The story of guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival

The story of guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Guessing riddles on the Lantern Festival is the most classic and long-standing traditional custom. How much do you know about the stories of Lantern Festival riddles? If you want to know more about the first month of the lunar calendar in 2018, please pay attention to our fortune teller website! Cao Cao and Yang Xiu There is an ancient stone tablet in Shangyu, Zhejiang, named "Cao E Stele". It was erected by people in the Eastern Han Dynasty to praise the filial piety daughter Cao E. The inscription on the stele is vivid and touching, which makes people sigh in admiration. Cai Yong, a famous writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, once commented on the inscription as "yellow silk, a young woman, and a mortar for grandson." These eight words were engraved on the back of the inscription, but no one understood their meaning.
One day, Cao Cao and Yang Xiu went to Cao'e Temple to worship together. Yang Xiu solved the riddle and explained to Cao Cao: "Yellow silk is colored silk, which makes up the word "jue"; "young woman" is a young girl, which is the word "miao"; grandson is the son of a daughter, which is the word "hao"; "齑" is crushed ginger and garlic, and "齑臼" refers to the container for crushing ginger and garlic, which means "the vessel for receiving spicy food" in the words of the time. "受" plus "辛" is the traditional Chinese character for "辞". So the answer to "黄丝幼妇，外孙齑臼" is "绝妙好辞" (Absolutely Wonderful Words).
According to legend, during the Lantern Festival one year, Emperor Qianlong asked each of his ministers to paste a lantern with riddles, couplets or poems written on it and send it to the palace so that everyone could enjoy it and celebrate the festival together.
Emperor Qianlong was quite knowledgeable about riddles and couplets. Almost all the riddles posed by civil and military officials in the court were not difficult for him. Until he walked in front of the lantern of Grand Secretary Ji Xiaolan, he saw a pair of riddles and couplets hanging on it, and guessed one word for each riddle. Write on:
"It is neither black, nor white, nor red or yellow; it is like a fox, wolf, cat or dog, neither a domestic animal nor a wild beast. It is also in poetry, lyrics and the Analects; it is vague about east, west, south and north. Although it is a short piece, it is also a wonderful piece of writing."
For a moment, all the civil and military officials in the court and Emperor Qianlong were stumped and could not make any sense no matter how much they guessed. Finally, Ji Xiaolan revealed the answer to the riddle. The upper line of this riddle is “guess” and the lower line is “riddle”, which together means “guess the riddle”.
One year during the Lantern Festival, Wang Jipu , a good friend of the Northern Song Dynasty writer Wang Anshi, came to visit. During the dinner, Wang Anshi said, "Today is the Lantern Festival. I will give you a riddle to liven up the atmosphere: round when drawn, square when written, short in winter, long in summer."
Wang Jipu thought about it and did not tell the answer. Instead, he said to Wang Anshi: "How about this, I will also give you a riddle to liven up the fun!" Then he chanted a riddle: "There is a fish in the East China Sea, with no head or tail. Remove the spine and that is your riddle!"
Guessing riddles with riddles is so fresh! Wang Anshi thought for a moment and couldn't help smiling slightly. It turns out that the answer to the riddles both of them came up with is the same word: "日".
Xu Wenchang In the Ming Dynasty, every year on the Lantern Festival, a Lantern Riddles Party was held by the West Lake in Hangzhou.
During the Lantern Festival one year, when the famous painter Xu Wenchang passed by Hangzhou, he also joined the crowd to the West Lake to watch the lanterns and guess riddles. While watching the lanterns, he saw a group of people arguing around a big red lantern, so he squeezed in to see what was going on.
It turned out that there was a couplet written on the lantern: "White snake crossing the river, with a red sun above its head." There was also a line of small characters next to it: "Guess an everyday object and use a riddle to match the second couplet." The riddle was very ordinary, and Xu Wenchang quickly figured out the answer. He stepped forward and matched the second couplet: "Black dragon climbs the wall, covered with thousands of golden stars."
Everyone looked at the two riddles in confusion until Xu Wenchang left, then someone figured out the answer: it turned out that the answers to the two riddles were oil lamp and beam balance respectively.
In Su Dongpo's family, people often compete with each other in ingenuity and wit with riddles and poems. One day, Qin Shaoyou recited a riddle poem and asked Su Dongpo to guess the answer. The poem went like this: I have a room, half of which I rent to the Chakravartin. Sometimes a ray of light is released and no evil spirits in the world dare to block it.
Su Dongpo pretended not to understand, but replied with a poem: I have a zither, and the strings are hidden in its belly. Please play the music on horseback and play all the songs in the world.
Su Xiaomei immediately responded with a poem: I have a boat, one person rows the boat and the other one pulls it. When leaving, you pull the oars, and when returning, you row the boat.
After Su Xiaomei finished writing the poem, seeing that Qin Shaoyou was confused for a moment, she replied: What's yours is big brother's, what's big brother's is mine, and what's mine is yours. It turns out that the three riddles are each other's riddles and answers. The answers to the three poems are: inkstone.

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