The winter solstice is the 22nd of the "twenty-four solar terms", with a bucket finger and a solar ecliptic longitude of 270°, which falls on December 21-23 of the Gregorian calendar. The winter solstice is the ultimate southward travel of the direct point of the sun, the winter solstice day of the direct sunlight on the Tropic of Cancer, the sunlight on the northern hemisphere is the most inclined, the solar altitude angle is the smallest, is the shortest day in the northern hemisphere, the longest night day. The winter solstice is also a turning point for the direct sun to return to the north, after this day it will take the "back road", the direct sun point will begin to move north from the Tropic of Cancer (23 ° 26 ′S), and the northern hemisphere (China is located in the northern hemisphere) Day by day will increase day by day.
In ancient times, the winter solstice was a major festival of the year, known as "the winter solstice is as big as the year". The winter solstice is the beginning of the return of the sun, since the winter solstice, the height of the sun rises, the day grows day by day, the winter solstice marks the new birth of the sun, the sun's round-trip movement into a new cycle, so the ancients regarded the winter solstice as the "day of great luck". Since the yang qi begins to grow from the winter solstice day, the winter solstice has been given the beautiful meaning of "three yangs (sheep) Kaitai", which is full of the ancient people's ardent expectations for a better life.
Celadon sheep zun Eastern Jin Dynasty
It is now in the Nanjing Municipal Museum
In the eyes of the ancients, sheep are animals that represent auspiciousness, symbolizing auspiciousness, beauty and goodness. In the ancient text, "sheep" and "auspicious" are connected, and "auspicious" is also written as "auspicious sheep". The ancients often applied the image of the sheep to ceramic utensils used in daily life as decoration. This Eastern Jin Dynasty blue-glazed porcelain sheep statue is 155 cm long, 8 cm wide and 12.4 cm high, with gray-white tires and blue-gray glaze. The sheep is kneeling, the sheep's body is long and round, the sheep's cheeks are full, the jaw is whiskered, the look is serene, the mouth is serene, the ears are erect and attached to the side of the brain, the eyes are shining, the two horns are curled, and there is a round hole with a diameter of 15 cm on the top of the head, which is empty and communicates with the abdomen. The sheep's body is cocoon-shaped, corseted, with large hips, short tail, two forefoots curved posteriorly, two hind feet curved anteriorly under the abdomen, and wings on both sides of the abdomen. The whole artifact is accurately proportioned, the lines are beautiful, the appearance is realistic, and the gentleness is thick. The blue glaze is uniform and lustrous, showing a high standard of porcelain firing.
After the winter solstice, the climate in all parts of China will enter the coldest stage, which is often referred to as "entering the ninth" and "counting the ninth cold day". In the middle of the ninth winter, most of the plants withered and withered, only the pine and bamboo did not wither in winter, and the plum blossoms were hardy and open, so they were called "the three friends of the cold year", which was regarded by the ancient literati as a symbol of noble character.
Glaze red age cold three friends tu mei bottle Ming Dynasty
This glazed red "Three Friends of the Cold Year" Tumei bottle, the carcass is light and thin, and the shape of the instrument is elegant. Curly lip small mouth, neck and shoulders, deep curved abdomen, shallow circle foot, oblique knife marks on the outer edge of the foot, and the body has a tire protrusion. The inside and outside of the vessel are glazed, and only the bottom of the vessel is exposed, and there are red spots of flint. The whole body is painted with red ornamentation in the glaze, with gray in the red, and the white glaze is transparent and slightly bluish. The seven layers of decorative motifs are separated by strings. The neck is decorated with banana leaf patterns, the shoulders are decorated with ruyi patterns, curly grass patterns and tangled chrysanthemum patterns, and the abdomen is painted with pine, bamboo and plum, and accompanied by plantains, camellias and mountain stones, which constitute the main picture of the three friends of the cold year. The shins are seawater patterns, as well as variations of the lotus and the lotus pattern. The whole porcelain bottle ornament pattern is rich, dense, staggered, revealing a chic and elegant beauty, is a combination of modeling beauty and decorative beauty of porcelain treasures.
These precious cultural relics embody the superb ceramics production process and outstanding artistic achievements in ancient China, and are the witnesses of China's ancient brilliant civilization. In the long history of our country, the cultural relics of successive dynasties often record the rise and fall of dynasties and social changes, which have very important cultural connotations.
Let us study hard together and contribute to the cause of cultural relics protection!
(Picture from the Internet, invasion and deletion)
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This article only represents the views of the author and does not represent the position of cultural relics safety
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