Fish is loved by people not only because of its edible value, but also because it is a beautiful cultural symbol. For example, the ancients often sent letters in the shape of double carp.
In this regard, the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin's "A Word to Secretary Hu Ling" intoned: "Song Shu has been away from home for a long time, and the two carp are far apart." According to legend, earlier, people wrote letters with silk and put them in the belly of real carp to pass letters to each other, which was called "fish notes". Cai Yong wrote a Yuefu poem in the Han Dynasty, describing such a letter: "The guest came from afar and left me a pair of carp. Hu Er cooks carp with books in it. " Because it also has the good name of "fish element", it has formed the literary allusion of "fish element".
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the imperial court issued symbols, which were cast into fish shapes by wood carving or copper, called "fish symbols" and "fish deeds"; It is also called "fish book" because the information to be transmitted should be written on symbols. When using this symbol, cut it in half, and each side holds half of the fish symbol to prevent the two sides from meeting as evidence. In the Song Dynasty, in order to show the noble status of users, fish symbols made of gold appeared. ? Fish is the theme of past dynasties, implying auspicious cultural activities, including fish lanterns, fish dances, poems and paintings related to fish, etc. Fish lanterns are more common in the New Year Lantern Festival. They sparkle in candlelight and look lovely. Xiao Yi, Emperor of Liang Yuan in the Southern Dynasties, once praised it in "Ode to Lantern": "I know there should be no lovers in the dragon lantern, but I am surprised that the fish lantern has its old name." The name of a Buddhist object with the word fish on it is "fish drum", commonly known as "wooden fish", and monks beat it rhythmically when chanting. The story of eating fish
According to Han Shu, Jin Shu and other historical records, "In the eighth year of Qin Shihuang (239 BC), the river fish was big, and Liu Xiang thought it was evil to approach fish"; "In May of the fourth year of Jiaping in Qi Weiwang (AD 252), there were fish in the ordnance warehouse, and this fish was evil." The meaning of the word "fish evil" includes both good luck and bad luck. The ancients attached some abnormal phenomena of fish to some things, which can be said to add a layer of mystery to fish.
As a dietary custom, fish is regarded as a mascot, such as "Mingtai Fish" eaten by Korean compatriots in Northeast China every time they go to Tomb-Sweeping Day. "Mingtai" was originally the name of an old Korean farmer. It is said that there has been a serious drought in the northeast coastal area. An old farmer named Park Ming-tai led the villagers to catch a kind of marine fish to satisfy their hunger and survive the famine. This fish is black and a foot long. It can be stored after being soaked in salt water and dried. There is a fish dish "Yuanyang fish" in Shandong cuisine, which is steamed with white mandarin fish and red fish. Salty, fragrant, fresh, red and white, with attractive color. This dish is a famous dish of Confucius in Qufu. Often used as the main course of a wedding banquet, it symbolizes the love of newlyweds and never separates them.
There are also many popular stories about fish in southern China. Suzhou Embroidery "Suzhou Embroidery" A popular fish pattern "Fish Playing Lotus" in Jiangsu Province is an auspicious picture that women like to embroider for their husbands or lovers. Rural families in northern Jiangsu hang a fish on the scale hook every year on Lunar New Year's Eve, and the local dialects "scale", "leftover", "fish" and "surplus" are homophonic; "There is fish on the scale, and there is fish in the middle of the year", which has become people's favorite. Life is full of fish.
In Shanghai, Ningbo, Zhejiang and other places, there is a custom of receiving the god of wealth at the beginning of the lunar calendar. The former puts live carp on a silk rope and sticks red paper as a sacrifice, which is called "Yuanbao Fish". The latter used tin plates to worship two yellow croakers, symbolizing gold, because in the old society, local people called gold bars "large yellow croakers" and "small yellow croakers"; In some places, live carp are released into rivers, which means that "business is booming all over the world and financial resources are flourishing up to three rivers". ? Fish-related wedding custom in eastern Zhejiang, when the newly married wife gets off the sedan chair, she scatters some copper coins on the ground. Copper coins are commonly known as copper coins, and the new wife sprinkled them as "carp seeds", saying that carp lay more eggs, which means strong reproductive ability and "full offspring"
In addition, jade fish, one of the eight treasures in the popular "Sky Map" since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, was promoted as "Qing Ji has fish (surplus)" because of its homonym, symbolizing good years and prosperity. This kind of ancient cultural relics includes the bronze wash of the Han Dynasty, with Pisces painted on the bottom and the words "Daji Sheep" engraved on the side. There is a beautiful fish scale pattern in the ancient brocade pattern, which is called "fish scale brocade".
People like to look at fish pictures, which are similar to fish characters: "congratulations on golden jade", depicting goldfish and lotus flowers; "Every family benefits" means that there are many people who buy carp; More than a year, with firecrackers and fish performances; "Good luck every year", there are silver carp and oranges; ..... In a word, people's colorful life is full of the interest of fish, and fish brings good luck and good wishes to thousands of families. China traditional auspicious elements
Having fish every year is the homonym of "having more than one year", which is one of the most representative languages of traditional auspicious wishes in China. If represented by pictures, it can be regarded as a traditional auspicious symbol. There should be lotus or lotus root and fish in the picture, that is, "lotus has fish." Represents a rich life with extra wealth and food every year!
(The picture on the right shows "Over a Year" carved by Ling Du Stone in Shoushan. Image source: Xu Lin (heart like ice): Several sculptures. )