The lucky star originally originated from the ancestors’ natural star worship of Jupiter. Since the Western Han Dynasty, he has been the blessing star official who protects harvests - the Suixing. However, in the Tang Dynasty, the sinister side of the Tai Sui God was overly publicized, which greatly weakened the blessing connotation of the Sui Star. People instead pinned their wishes for blessings and good fortune on Yangcheng, a good official in the world, thinking that he was the lucky star who came to earth to save people in distress. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the heavenly officials in the Taoist pantheon have come from behind, and eventually became the most recognized heavenly official who bestows blessings - the Lucky Star. Jupiter is one of the eight planets in the solar system. The ancients called it the star of good fortune and the star of good fortune. There are records about Jupiter in the silk book "Five Stars Divination" unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb more than 2,000 years ago. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, people regarded Jupiter as the star of blessing.
Ancient people observed that during the 12-year cycle of Jupiter's activity, the climate also showed cyclical changes. And climate is crucial to agricultural production. Therefore, in historical books such as "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", it is clearly recorded that Sui Xing was the star official in charge of agriculture and his status was extremely high.
According to records in "Historical Records: Tianguan Shu", during the Qin and Han Dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, there were specially built temples to worship the Sui Xing, and this sacrificial system continued until the late Qing Dynasty. Next to the Xiannong Altar in the south of the Forbidden City is a hall dedicated to the Sui Xing. Every golden autumn, the emperor led civil and military officials to hold a grand ceremony here to pray to the Sui Xing to bless the world and ensure a good harvest. Food is the most important thing for the people, and a good harvest is certainly a blessing, so Sui Xing was later given the title of Lucky Star. The oldest existing portrait of a star official, the "Five Stars and Twenty-Eight Constellations", was painted during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty 1,300 years ago. The image depicts the five stars of gold, wood, water, fire, earth and 28 star gods. The Lucky Star, who ranks first among the stars, has the appearance of a monster: his head looks like a tiger but not a tiger, his eyes are wide open, he is sitting cross-legged in a simple gown, and he looks like a scholar. His means of transportation turned out to be a huge wild boar.
The author of this portrait, Liang Lingzhan, is a famous figure in the history of ancient Chinese astronomical technology. He was a famous astronomical instrument manufacturer in the mid-Tang Dynasty and an outstanding figure painter. He must have depicted the great figures of that time. The image of a star official recognized by most people.
The star god of Sui in the Tang Dynasty had both auspicious and dangerous sides. If you worship religiously, you will get blessings; if you offend lightly, you will get disaster. However, as the sinister side of Tai Sui God became more and more bizarre in folk stories, people forgot the original identity of Sui Xing as a blessing star. Out of fear, they stayed away from him. From then on, the lucky star parted ways with this awesome age star, and people turned to look for other idols who could entrust their blessings and good luck. During the Dezong period of the middle Tang Dynasty, around 790 AD. In Daozhou, Hunan, a young official took office. This official is the newly arrived governor of Daozhou, named Yangcheng. According to the "New Tang Book: Yangcheng Biography": He was a Jinshi during the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty. His original official position was to advise the doctor, and he was an upright person. He was demoted to the governor of Daozhou for impeaching a powerful traitor. The first thing he did after taking office was to abolish a bad custom for the people of Daozhou - paying tribute to dwarfs.
In feudal society, it was customary to pay tribute to local products to the emperor every year, which was called Rentu tribute. The local specialty of Daozhou is unique - short people are sent to the palace as eunuchs as tribute.
The arrival of the new Daozhou governor Yangcheng gave the people hope. For the first time, Yangcheng proposed to cancel the custom of paying tribute to dwarfs, and risked his life to write a letter to the current emperor, refusing to pay tribute. He said: First of all, there is no provision in the laws and regulations of the past dynasties that subordinates must pay tribute to dwarf slaves. In addition, even if there are short people in Daozhou, they are just dwarfs, not dwarf slaves.
There are not that many dwarfs in Daozhou. In order to please the emperor, or because of lust, successive governors placed well-behaved children in clay pots, with only their heads exposed, and were fed and fed by dedicated personnel. This cruel method was used to create deformed dwarfs as tribute to satisfy the emperor's absurd needs.
This true story was later written by the great poet Bai Juyi in the poem "People of Daozhou": Among the people born of the water and soil of Daozhou, there are only dwarf people and no dwarf slaves.
Yangcheng's righteous and stern statement may have made the emperor's conscience at that time, or he was afraid of the opposition from the government and the public, so the tribute to the dwarfs was later dropped.
People were grateful to this official who saved the people from fire and water, so they built a temple to worship him. And because Yangcheng reunited mothers and children in Daozhou and regained family happiness, he was worshiped as the God of Fortune, and Yangcheng Temple was also called the Temple of Fortune. In the Taoist work of the Yuan Dynasty 500 years later, "The Encyclopedia of Searching Gods from the Origins of Three Religions", Yangcheng, the God of Fortune, is completely a kind-hearted elder, very close to the current appearance of the Fortune Star. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the reputation of the Blessing Heavenly Official has become higher and higher, gradually replacing the past Star God and the God of Fortune, Yangcheng, and becoming the new Lucky Star.
The belief in the Three Officials propagated by Taoism is far-reaching. The Heavenly Official confers blessings, the Earthly Official forgives sins, and the Shuiguan eliminates disasters. Especially the belief that the Heavenly Official blesses blessings is the most popular. Even the emperor believes in Heaven. The saying of official blessing. Taoism reshapes the image of the heavenly official and uses a special way to deeply integrate the belief in the three sense organs into the daily life of ordinary people. This way is the festival.
In the Taoist book "Tongjian of the Immortals of the Past Dynasties", the myth of the birth of the three officials of heaven, earth and water is linked to three important folk festivals. The book says that Yuanshi Tianzun absorbed the essence of heaven and earth and transformed it into a spiritual body in his body. On the 15th day of the first lunar month, Emperor Yao was born. On July 15th, Emperor Shun was born. On October 15th, Emperor Dayu was born. Their three birthdays later became three important folk festivals, namely Shangyuan Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and Xiayuan Festival. Especially the Shangyuan Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Tianguan’s birthday, is still one of the most influential folk festivals.
In the joyful atmosphere of the festival, the blessed heavenly official finally came down to earth. The majestic heavenly officials who used to sit high in temples and receive pious offerings from emperors have now become the lucky stars with rich and gorgeous costumes and cheerful faces, diligently sending good luck and blessings to the audience.