February 2, that is, the second day of the first month of February in the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Dragon Head Raising Day", also known as "Dragon Head Festival", "Green Dragon Festival", "Spring Dragon Festival", "Picking Vegetable Festival", according to legend, on this day the dragon began to raise its head, "February 2, the dragon looked up, the green dragon descended to make the golden bull", so the Chinese ancestors sacrificed the green dragon, and followed the custom.
Regarding the origin and customs of February 2 and the "origin" with the dragon, Shi Lixue, chairman of the Jilin Folklore Society and librarian of culture and history of the Jilin Provincial Government, interpreted this.
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The origin of "Dragon Heads Up"
"On the second of February, it is the time when the spring dragon wakes up, at this time, the yang qi rises, the earth qi gradually opens, the spring thunder rolls, the rivers thaw, the earth springs back, and all kinds of hibernating animals and insects begin to stretch their waists." Teacher Shi Lixue said that around February 2, it was the day when the "Dragon" of the Twenty-Eight Houses looked up.
Originally, the Chinese ancestors divided the stars of the ecliptic (the celestial region through which the sun and the moon passed) into twenty-eight constellations, commonly known as the twenty-eight houses, that is, the dormitory of the twenty-eight constellations. Twenty-eight houses, east, west, south and north four directions are divided into four groups, that is, each group of seven constellations, referred to as the seven houses. According to the image of each group of constellations, it is called the East (Left) Green Dragon, the West (Right) White Tiger, the South (Front) Suzaku, and the North (Rear) Xuanwu, that is, the "Four Elephants" (or Four Gods) in ancient astronomy.
In the image of the dragon composed of the Oriental Seven Horns, Kang, Qi, Fang, Heart, Tail and Ji, the horns are the dragon horns, the Kang Su is the dragon neck, the Yu Su is the dragon chest, the room is the dragon belly, the heart is the dragon heart, and the tail and the ji are the dragon's tail.
Whenever around the second of February, at dusk, the heavenly horn (dragon's horn) appears from the horizon, and after about an hour, the dragon's throat rises above the horizon; near midnight, the dragon's claw, also appears, which is the process of "the dragon's head". Therefore, it is called "Dragon Rising Day".
As for the custom formed by the "Dragon Rising Day", it is an interesting activity carried out by the Chinese ancestors around the concept of the dragon.
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February 2 with dragon customs
According to legend, "the dragon is the length of a hundred insects", can "prosper the wind and rain, benefit all things", is listed as one of the four spirits (that is, lin, phoenix, turtle, dragon), the Eastern Han Dynasty Xu Shen wrote the "Commentary on the Interpretation of The Text" recorded: "The dragon, the length of the lin insect, can be mysterious, can be thin and huge, can be long and short, the spring equinox ascends to the sky, the autumn equinox and the abyss." "There are many opinions about the image of the dragon.
The Guangya Shiyu says: "There are scaled dragons, winged dragons, horned dragons, horned dragons, hornless dragons"; the Compendium of Materia Medica concretizes dragons: "Dragons, with nine shapes, heads like lin, horns like deer, eyes like rabbits, ears like cows, necks like snakes, abdomen like mirages, scales like carps, claws like eagles, palms like tigers." "The dragon can spread the clouds to sow rain, nourish all things, and is the sun in the yin, the essence in the water, the dragon in people's hearts is the supreme image, is a symbol of auspiciousness, around this image, the second of February customs have been produced."
Lead the dragon, sprinkle the dragon road
This is an ancient and solemn ritual in tohoku.
On the second day of February, the men got up early, washed themselves, dressed neatly, and before sunrise, filled them with small dustpans of grass and wood ashes that had just been plucked from the stove pit, sprinkled from under the water tank to the barn, sprinkled on the well platform, circled the well, and prayed silently: "The green dragon goes, the yellow dragon comes." "
Sprinkle to the bubble along the edge, sprinkle to the big river, sprinkle to all the places where there is water, the finer the gray line, the better, in the courtyard to sprinkle a number of circles of the same size, and draw a cross in the circle to show the grain hoard, after that, the grains such as millet, sorghum, wheat, bud rice and other grains are sprinkled in each grain hoard, the chickens and ducks are released, and the poultry eats which kind of grain first, which kind of grain harvest is indicated; sprinkled under the kang edge of the living room, it is said that it can prevent rats from hitting holes.
Some people also draw some ladder-like gray lines at the door of the grain hoard and their own houses in order to "fly the dragon to the sky" in order to "fly to the sky." It is customary to lead the dragon for this ceremony, which is said to bless the wind and rain during the year. Sprinkle the dragon road, just in time for the red sun to rise in the east, and then hit the bucket of water, do not look back and do not speak, poured in the water tank, called "leading the dragon into the room". The sun does not come out, no one's house draws water, afraid of hurting the dragon's head, and must leave a time for the dragon to look up and ascend to heaven. In some places, there is a popular folk custom of not being the first to go to the well to fetch water, and it is believed that whoever goes to fetch water first will hit the faucet, and the family will cook a dry pot.
Wear the dragon's tail
Cut the straw into a section, and wrap various colors of flower cloth in the middle of each section, the more vivid the color, the better, the top is embellished with a copper coin bottom, and the lower is tied with a cloth spike, which is regarded as a dragon's tail. Hang the tail of the dragon on the head and tail of the house gate and on the beams of the sheep pen and the cowshed to show that the green dragon is waiting to ascend to heaven. It is said that the dragon tail is under the cabinet box or kang mat, and it is said that it can attract good fortune and wealth, and it is not attacked by insects.
Folklore says that the bald-tailed old Li is a black dragon, the tail of the black dragon has been cut off, and the black dragon is still in the Heilongjiang River, bless the wind and rain here. In order to make up the tail of the black dragon, people wear the dragon's tail on the second day of February.
After the dragon tail is worn, it is hung on the window hook or mantle pole, and some wear various types of dragon tails passed down with multicolored cloth on the placket of children, and women wear various types of dragon tails strung with sorghum rice flowers and multicolored cloth. It is believed that only in this way can the dragon of the house ensure the safety of the family.
Avoid needle and thread knives and axes
In the northeast of Japan, there is also the custom of "women avoiding needles and fearing stinging dragons", and also avoid feeding livestock with grass, and some folk proverbs say: "The winter solstice does not push, the summer solstice does not pound, february two do not cut grass", afraid that the grass will hurt the dragon head.
Shave the faucet
Taking the meaning of the dragon looking up and rejoicing, the folk shave the head of the little boy on this day, commonly known as "shaving the dragon's head"; it can make the child's head clear-eyed, smart and clever, and the hair is black and strong. Folk legend has it that "shaving the head in the first month hinders the uncle", the head begins to be left before the festival stove, the haircut is forbidden in the first month, and it is not shaved until the second day of the first two days of February. "On the second of February, shave the dragon's head and earn a big golden bull in the future."
Smoked worms
There are rumors such as "February 2, knock on the beam, bugs and worms don't go down to the room," "February 2, sweep the kang head, bed bug fleas flow out". People are hoarding incense in grain, and each hoard is twelve.
He also used the leftover incense heads left over from the New Year to smoke the walls of the living room, stone cracks, window sills, room beams, purlins, column cracks and courtyard exterior wall cracks, corners, etc., with the intention of preventing poisonous insects, smoking on the one hand, singing songs on the other: "New Moon Lantern, February Oil, Dragon Heads Up, Turtle Heads Up, Bed Bugs, Kudzu (Fleas) Do Not Look Up." "The moon is fragrant, the Fire of February, flies and mosquitoes have nowhere to hide."
Some people use a straw, tie a red cloth strip, knock on the beam and stove, and chant while playing: "Hit the pot table, the insects and shrimp will no longer come; hit the kang along, there is no worm; hit the house beam, the snake and scorpion do not go down..."
The housewife sewed a chicken shape with a colorful cloth and hung it indoors, saying that she could avoid worms and insects and ants.
Illuminate the worm candle
In the Liaoyang and Haicheng areas, on the night of February 2, in the room, lamps and candles are lit all over the room, illuminating the dark places in the corners of the house, commonly known as insect candles.
In the Benxi area, on the night of February 2, everyone lights candles in the courtyard. Let Xiao'er carry a lantern in one hand and a sickle in the other, surround the courtyard, knock the knife all over the corner of the wall, and read while knocking: "Pick up the god, follow the thief, the queen mother and the mother will fix the god, the upper wall will break the arms and legs, and the lower wall will break the haribal (thigh bone)."" To drive away thieves and eliminate evil and seek good fortune. The idea here is that the dragon is the chief of a hundred insects, and since the dragon has been lured into the house, there is no place for the insects to live.
Dragon heads, dragon eggs, dragon scale cakes and dragon whisker noodles
Teacher Shi Lixue said that on the second of February, eat noodles, pick the dragon's whiskers, take everything jishun; fried soybeans, called fried dragon eggs, said to be able to get rid of diseases and evil; flap cakes, the name of the shrimp; fried sticky cakes, fried worms.
On the second of February, the earth will spring back, and the agricultural affairs will soon be busy. "It is the Japanese domestic helpers to arrive, the master will rule the sumptuous banquet to drink everyone, called eating the treaty wine", still with the dragon head as the core concept, some places with dough sugar rolled into round eggs fried, called "dragon eggs", food cakes called "dragon scales", noodles called "dragon whisker noodles", rice, called "dragon seeds", wontons, called "dragon teeth", dumplings, called "dragon ears"; the most common and prominent custom is "grilled pig's head".
Farmers slaughter pigs, mostly in the first month of the basic food, "only the head of the hooves, so the day to cook food", people with pig heads sacrificed to the dragon head, the pig head eaten as lifting the dragon head.
The Dragon of February 2 is the most important totem of the northeast at that time.
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Source 丨 East Asia Economic and Trade News Reporter Wang Lu
Edited by Luna
Audit 丨 Li Zhuang Jiang Shuai
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![In addition to shaving your head on the second of February, eating is also very exquisite, what do you eat today?[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)