According to legend, osmanthus trees in front of Guanghan Palace on the moon are flourishing, reaching more than 500 feet. There is a man who often cuts, but after each cut, the cut place closes immediately. For thousands of years, this laurel tree can never be cut down. It is said that the person who cut down trees was WU GANG, a native of Xihe in Han Dynasty. He used to be a woodcutter on earth, but he didn't like being a woodcutter, so he asked the white-haired fairy to teach him magic, but he didn't learn it for a long time. Later, he asked the white-haired fairy to teach him to wander to the moon because it refused to concentrate on his studies. So the white-haired fairy was very angry and left him in the Moon Palace, saying, "If you are calm. Every time WU GANG cuts it for a period of time, the osmanthus tree will heal automatically. Day after day, year after year, WU GANG's wish to cut down osmanthus trees still hasn't come true. He kept cutting down osmanthus trees, and the osmanthus trees kept healing. In the poem of the great poet Li Bai, there is a paragraph that says, "If you want to be in the middle of the month, you should pay for the cold. "
In the imperial examination era before China, it was commonly known as the Moon Palace to win the laurel.
Laurel is an evergreen tree of Lauraceae, which blooms in spring. It is native to China, similar to laurel, but different from other families. China also has the title of laurel, which is made of cassia twig, taking its fragrance and purity. During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a saying in Fan Qin's Ode to Sorrow for the Past, which meant to make laurel trees and beautiful words like splendid flowers to dress themselves up. Because osmanthus fragrans is fragrant and noble, people have long used it to describe and evaluate people. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once asked Dong Fangshuo, Confucius and Yan Yuan who had the noblest morality. Dong Fangshuo said: Yan Yuan's morality is noble, but he is only like a sweet-scented osmanthus mountain. His morality is as mighty as the spring breeze, and everything in the world is influenced by it.
When Emperor Taishi was in the reign of Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, Cui Hong, the official minister, recommended Shen Xi as the left prime minister. Later, when Shen Xi served as the secretariat of Yongzhou, Emperor Wu of Jin asked him what he thought of himself. He said, "I am like Guizhi in the Moon Palace and Baoyu on Kunlun Mountain." A laurel in Guanghan Palace and a Pian Yu in Kunlun Mountain are used to describe particularly outstanding talents, which is the origin of "the laurel of the moon". The moon is the moon palace. Emperor Wu of song laughed and praised him. After the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system prevailed, and the laurel of the moon was used as a metaphor for scholars who passed the examination. Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, was admitted to Jinshi with the first place, and his cousin Bai Minzhong was later admitted to the third place. Bai Juyi wrote a poem to congratulate me and said, "It's amazing to wear clover."
Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom in many places: during the annual examination, candidates and their relatives and friends steam osmanthus and rice noodles into cakes, which are called Guanghan cakes. They give gifts to each other, which means Guanghan High School.
The moon won the laurel, and there is a legend and anecdote. Among them, Song Lian's Chong Rong Gui Ji in the early Ming Dynasty is the most detailed.
The article says that Zhou Mengsheng and his son Xueyan of Luling, Jiangxi Province are both scholars and are very famous in the local area. His home is in Moody Village, Jishui. There is a big laurel tree in the yard, with lush foliage and shade that can cover two acres of land. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, houses were burned, trees were burned to death, branches were chopped, and only bare trunks were left. In the early Ming dynasty, when the world was stable, the old trunk sprouted, and in a few years, it flourished again. Some people say that after the fire, the outside of the tree withered and new buds sprouted. If something goes wrong, it's not a good sign. It is also said that ignorance of plants and trees has led to this trend. When Kou Zhun died, people gave birth to bamboo shoots to mourn him. When the Tian brothers split up, their Jing tree withered for no reason, the brothers reconciled and the tree revived, indicating that the Zhou family was going to revive again. If you don't get in, learn from Yan's son and get into Jinshi, people will think this tree is auspicious. Auspicious omen is superstitious, and it is far-fetched to explain social phenomena with natural phenomena. However, from the glory of the old tree, we can also see the tenacious vitality of Guangxi.
After the Han and Jin Dynasties, the legend of osmanthus trees prevailed in the middle of the month. "Peaceful Magnolia" quoted Huainanzi "There are osmanthus trees in the moon". The records in Youyang Miscellanies in the Tang Dynasty further interpreted the myth of Wugang's felling of Guangxi. Legend has it that the laurel tree is as high as 500 feet in the middle of the month. There was a WU GANG who was punished for cutting laurel in the Moon Palace for learning magic. Every time he cuts an axe, the wound of the osmanthus tree will heal immediately, so WU GANG can't cut the tree all the year round. The ancients had various interpretations of the legend of osmanthus trees in the middle of the month, especially in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the middle of the month, osmanthus trees are also called Miluo trees and Qianshu trees. The fruit of laurel falls to the world after April and May every year, which is called "laurel in the month". It reflects that the ancients really believed in osmanthus trees in the middle of the month. Whenever literati admire the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival and write poems, they always take the laurel trees and cassia seeds in the middle of the month as common allusions. Because of the legend of laurel tree, people also call the moon "Gui Yue", "Gui Palace", "Gui Cave" and "Gui Wheel".
In the imperial examination field of feudal society in China, the annual autumn festival happened in August, so people called the winner of the imperial examination "winning the laurel in the middle of the month" or "winning the laurel in the middle of the month". In the ninth episode of A Dream of Red Mansions, Daiyu in Lin Zhong heard that Jia Baoyu was going to school, so she smiled and said, "Is that all right? This trip is definitely to win the crown of the moon. " Comparing the victory of imperial examinations with the laurel of the moon also shows the ancient people's beautiful yearning for the moon.
In ancient Greece, people often made laurel leaves into crowns and presented them to heroes or poets to show their respect. Later, Britain also had the title of "Poet Laureate", which was awarded by universities at first, and became the title of Royal Poet by King James I of England. In sports competitions, people often call the person who wins the first place the "champion". Why?
A long time ago, Europeans regarded osmanthus as a symbol of glory, honor and victory. The word "laurel" comes from a beautiful ancient Greek myth. Legend has it that Apollo, the sun god, fell in love with Dafen, the goddess of dew, but Dafen insisted on celibacy and refused Apollo's courtship.
One day, Apollo came to divines's residence again. Dafen saw him and ran away. Apollo followed closely and was about to catch up. Dafen shouted anxiously to the mother of the earth goddess, "If you can't save me from running away, then change my shape!" " When the sun god catches up with and touches the beloved girl, the body of the dewdrop goddess has turned into a laurel tree, but Apollo's enthusiasm for Daphne has not been extinguished. He said firmly, "I will always love you and make you a symbol of the highest honor." In order to respect this feeling of the sun god, the ancient Greeks regarded the laurel tree as the sacred tree of Apollo, and made beautiful crowns with laurel leaves and olive branches, which were dedicated to talented poets and winners of various competitive competitions. Later, "Guiguan" became synonymous with the first place, and "Guiguan" won the first place.