【Bright Chinese Culture】ㆍ【Lantern Festival Lantern Riddle】
Author: Yun Jiahui
In “Dream of Red Mansions”, the lantern riddles in the elegant banquet of Lantern Festival lantern riddles symbolize the fate of the protagonists. The picture shows the first illustration of “Dream of Red Mansions” painted by Sun Wen in Qing Dynasty. (public domain)
On the 15th day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, the willow head is on the moon, and after the evening, people will have a lantern riddle party, and enjoy the moon and play lantern riddles. “Dream of Red Mansions” In the Huahua World Grand View Garden, during this festive season, Jia Mu set up a Lantern Festival Spring Lantern Elegant Mystery Banquet to celebrate the Lantern Festival. In “A Dream of Red Mansions” (“The Story of the Stone”), Cao Xueqin asked several protagonists in Jia’s residence to write their own lantern riddles. Behind the lantern riddle, it is a metaphor for the fate of the people in the play.
Riddle one:
When the children under the stairs are facing up, the most appropriate decoration is Qingming. When the hairspring is broken, it is powerless, so don’t complain to Dongfeng for parting.
– play a toy
Whose fate does this riddle symbolize in “A Dream of Red Mansions”?
One of the twelve songs of “Jia Baoyu’s Immortal Journey to the Immortal Realm of Jinghuan Xianqu Performing a Dream of Red Mansions” is sung like this:
“Three thousand years of wind and rain, let’s throw our flesh and blood home together. I’m afraid of crying and ruining my life, sue my parents, let’s stop the suspense: Since ancient times, everything has been fixed, how can there be no relationship? Peace. Slaves go, don’t get involved!”
“Bone and Flesh” corresponds to the “kite”, the answer to the lantern riddle. Whose fate is it talking about? This is a prophecy that symbolizes the exploration of spring who is married far away.
Riddle two:
Looking south, facing north. Like worry and worry, like joy and joy.
– hit something
The lantern riddle of this object seems simple, but in fact it has profound meaning. Looking at it, it says, “Looking from the south, facing the north”, it is clearly in the south, but it seems to be in the north; “like worry and worry, like joy and joy”. Which is real and which is fake? The answer is the “mirror” used for photography.
“Looking from the south, facing the north” implies that the protagonist is the protagonist in his world, and also implies that he is inconsistent with the “view” of the world opposite him. “Like worry and worry, like joy and joy”, showing that worry and joy are impermanent. Jia Baoyu was born in Rongguo Mansion, with a “gold spoon” in his mouth, a treasure brought by his destiny and held by Jia Mansion. However, Jia’s house declined, and he embarked on the path of becoming a monk. It was precisely “Hi Ronghua is just right, and hatred is impermanent again; all things are thrown away,” and he wrote a vivid life with ups and downs.
Cao Xueqin put it this way: “When the fake is the real, the real is also fake, and there is something inactive and there is nothing.” Life is like the moon in the mirror, it is true or false, “the origin of the same dream, don’t laugh at the world‘s stupidity”! The author’s heart of a bodhisattva is looming, and between the true and the false, he awakens the wisdom of the world.
Riddle three:
With eyes but no beads, the belly is empty, and the lotus flowers are happy to meet each other when they come out of water. The leaves of the phoenix tree fall apart, and the loving couple will not be winter.
– hit something
The riddle uses an analogous image to insinuate the people in the red building. This riddle is a typical example. The answer to the mystery is that this thing “has eyes but no beads and an empty belly” describes its appearance, and it also describes the uniform texture of a woman in the red building. It does not mean that the woman is a hollow straw bag. She can write poetry and prose, and she can also instruct Baoyu to use Tang poetry allusions to compose poems. . “Empty in the belly” means that she is “empty” and has no mind toward others, and she is also “unaware” of the scheming of others.
The lotus flower blooms in summer, and the season of use of this thing is in summer; the lotus flower is a metaphor for a woman’s dignified appearance, lustrous muscles and bones, and an appearance that is not stained with mud. “Lotus emerges from the water, happy to meet each other” points out that the insinuated woman came to Jia’s house to form a bond. Speaking of fate, what about the ending: “The leaves of the phoenix tree fall apart, and the loving couple will not be in winter.” It is pointed out that although there is a relationship between husband and wife, the ending cannot be together forever. For the answer to the mystery, it will no longer be collected in autumn and winter. The answer to the mystery is “Mrs. Bamboo”, and the woman in the Red Chamber is Xue Baochai.
Bamboo Lady is also known as Bamboo Girl, Bamboo Knee and Bamboo Table. It is a pillow made of bamboo strips or carved from the whole bamboo. The texture of bamboo is cold and the hollow can be ventilated, so sleeping with “Mrs. Bamboo” on a hot day can make people cool and sleep well, so “loving couple” is used to describe its relationship with people. However, when it gets cooler in autumn, the gifts of this summer are no longer used.
The “Tongling Baoyu” brought by Jia Baoyu when he was born is engraved with the seal text “Don’t lose, don’t forget, immortals and longevity.” Abandoned”, the reverse side chiseled “Fangling Sustainability”. Baoyu saw Baochai’s golden lock and asked with a smile, “Sister, these eight characters are a pair with me.” Saying that the two “eight characters” are a pair. The treasure hairpin holds gold, the treasure jade contains jade, and the golden and jade are a good match.
Xue Baochai promised Jia Baoyu to “never leave or abandon” for life; however, on Jia Baoyu’s side, he ran away from home halfway. Jia Baoyu woke up to the immortal fate of “don’t lose, don’t forget, immortal longevity and prosperous” written by the psychic treasure jade. Baochai has a golden lock, which means that its life is like gold. However, although he does not abandon him, his husband Jia Baoyu has left his family and ran away. How can Baochai’s life be “sustainable”? The truth of the human world can only be obtained by comprehending it in reverse. Everyone in the world wants to be fulfilled and happy, and they all want to stay away from imperfections and tribulations; however, if they cannot endure the tribulations of parting, the bitter fruit of prosperity turning to desolation, how can life be tempered and sublimated? How can we live forever without fear of frost? Jia Baoyu left the world and left behind Xue Baochai’s life lessons.
Riddle four:
Who will bring two sleeves of cigarettes at the end of the court? There are no two edges in the qin side quilt.Xiao Cho[1] Don’t need chicken people to report, five more trouble-free maids Tim.
Jiao Shou is still in the twilight, day after day, year after year. Time flies and must be cherished, the wind and the moon can change.
– hit something
The answer to the mystery comes in the morning, and only light smoke remains. The implication is that the glory and glory are exhausted, and there is nothing to borrow from wealth and honor, only reminiscence.
It is a smoky incense, but it is neither the incense on the side of the piano, nor the incense used for incense. It can be used day and night, day after day, year after year. With it, you can know the time of night, without the “chicken man” in the palace to announce the dawn, and there is no need for the maid to add water to the copper pot at the fifth watch. When using it, nod from the beginning and burn from the outside to the center.
It has something to do with time, time flies and let it go, the wind and the moon do not change. However, it itself is gone forever! Every moment in life is precious to it! This thing is no longer used by today’s people. It is “more fragrant” that is timed at night. “Geng Xiang” is a kind of incense specially made by the ancients to report the change. The time is calculated according to the length of the incense after it is lit.
The word “more fragrant” carries a pun, which is a metaphor for the person who is higher than ordinary people in the spiritual world and does not eat human fireworks. In the riddle, “two missed fates” and “scorching heart” describe the feelings of Lin Daiyu, who “repays gratitude with tears” in the sky, to Jia Baoyu. In the end, it is the ending of “two misses”.
Riddle five:
There is no limit to luck without merit, and it is rare to have merit without luck. Because of the chaos in the town and the sun, because the number of Yin and Yang is not clear.
– hit something
This riddle is a practical item. What items can be used for “computation”, and when they are used, they are always in chaos? And show the phenomenon of yin and yang incompatibility? To say that the answer is “abacus” is easy to understand.
The middle beam of the abacus blocks the beads on the straight column up and down. The middle beam blocks the upper and lower disk surfaces, and the number of counting beads on the upper and lower sides is also different, showing a situation of “unconnected yin and yang”. Yin and yang do not refer to the gender of men and women, and correspond to the characters in the Red Chamber, symbolizing that the husband and wife will not get along after the person gets married. Yingchun, who was married from Jia’s house, died after being abused by her husband after only one year of marriage.
The rotation of celestial bodies is called celestial luck; the fate of people is determined by heaven, so it is also called “celestial luck”. The celestial bodies revolve automatically, following a regular cycle, endlessly. The fate of people, the number of days in the dark, who arranges it? In the bottom layer of the Lantern Festival lantern riddle in “A Dream of Red Mansions”, where the lights are dim, Cao Xueqin’s outlook on life and fate is revealed.
In the lively and joyful Lantern Festival, guessing Cao Xueqin’s lantern riddles will be deeply etched in the heart, making people face the fickle life, not to have a vigilant self-consciousness, and the feeling of transformation and rebirth.
Notes[1]: The number of o’clock in the morning is calculated by “chips”, which are bamboo sticks, so it is called “xiao chip”. @*
Responsible editor: Wang Yuyu#