Late night breeze clears away worldly troubles - (Image and text)

Author: Wang Jiaju
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Turtledove Announces Spring [Old News] The welcoming of spring is a common custom across the land, yet I have never heard of anything called "announcing spring." However, in the customs of Hubei, this tradition has been followed. On the seventeenth day of the last lunar month, the official day for the Spring Festival, the Hanyang Prefecture Governor, along with other officials, arranged ceremonial guards, rode in splendid carriages, and went to Qingchuan Pavilion to respectfully welcome the Spring God and the Spring Ox. Upon returning to the prefectural office, the officials kowtowed and greeted before departing. At the ninth hour of the seventeenth day, the ceremonial "beating of the spring" was performed. Suddenly, a turtledove from a brothel dressed as the Spring Official, wearing a silk hat and red robe, appeared in grand style, shaking its head and tail as it walked onto the grand hall, as if a local gentry was intervening in public affairs to pay respects to the official. The governor saw this and laughed, asking, "What day and time is the Spring Festival?" The turtledove answered one by one, then shrank its head and left. It is because of this local custom that people invite it to come, and this act is what is called "announcing spring." Therefore, every year during the Spring Festival, when frivolous men meet their friends on the streets, they often joke with each other, saying, "Have you gone to the prefectural office to announce spring?"
This incident is unknown to have originated when, and it supplements the incomplete records in The Annals of Jingchu in the Time of the Seasons, making it quite amusing. [New Account] The Spring Festival is one of the 24 solar terms, and due to its close relationship with agricultural production, it has become an important agricultural ritual. As early as the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the welcoming of spring was one of the five rituals that followed the seasonal order. By the Qing Dynasty, the welcoming of spring ceremony was quite grand, with a variety of related activities being exceptionally rich, both in official rites and folk customs, thus becoming a national festival with deep folk roots and a unified national ritual. On the day of the Spring Festival or the day before, the chief officials of each prefecture, county, and city, along with their subordinates, would go to the east to welcome the Spring God and the Spring Ox.
What can be seen is the magnificent Spring Festival parade, such as in Suzhou, Jiangsu, where "the clear road was cleared by heralds, with splendid banners and ceremonial instruments leading the way, followed by folk performances and the Happy Farmers' Music, then the God of Spring, and finally the Spring Ox Platform" (from The Splendor of Wuyuan in Jiahu); or in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, where "banners and drums led the procession, followed by farmers, pulling oxen and carrying farming tools; each group built a colorful pavilion inscribed with the name of their trade; children in women's clothing, each holding small hanging colorful umbrellas called 'Hair Maidens'; followed by musicians and female performers; then the elderly, and finally attendants and servants" (from the Zhaoyuan County Records). The scale and names of the Spring Festival celebrations vary across regions, but the general scenario is similar.
The Spring Official and Spring Officer are important figures in the Spring Festival activities, usually played by beggars, musicians, and. Li Dou's Record of Yangzhou's Painted Boats (Volume 9) records: "The day before the Spring Festival, the governor welcomed the Spring at Fanzhiligu in the east of the city, ordering official courtesans to perform folk performances: one Spring Dream Mother, two Spring Sisters, one Spring Officer, two constables, and one Spring Official. The next day, the Spring Official was paid twenty-seven coins in body money, and ten copies of the Spring Official's almanac were given as a bonus. This duty was managed by the local officials. By the time of the Kangxi period, the system of musicians was abolished, so there were no official courtesans, replaced by performers from the Lantern Festival and Flower Drum performances."
The Spring Official and Spring Officer, apart from doing like carrying the Spring God and the Spring Ox, mainly announce spring. In Huang'an, Hubei, "the Spring Official wore a red robe, with a subordinate holding a staff beside him, reciting auspicious words at every door, to which the subordinate would respond, 'Yes,' a practice called 'announcing spring'" (from the Huang'an County Records); in Yicheng, Shanxi, "the day before the Spring Festival, two musicians were summoned, dressed in official attire for one day as the Spring Official and the other as the Spring Officer. They would visit all officials and gentry households to announce spring" (from the Yicheng County Records).
The Spring Official plays the role of a clown in the Spring Festival activities, appearing as the messenger of spring but not in a dignified or serious manner, rather a bit of comedy and fun, which aligns with the lively atmosphere of the Spring Festival. The story told by Dianshi Zhai refers to the Spring Festival announcement in Hanyang Prefecture, where a turtledove from a brothel played the Spring Official, thinking it would be amusing. Little did they know that this was a long-standing tradition. The Spring Festival usually falls on the first lunar month, but sometimes it falls in the twelfth lunar month of the previous year. That year, the Spring Festival was on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month of the 18th year of the Guangxu reign.