# fragrant beads

**Published by:** [cola](https://paragraph.com/@cola-4/)
**Published on:** 2022-10-08
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@cola-4/fragrant-beads

## Content

In the past two years, friends who have been concentrating on research and development of incense products have sent me imitation Song "soft incense". When the weather is hot, I like to carry this incense pill with me. Its medicinal scent makes me refreshed and refreshed. Now when it comes to the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, generally only know that children should hang sachets on that day. In fact, hanging incense bags is the last festival. Traditionally, one of the most important tasks when the festival comes is to buy all kinds of loose incense accessories for the whole family to wear in the coming year. This custom was mainly formed in the Southern Song Dynasty, when maritime trade was developed and exotic spices were imported in large quantities, presumably the premise of such a folk custom. For the ancients, the primary purpose of preparing all kinds of incense ornaments on the Dragon Boat Festival was to cope with the coming sweating season. A very interesting phenomenon is that although the rose perfume invented by the Islamic world formed a stable import in the Song Dynasty, and the perfume distillation technology was also introduced to Guangzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Chinese never accepted the practice of sprinkling perfume. Perhaps the reason is that Chinese people's body odor is not so strong, so there is no need for strong perfume to disguise. However, after summer, sweating is always inevitable, and the ancients wore incense accessories to disperse the smell of sweat.In the Southern Song Dynasty, incense ornaments were exquisite and varied. In addition to sachets, incense beads, incense wear and soft incense were very popular. Fragrant beads are Buddha beads made of various spices, and incense wear is a combination of various spices, shaped into small flower cakes, with perforations in them, stringed with silk sash, and hung around the neck. The most distinctive is the soft incense, which uses styrax oil, beeswax, white glue incense, sesame oil, etc. as softeners, and is mixed with fine powders of golden incense, agarwood, sandalwood, borneol, etc., and the finished product is close to soft wax. The state is a semi-solid, jelly-like small group. During production, pigments such as cinnabar and stone green are also added to form different colors of red, green, purple and black. Song people put such small incense balls in their chests, or hang them around as a kind of ornament, and they are also often used as fan pendants. Soft fragrance can be pinched into various shapes at will, which not only moves the joints, but also makes the palms of the fingers quietly dyed, so it is very popular among people. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the loss of soft incense, incense beads and incense wear were always the must-have items for the Dragon Boat Festival during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, eighteen incense bead bracelets were especially popular. In "A Dream of Red Mansions", Concubine Yuan sent eunuchs to bring "Dragon Boat Festival Gifts" before the Dragon Boat Festival. Among them, Li Wan and Sister Feng were rewarded with "two incense sticks". Bags", and the rest of the people all get two strings of "red musk beads", which is a true reflection of the customs of the times. At that time, wearing incense beads in summer was a common rule for men and women. All men with status were required to wear a string of incense beads on their left wrist or right chest.

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