Willow And The Poetry For Farewell Of Tang Dynasty

The willow is a very common tree throughout China, while the ancient Chinese poets wrote it as the image of departure into poetry, from leaves to branches even to catkins, everything about willows included, especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. In view of this custom farewell, I have come to the following conclusions:1.Willow farewell is connected with the ancient funerary rites, in which the carts used in the ancient funeral decorated with materials of willows. The ancients considered "willows" could escort the dead to go to heaven.2.The willow had the same function of protecting the departing relatives. As God of people's daily lives, people wore branches of willows against the ghosts when visiting the dead relatives at Qingming Festival.3.The willow has the characteristic of surviving easily. Farewell relatives with the branches of the willow was a symbol of hoping their loved ones could live happily no matter where they were.4.Widely planted in the front or the back of the houses, the willow symbolized hometown. Therefore they served as the memory of hometowns.5.With Tang Dynasty's prosperity, frequent exchanges of businessmen and eagerness to embark on academic careers, departure was inevitable. However, the system of the Tang Dynasty was still too hard on restricting traveling; furthermore the limits of transport facilitation and dangerous roads also touched the hearts of their loved ones.