The fifteenth day of the New Year is the Yuanxiao Festival.

Just after nine o'clock in the morning.

On the white silver land, a tall maroon horse walked slowly towards the foothills of Lingyin Mountain in Hangzhou.

On horseback are a pair of young handsome men and beautiful women.

The woman was wearing a fox fur coat and sitting in front, leaning against the man behind her, looking charming.

The man just held the reins of the horse and stretched his arms forward to hug her tightly. It was obvious that he was controlling the horse.

This couple is Chen Tianhua and Li Shuzhen. This is their first time riding horses.

As for horseback riding, I practiced it at the Hangzhou Racecourse these days.

Speaking of Chen Tianhua's horse riding 'talent', this made the New Army riding instructors in charge of training dumbfounded.

After only three days of practice, he was able to control a war horse at a trot. He was even more adept at getting on and off the horse, and could do it independently.

It's really unbelievable.

When traveling today, the two of them insisted not to be followed by guards, saying that they would walk slowly and nothing would happen.

In fact, Chen Tianhua's equestrian skills are superb, but he didn't show it off.

"I like such a free life!" She shouted excitedly amidst the sound of horse hooves.

Looking at her girlish and cute appearance, Chen Tianhua smiled happily. She liked freedom, and so did he.

When they arrived at the foothills of Lingyin Mountain in the suburbs, near Feilai Peak, they held hands and ran together on the snow, holding each other's snowballs and having snowball fights, playing happily.

Of course, she is always the one who loses.

She lay on his lap, hugged his waist, complained that he would not show mercy to her, and naughtily asked him to hold her and walk back to the bay red horse.

Chen Tianhua obediently picked her up with both hands and walked towards the bay horse one step at a time without stopping in the middle.

What a lot of strength!

While laughing and sighing, she fully enjoyed her rights as a woman in love.

Eating snacks on horseback in the snowy scenery, she didn't do anything herself, she just looked at him coquettishly and let him feed her.

She has no scruples or concealment in front of him. She is who she is, and it is up to him to decide whether he likes her or not.

…

After noon, they went to Wushan to appreciate the traditional Lantern Festival in Hangzhou.

The Lantern Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival, is one of China's traditional festivals, and its customs vary across the country.

Since the Tang Dynasty, Hangzhou has become an important economic and cultural center in the Jiangnan region.

The Song Dynasty moved south and made its capital Lin'an. The Central Plains culture it brought merged with the local customs in the south of the Yangtze River to develop the unique Hangzhou Lantern Festival culture.

From the Ming Dynasty to the present, the Yuanxiao Festival custom in Hangzhou Fucheng actually starts from the 13th day of the first lunar month and ends on the 15th day of the first lunar month, lasting three days.

In his previous life, during the Yuanxiao Festival, Chen Tianhua often took his girlfriend to the Shanghai City God Temple or the Nanjing Confucius Temple to visit lantern festivals. Every time there were seas of people there, it was packed to the rafters.

In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, whether in his past life or in this life, he has never experienced the grand occasion of Hangzhou Yuanxiao Lantern Festival.

He didn't know what it would be like to travel back to the Yuanxiao Festival in the late Qing Dynasty, but he was still looking forward to it.

It is said that every night on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the local area will see "streets full of streets, friends gathering to play, drums blaring in the sky, torches shining on the ground, people wearing animal masks, men dressing up as women, advocating acrobatics, and strange shapes."

A scene of carnival.

The name Shangyuan was influenced by Taoism and means the day when the heavenly officials give blessings.

The Qing government also designated the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as a holiday for officials, which was also known as a holiday in later generations.

Holidays take time.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year, a grand dragon lantern parade is held in the capital city of Hangzhou, with Qinghefang and Chenghuang Mountain being the most representative.

Wushan is commonly known as Chenghuang Mountain, and the Chenghuang Temple is located in the mountain.

During the Lantern Festival, dragon lanterns are paraded inside and outside the city.

Starting from the twelfth day of the first lunar month, newly made dragon lanterns from all over the city (with the eyes left untouched for the time being) will be carried to the Dragon Temple of Chenghuang Mountain. After worship, their eyes will be dotted with ink to "consecrate", commonly known as "dragon lantern consecration".

”.

At that time, dragons are flying and playing with each other all over the mountains and down the mountains, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Therefore, the Hangzhou City God Temple is the place where the "dragon lantern is illuminated" in the entire city of Hangzhou.

In the consecration ceremony, the consecration holy water was first taken from the mouth of the Sanjiang River where the Qiantang River, Fuchun River, and Puyang River converged. Then a respected old man dipped a brush into the holy water and applied it on the eyes of the plate dragon to consecrate the plate dragon.

Then, many people carried dragon lanterns and paraded, rushing in and out.

In addition to the dragon lantern parades at Wushan and Hangzhou City God's Temple, the lantern festival at the West Lake in the late Qing Dynasty was the climax of Yuanxiao Night.

Along the West Lake, there were very few residents here. The imperial court built many pavilions, pavilions, and gardens here, as well as some Taoist and Buddhist temples here and there.

Here, grand traditional folk festivals, such as Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival, are held here.

The grand gathering on the night of the Shangyuan Festival in the late Qing Dynasty was, without exception, also held here.

The stage, Cuju, polo, tea house, chess club and other venues have been set up many days in advance. Many vendors also come to this area to sell their goods, making it quite lively.

On this day, the Shangyuan Festival comes as scheduled.

At two o'clock in the fifth watch, when the sky was just turning white, the guards on duty on the Drum Tower of Fucheng began to announce the dawn to the whole city.

"Dong dong dong..."

The clear and exciting drum beats rippled in all directions, and then the drum towers set up on the east, west, north, and south streets began to sound one after another.

The sound of the drum is divided into five waves and needs to be beaten a hundred times.

Because today is the Lantern Festival, there are many vendors doing small business, and the people are very anxious, planning to rush to occupy a position by the West Lake and set up a stall to sell things.

Starting from noon, many young masters, ladies, ladies, rich ladies and other female family members will appear by the West Lake.

As the sun just started to set, Chen Tianhua took Li Shuzhen on horseback from Wushan City God's Temple to the south bank of West Lake.

On the bank of the West Lake, there are lush green trees, pavilions, temples, and pavilions, standing in the woods, well-proportioned, and the scenery is very good.

But at this time, the original beautiful scenery was occupied by the crowds of people everywhere. Only the heads were visible, but the scene was not visible.

In the large open space by the lake, there are even more people.

This scene reminded Chen Tianhua of traveling on festival days in his previous life, even worse.

Before approaching the lakeside, I heard all kinds of shouts.

There are sellers of various snacks, with Ningbo glutinous rice balls being the most popular. However, tonight is called Yuanxiao, and according to custom, it should be called eating Yuanxiao.

There are also sellers of various kinds of lanterns... Anyway, there are all kinds of lanterns, everything you need.

Also, there are the shouts of tourists playing games.

For example, in some temporary courts, the remaining poles from the tent fence are used as goals, local materials are used, and lines are drawn on the sand to form the court.

This stadium is much smaller than a normal modern football stadium. There are horses running on the field, playing the game of kickball, and there are many onlookers.
Chapter completed!