[Lightscreen]
[Although the tradition of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new can be traced back to the time of Yao, Shun, and Yu, from the Xia through Qin dynasties, exactly which month counted as the true beginning of the year was actually never fully agreed upon.
For example, in the Xia calendar, the first month was January. In the Shang calendar, it was December. In the Zhou calendar, it was November. In the Qin calendar, it was October.
Official changes to the start of the year could not truly affect how ordinary people celebrated. For a purely agricultural society, if one were to speak of the most worthy day of celebration, it would be the Beginning of Spring.
Ice and snow melted, spring arrived, people worshipped gods and ancestors, prayed for good harvests and blessings, expelled evil and misfortune, swept away the old and welcomed the new. These simple and pure customs of celebrating the Beginning of Spring formed the prototype framework of what we now recognize as the Spring Festival.
In 104 BC, Emperor Wu of Han ordered the compilation of the famous Taichu Calendar.
This calendar not only changed the Qin system of taking the first day of the tenth month as the beginning of the year to the first day of the first month, but also incorporated the solar terms of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches calendar as supplementary content.
From this point on, folk customs celebrating the Beginning of Spring gradually merged with the officially designated New Year sacrificial rites, forming the prototype of the New Year that has been passed down to this day.
Emperor Wu of Han's outstanding military achievements are well known to all. Frequent wars accelerated economic and cultural exchanges between the north and south, and regional customs gradually merged. The New Year also gradually became a nationwide celebration for the Chinese people.
Customs such as worshipping ancestors, greeting parents, elder and younger brothers paying respects to each other, drinking wine, and cleaning all became basically established during the Han dynasty.
Therefore, if one were to speak of promoting the New Year, Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, could be considered to have made top-tier contributions.
In addition, the New Year's money that we are all familiar with today most likely also has a considerable connection to Liu Che.
New Year's money is a homophone for "ya sui" money, meaning money to suppress evil spirits. In the Han dynasty, this kind of money also had another name, called ya sheng money.
The Qin and Han periods saw widespread witchcraft practices, and the most famous witchcraft calamity can be said to have affected the fate of the Western Han dynasty itself.
Crown Prince Liu Ju died due to witchcraft accusations. His young son Liu Fuling ascended the throne at the age of eight, directly leading to Huo Guang's monopoly of power. The cause-and-effect chain here is clear.
However, those matters are not today's focus. One only needs to know that after the witchcraft calamity, Han people could almost be said to turn pale at the mere mention of witchcraft.
This kind of psychological fear caused talismanic methods for expelling evil and seeking good fortune, known as ya sheng techniques, to become popular.
The simplest among ya sheng techniques was ya sheng money, and many examples have been unearthed by archaeology today.
These Han-era five-zhu coins had handles and rings for easy wearing. In addition to casting auspicious images such as turtles and fish, they were also inscribed with various auspicious phrases, serving as "suppressing objects" in ya sheng techniques.
After the Han dynasty, although ordinary people did not reach the level of turning pale at the mention of witchcraft, this simple blessing method of ya sheng money was still passed down, and its varieties became extremely numerous.
For example, there were birthday-blessing coins and bed-scattering coins to pray for blessings and good fortune.
There were weapon-repelling coins and Eight Treasures coins to ward off disasters and overcome calamities.
There were male coins, female coins, and secret-play coins used to pray for children and descendants.
There were even chess coins, horse coins, and riddle coins purely cast by merchants for entertainment and fun.
However, it should be noted that ya sheng money basically appeared as ornaments and did not have any function as circulating currency.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, ya sheng money was no longer popular. Instead, folk society began to develop a trend of worshipping ancient coins. For example, Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica recorded that the Kaiyuan Tongbao cast by Li Yuan was a top-grade ancient coin and could be used to dispel illness and resolve misfortune.
During the Qing dynasty, people even competed to pursue Zhou Yuan Tongbao, which was said to be able to protect women from difficult childbirth.
This coin was cast by Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, the very Chai Rong who suffered as the orphaned son and widow were wronged by Zhao Kuangyin.
At the time, people believed that Zhou Yuan Tongbao was cast from melted Buddhist bronze statues and thus contained the great power of the Buddha, capable of expelling malaria, driving away ghosts, and protecting peace and safety.
Over these several hundred years of evolution, ya sheng techniques gradually faded into the long river of history. Ya sheng money gradually became ya sui money, and was ultimately renamed New Year's money.
Up to the present day, the meaning of New Year's money has been simplified, with only the blessings of elders to younger generations remaining.
This thousand-year evolution was probably something that Emperor Wu, who once saw fathers and sons kill each other, could never have imagined.]
"Ya sheng… ya sui… New Year's money. That is quite interesting."
Kongming said softly, while his left hand unconsciously touched the pendant hanging at his waist.
At his waist hung a ya sheng coin of the same style as the one on the light screen. It was a gift from his wife, inscribed with the words "Long may we never forget each other."
After parting in Gong'an County, Kongming traveled through many places in Yizhou. Now he had gone north through Hanzhong to Chang'an. Calculating carefully, he had not seen Huang Yueying for two or three years.
Thinking again of his quiet and taciturn son, as well as his rather lively and noisy daughter, Kongming could not help but feel a trace of melancholy.
In his heart, he made a firm decision. At the latest by next year, he would definitely celebrate the New Year together with his wife and children.
Liu Bei's state of mind was much more relaxed. Previously, Lady Gan, Lady Sun, and Ah Dou were all in Chengdu. Now that he had gone north to stabilize Guanzhong, calculating the time, it had not even been a year since parting.
Moreover, whether he stood up to look at the thriving and flourishing Guanzhong, or sat down to look at Lu Su staring at the light screen with eyes full of curiosity, Liu Bei could be considered satisfied. His only current concern was:
"I wonder how these male coins, female coins, and secret-play coins are cast."
Liu Bei muttered to himself while stroking his beard.
Cao Cao was stationing troops in Yingchuan and sharpening his knives toward Jingzhou. Liu Bei was not anxious about that.
But seeing that Kongming currently had only one adopted son and one biological daughter, and that Pang Tong and Fa Zheng each had only one son, which could hardly be called a flourishing family line, Liu Bei felt uneasy just thinking about it.
And when he thought again of Xu Shu, who was still single to this day, and Lu Su, who had come to Chang'an with only his elderly mother, Liu Bei truly began to worry from the bottom of his heart.
To avoid forgetting, Liu Bei directly took out his little notebook and wrote this matter down.
Lu Su also touched the ya sheng coin at his waist and fell into a daze.
On New Year's Day, Jianye was celebrating the new year, yet he had been forced to flee Jiangdong by boat with his mother and Gan Xingba.
The incident happened suddenly, and there were no valuables he could bring. Now the only things on his body that could be considered ornaments were the ya sheng coin and jade pendant hanging at his waist.
After a brief moment of emotion, Lu Su also said softly:
"In later generations, ya sheng money has so many varieties. It can be seen that the lives of the common people are quite comfortable."
At least judging from these chess coins and horse coins, the means of games and entertainment were far more numerous than in this era.
Although he did not know what lantern riddles were, judging from the literal meaning, they were most likely refined literary amusements, which also showed that literary culture was flourishing.
Pang Tong recalled those chaotic eras seen on the light screen, barbarian tribes moving south, foreign peoples sailing to invade the coasts, and later national calamities. He could not help but fall silent.
Previously, when the light screen opened its replay function, everyone simply chose not to show Lu Su the previous written records.
First, written words were ultimately not as shocking as seeing it with one's own eyes. Second, watching Lu Su's startled reactions was also quite entertaining.
After a brief recollection, Pang Tong lightly skipped over the topic and said:
"Now that Zijing is residing at the Imperial Academy, why not gather collective strength and hold New Year celebrations, to dilute the killing aura of war?"
Lu Su pondered for a moment and did not directly refuse:
"Allow me to think it over."