Recite | Qingyuan, first image | Early summer Mu Creek
Twenty-four solar terms, as one of China's iconic traditional cultures.
It is a strict and accurate cognitive system created by human beings according to the laws of climate, phenology and seasonal changes.
The twenty-four solar terms are not only well known by Chinese, it is even known abroad as "China's fifth greatest invention".
The twenty-four solar terms have also been inscribed on unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In the very distant past, our ancestors built an extremely accurate calendar system based on the "Ten Heavenly Stems" and the "Twelve Branches of the Earth".
In this system, the year is divided into four hours, which are known as the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. For a time, it was divided into three months, and all the months were also called the "December Order".
In the Huainanzi Astronomical Training, it is said: "Emperor Zhang Siwei, luck to fight, the moon migrates to a chen, return to its place, the first month refers to Yin, December refers to the ugly, one year old and turns, and finally begins again." ”
In the basic rules of the "Dry Branch Calendar", taking the point of the "spoon handle" of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper as the standard, the year is divided into "December Construction", that is:
First month Jianyin, February Jianjian, March Jianchen, April Jianwei, May Jianwu, June Jianwei, July Jianshen, August Jianyou, September Jianjiao, October Jianhai, November Jianzi, December Jianu.
"December Construction" is also known as the December Order, because it is based on the time point of the twenty-four festivals as the basic node.
The twenty-four solar terms are not only the product of the chronology, but also a derivative of the agricultural civilization of the ancient times.
Therefore, the division of these solar terms is not only to distinguish the time of year, but also to correspond to various climate and phenological changes.
The twenty-four solar terms begin with "Li Chun" and end with "Great Cold", and some folk proverbs write:
The spring sun turns, and the rain flows along the river.
The crows crow, and the spring equinox drips dry.
Qingming was busy planting millet, and the valley rain planted fields.
Lixia goose feathers live, small full of finches to full.
Mango seeds are happy, and the summer solstice is not cotton.
The small summer is not hot, and the big summer is in the volt day.
Li Qiu was busy playing dian, and the knife and sickle were used in the summer.
Hakuro Kaiji, Akibu Ikuta.
Cold dew is not cold, frost has changed the day.
Li Dong first fiefdom, Xiaoxue River sealed tightly.
Heavy snow crosses the winter month, and the winter solstice counts nine days.
Xiao Han is busy with compradors, and Big Han is going to celebrate the New Year.
In ancient times, the twenty-four solar terms could not only be used to guide agricultural affairs, but also an important reference for people to recognize the changes in cold and warm.
Even if everything in the world is different from the previous moment, even if the seasons are changing, the sun and the moon are rotating, the dynasties are changing...
People can always see animals appearing when they are stinged, sparrows flying when they are full, farmers planting fields when it rains in the valley, everyone will cool down on three days, harvest crops before the cold dew, and prepare for the New Year in the cold.
In ancient times, the ancestors of China did not know when to cultivate to have a better harvest, but often saw grass seedlings die due to climate changes.
Emperor Yao, one of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, was very concerned about this matter, and he thought that the changes in the climate and wind on the ground would not be related to the rotation of the sun, moon and stars in the sky, so he began to record the movement of the sun, moon and stars.
Eventually, Emperor Yao discovered that one day of the year was very special, and that day and night were the same length as the night, so there was the first solar term of the Chinese nation, the spring equinox.
During the Shang Dynasty, people also created the four solar terms of mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn and mid-winter. After king Wu established the Zhou Dynasty, he added four more solar terms.
It was not until the first year of emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the "Taichu Calendar" was formulated, and the current twenty-four solar terms were officially determined and named, and the twenty-four solar terms were determined by measuring the length of the sun shadow on the gui table.
The day with the shortest shadow and the longest day is listed as the summer solstice. The longest day of the sun and night is set as the winter solstice, and the winter solstice festival is also the first of the twenty-four solar terms.
Starting from the winter solstice day, the gui table is a solar term for every 15 degrees of progress, which is divided into 24 equal parts. Each 15-degree node is the time when each solar term arrives.
The twenty-four solar terms also represent the twenty-four climates and phenology, referred to as the twenty-four hou. However, the climate and phenology change far more than 24 times a year.
Therefore, after people determined the twenty-four solar terms, they also made a more detailed division of climate and phenology, and finally set every five days as one hou, and each solar term was divided into three hou and twenty-four solar terms, that is, seventy-two hou.
Each "Hou" corresponds to a climate and phenological phenomenon, such as the beginning of activities, living and migration of certain animals. For example, a certain plant will sprout, flower, and bear fruit.
For example, the freezing and thawing of rivers, such as when the rain begins to become more, such as when the sky is frequently thundering, when the autumn leaves are flying, and when the snow is falling.
People record the occurrence and rotation of various climates and phenology, day after day, year after year.
Although they are originally impermanent changes, they have been found by the ancestors of the Chinese nation to find the node closest to the laws of nature.
The Chinese civilization is based on the pursuit of scripture and constant; cognition is easy and becomes fundamental. Our ancestors sought their ways and reasons from the changes in all things, and discovered the permanence of these things from the impermanence of all things.
Therefore, there are those scriptures, books, and canons that have been passed down for thousands of years, so there are these December decrees, twenty-four solar terms, seventy-two seasons, and all kinds of high-quality traditional cultures.
| description| this article has been authorized by Oriental Life Aesthetics, the copyright of the picture belongs to the original author, and it is limited to exchange and learning and not commercial.
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