The winter solstice, often said "winter big New Year", but why is it greater than the year, the reasons are interesting and complex.
【One】
The ancients stood up to measure the shadow, and then measured the day, and found that the shadow of the sun at noon on the winter solstice day was the longest, which was three feet and five inches in length. In fact, this day is the direct sun hitting the Tropic of Cancer. After the winter solstice, the shadow of the sun at noon gradually shortens.
The shadow of the sun goes from the longest to the shortest to the point and then back to the longest, looping for a week, spending a total of one year. Since the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, people have taken the winter November as the first month and the winter solstice day as the beginning of the year. Therefore, the winter solstice day, the beginning of the first year, people call the winter solstice "the beginning of the year". This day is also the first day of the new year, and they also regard the winter solstice day as the "first day of the year".
Therefore, from the Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty, people spent the winter on the same day as the New Year. Therefore, in the Zhou Qin era, the winter solstice had two identities: "the head of the year" and "the head of the year".
【2nd】
After observation, the ancients found that the winter solstice day has the shortest day and the longest night.
They believe that on this day, the yin qi spreads to the peak, and the yang qi is born from the yin qi, which is the first day of the transformation of yin and yang qi, the so-called "one yang comes and goes", "the winter solstice is born one yang". It is believed that this is the key moment of the transformation of the life force, and it is also the weakest moment of human life force, and it is necessary to replenish energy to survive this far-reaching day.
The Qing Dynasty records portraits of people eating raw fish on the winter solstice
Therefore, the Shunde people eat raw fish on the winter solstice, which is really following the ancient style of the ancients eating creatures in order to obtain the most direct vitality. People eat tangyuan, dumplings, wontons, etc., all of which are wrapped in round or hidden physical objects, representing the sun and the vitality, implying the acquisition of yang qi and vitality.
【III】
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued the "Taichu Calendar" in the first year of the Taichu Dynasty (104 BC), reusing the Xia calendar and making the beginning of January the beginning of the year. He also stipulated that the winter solstice should be the beginning of the festival.
The year begins with the winter solstice and is divided into 24, with 1 solar term every 15 days. Since then, the winter solstice has been separated from the first month, and the winter solstice has become the beginning day of the year, and the first day of the first month of the first month rises to the beginning of the year. However, the custom of taking the winter solstice as the first year has never disappeared and continues to this day.
Therefore, the winter solstice used to have four identities: the head of the year, the head of the year, the head of the qi, and the head of the festival.
【Wanton】
Shunde people must go home for dinner on the winter solstice. They worship their ancestors, prostrate themselves to their elders, contact their brothers and sisters, eat with their ancestors, elders, and peers in the ancestral house, narrate family history and ancestor deeds, and share this unique moment in a sacrificial space, which is to enjoy the right food at the right time and place, and to taste the original meaning of "not eating from time to time".
(Tangyuan is a must-have delicacy for the winter solstice)
All the details of the whole ceremony are full of reverence and respect for time, history, tradition, ancestors, and peers, completing the deep meaning of the winter solstice culture. People make rice balls, eat dumplings,
【Wu】
Since the Han Dynasty, people have called the first day of the first lunar month "New Year's Day" and Lichun "Spring Festival". In 1914, January 1 was called "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month was called "Spring Festival".
Today, we call it "New Year", which is the first day of the first lunar month in the calendar, and it has only one identity, that is, the beginning day of the lunar year. The winter solstice, regardless of its historical origin and number of identities, is higher than the year. Therefore, it is larger than years.
【Lu】
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, on the day of the winter solstice, girls began to write the "Nine-Nine Cold Map". "Cold Relief Map" is made of nine characters: "Weeping willows in front of the pavilion are cherished for spring wind". There are nine strokes for each word, and the girl writes one stroke a day, every day.
In the years when they were on ice, they smiled, depicted, cut window flowers, lit firecrackers, pasted spring festivals, lit firecrackers, and looked forward to spending the deep winter, waxing moon, Spring Festival, and Lantern Festival. After writing nine words, "rain" came. At this time, the spring breeze is dancing, everything is renewed, and a "Nine-Nine Cold Map" accompanies them through the cold winter years. Living like this, it can be described as elegant and exquisite.
In Shunde, according to the old fathers and elders in the countryside, there is an ancient bridge of the Ming Dynasty that spans the east and west banks. On the winter solstice, if we look to the east in the middle of the foot of the west side of the bridge, we can see a red sun rising from the middle of the east side of the bridge foot, which is spectacular. This bridge is called the "Ai Ri Bridge".
The word "love day" is not to love the sun, but the winter solstice nickname, the ancients think that "winter is lovely", so called "love day", it can be seen that this bridge is indeed built for the winter solstice. Li Zichang, a great painter of the Ming Dynasty, liang Yaoshu, the mother of Liang Yaoshu, a qing dynasty leader, and Zhu Jieqin, a contemporary historian, are all ancient fans.
I wonder if they also stood at the head of the bridge on the winter solstice day of that year, waiting for the rising winter sun?
【Qiqi】
Today, the north calls "the winter solstice is as big as the year", alluding to the year is greater than the winter solstice, following the Han Dynasty calendar, but the southern folk call "winter solstice big New Year", following the traditional customs that have never been interrupted.
Therefore, on the day of the winter solstice, the Shunde people worship their ancestors and feast around the stove, which is as grand as the year.
Source: Excerpt from "Li Jianming's Sayings"
Published: He Media Matrix