Today I’d like to introduce a poem from Lu You who lived in Song Dynasty called “The snow on New Year's Eve”.
This poem is different from Luo Yin’s satirical “Snow”, it expressed the poet's joy and anticipation for the upcoming New Year, so it referred the “Rui Xue” is a real “auspicious snow”.
The snow on Spring Festival's Eve
By Lu You (Song Dynasty)
The north wind brought a heavy snowfall at the beginning of the fourth shift watch,
The arrival of auspicious snow on Chinese New Year's Eve is a sign of coming bountiful harvest year.
Before the glass containing half a cup of Tusu wine could be raised to celebrate the New Year, I hurriedly wrote a peach blossom talisman in cursive script under the oil lamp.
除夜雪
宋·陆游
北风吹雪四更初，嘉瑞天教及岁除。
半盏屠苏犹未举，灯前小草写桃符。
Lu You is one of my favorite poets, he is a literary figure, historian, and patriotic poet during the Southern Song Dynasty.
During the downfall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Lu You was deeply influenced by his family's patriotic ideology during his youth. Due to his insistence on resisting the Jin dynasty, he was rejected by the moderates.
Throughout his life, Lu You devoted himself to writing tirelessly, achieving great success in both poetry and literature
His writing can express emotions delicately, as well as boldly express the great rivers and mountains of his motherland. His poetry is not only calm but also full of grandeur and intensity.
This poem by Lu You lacks patriotism and is the most approachable way to depict scenery, events, and one's own life, as well as one's beautiful vision on New Year's Eve. This is a rare poetic experience for him, and it also shows us the calm and peaceful side of Lu You.
No one likes war, but everyone needs a home. This home is based on hometown, and this hometown must be based on an independent and powerful motherland. Under the feudal system, although the Song Dynasty appeared prosperous, its political power was weak, its emphasis on literature and light on military. The soldiers had insufficient combat effectiveness, so the Song Dynasty was at the peak of culture but lacked strength. Writers and politicians lack a sense of security and can only be filled with righteous indignation, writing poetry to express their innermost feelings.
What’s meaning of “a peach blossom talisman”?
A peach blossom talisman is Tao Fu in Chinese.
It’s a long-standing folk culture of the Han ethnic group. It is said that peach trees have the function of suppressing evil and expelling ghosts, so when bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new in ancient times, people always wrote the names of the two gods "Shentu" and "Yulei" in peach tree with the intention of praying for blessings and eliminating disasters.