sold alone, so Cixi was ingenious and used the auspicious and pleasant term "Fu Lu Shou Kao" to eat fried shabu-shabu.The so-called "Fu" is chicken slices and Kanto pheasant slices; the so-called "Lu" is Kanto roe and venison;As for the charcoal fire used for barbecue, it is "Silver Silk Red Luo Charcoal" produced in Xishan, Beijing; the firewood for barbecue is pine and cypress branches from Changbai Mountain; Add some Laoshan pine nuts and pine cones from time to time.The chickens, pheasants, fish and deer, pine and cypress branches, rosin charcoal, pine nuts, and pine cones used by the emperor for the few days of the festival are all prepared by the officials of the three eastern provinces.Both Zhao Cishan and Xu Donghai had done this imperial mission back then, and it is said that it is really a headache to be picky at every level.

After eating the Fu Lu Shou Kao Royal Banquet in Jingfu Pavilion, everyone gathered around Lafayette to the Harmonious Fun Garden of Shuimu Tsinghua University and Hanyuan Hall to smoke a bag of hookah to relieve food and walk. The festive dramas performed by some inner court priests and eunuchs of the Shengping Department are always auspicious new dramas such as "Yaoxiang Festival", with new repertoires every day and high-sounding songs. On the 15th, the main festival, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor first received congratulations from civil and military officials of the third rank and above in the Paiyun Hall in the early court, and at noon they still held a large imperial banquet in Jingfu Pavilion. According to the records in the imperial dining room, this imperial banquet was called "" "Yellow plate wild wine meal", the dishes are all according to the grand occasion when Qianlong celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Jehol Palace in that year. All gold and silver vessels were used. Embellish the festival.

In the evening, a "boating feast for viewing the moon and lanterns" will be held on Kunming Lake. Before the feast, a five-foot-high silver-white brocade satin with a golden crown and a cloud dragon is set up in advance in the Zixiao Hall at the height of Qionglou Yuyu. The front of the tent is called "Ying Ming Wei". There is a nine-dragon seizing pearl screen on the front of the tent, a golden ax and jade axe, a treasure cover and a pearl building on the left and right. In front of the curtain is a throne and a nine-dragon hollowed-out ink jade long table. Inside the tent, moon-white wall coverings are hung around and on the ceiling, and the floor is covered with thick Libaifei green carpet. People in the tent seem to be in a dreamlike fairyland of Guanghan.This table "Taiyin offering" recommends preserved dragon wings, the painting of the autumn river, drinking the wine of Xuanshuang, offering the cake of the moonlight, and the jade food above, all rare and exquisite, so it goes without saying.At the beginning of the sacrificial ceremony, the Empress Dowager presided over the ceremony. The emperor led the princes and ministers on the left, the empress led the concubines, and the princes and ministers Fu Jin ordered his wife to be on the right. Then the Taoists will play music and chant scriptures to send off the fire. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to the moon will be completed (there is a folklore that men do not worship the moon. In the palace, the emperor and princes and ministers all kneel down and worship the moon like a ritual. It does not matter that men do not worship the moon and say words) .

After offering sacrifices to the moon, the Empress Dowager set up a temporary throne on the platform of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, and divided the cakes and fruits from the offerings into several piles, and placed them on the imperial table, each with a portion for the worshipers, and sat on the ground in the door opening to spend The moon is full, and there is also a famous hall called "Dispelling Clouds and Dividing Food".At that time, the foreign ministers and the internal audience, such as the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the moon, and the Paiyun Hall were all regarded as a great honor for the holy family!After eating and drinking, the moon appreciation program began.Royal boats and cruise ships meandered in sequence. The front of the boat was full of wine and delicacies. The surroundings of the boat were decorated with silver decorations and colorful battles and various palace lanterns. , Constantly set off fireworks flower pots, straight to Xiaohan.The little eunuchs even set off river lanterns from time to time, with tens of thousands of lotus flowers, thousands of streams of light, clear sounds and clear sounds, and the moon hangs high until the end of the moon. How much national money will be spent on such a Mid-Autumn Festival!It is said that when Weng Changshu was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he resigned from the government because of the reimbursement of 500,000 taels of silver by Ye Mingjiu's Ministry of Internal Affairs, but Weng Lizhi could not be reimbursed.Whether it is true or not, although it is not entirely true, it cannot be said that there is no involvement!