Xia Jin, a reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network
March 20 of this year is the fourth of the twenty-four solar terms. Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty in "Spring and Autumn Dew" Yun: "The spring equinox, yin and yang are half, so the day and night are equal and the cold and summer are flat." "When the sun shines directly at the equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres are equally divided between day and night, and the cold and heat are equal, the spring equinox day will arrive.
Illustration: Cheng Xuan
Xiao Fang, a professor at the School of Sociology of Beijing Normal University and vice president of the Chinese Folklore Society, told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that the spring equinox is generally celebrated between March 2 and March 21 in the Gregorian calendar. After the day of the spring equinox, the northern hemisphere has become longer and longer, and the nights have become shorter and shorter, so there is a saying that "after eating the spring equinox meal, a day is long and a line". The "point" of "spring equinox" also means "half". "The Seventy-two Waiting Solutions to the Moon Order" Yun: "In the middle of February, the divider is half, and this is the half of the ninety days, so it is called the division." According to the traditional calendar of the mainland, the ninety days between spring and summer are spring, and the spring equinox is exactly equal to the three months, so the ancient spring equinox is also called "spring equinox". The arrival of the spring equinox means that spring is halfway through.
Vernal Equine Holidays
Xiao Fang said that among the twenty-four solar terms, the "four stands", "two points" and "two solstices" are relatively important "big solar terms", and the spring equinox has a very special status. Because this festival is closely related to agricultural affairs, it has always been valued by people.
From the spring equinox to the Qingming Dynasty, the temperature rises the fastest in the year. After the spring equinox, the weather warms up, the spring rains increase, the sunshine time is getting longer and longer, and the earth is full of vitality. As the saying goes, "the mallet takes root on the ground", which describes the state of vigorous crop growth during the spring equinox. There is also a saying in the agricultural proverb that "the spring wind wheat rises, a moment is worth a thousand gold".
Everything grows by the sun. In the agrarian society, people have a strong dependence and worship on the sun, and the sun symbolizes energy, strength and exuberant vitality, so the ancient society had a ceremonial system of "sun and sunset and moon". Xiao Fang explained that "asahi and sunset moon" means to sacrifice the sun at the spring equinox and the moon at the autumn equinox. The ancients generally celebrated the day in the morning, so it was called "Asahi"; the festival moon was called "Sunset Moon" at night. During the sacrifice, livestock and other sacrifices are usually placed on firewood and burned to let the smoke rise into the sky.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been ceremonies on the day of the Spring Equinox Festival. The chengshan head of Rongcheng in Shandong was believed to be the dwelling place of the sun god in ancient times. According to the "Chronicle of History", After Jiang Taigong helped King Wu of Zhou to agree on the world, he once built the main shrine here. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang twice drove to the top of Chengshan Mountain, built the "Shi Huang Temple" here, and set up the "Sun Lord Ancestral Hall" to worship the Sun Lord. Later, successive emperors set up altar temples dedicated to the sun in the capital, and the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped the sun was the sun altar located in the east of Beijing.
Xiao Fang introduced that in the past, the sun god and the moon god were not something that ordinary people could worship casually, and the sacrifice ceremony could only be held by the imperial court. The Qing Dynasty Pan Rongxi's "Jisheng in the Age of Emperor Jing" records: "The spring equinox festival day and the autumn equinox festival are the great ceremonies of the country, and the people are not allowed to worship without permission." "During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the asahi was set at the time of the spring equinox, and every year of A, C, E, Geng, and Nong, the emperor personally sacrificed, and the rest of the year was sacrificed by officials. The festival is also for the purpose of praying for a good harvest throughout the year.
On the day of the spring equinox, there is a custom of eating sun cakes in the northern region. Sun cake is especially common in the Beijing area, which is both an offering of the festival and a festival food, with the meaning of "the sun is high". Sun cake is generally made of glutinous rice and sugar, and it is printed with a three-legged golden wu symbolizing the sun, and eating sun cake is an expression of gratitude to the sun.
Spring Society
The ancients did not have high agricultural technology and relied on the sky to eat, so there was a tradition of "spring prayer and autumn report", that is, when sowing seeds in the spring, pray to the gods to bless the wind and rain, the grain is abundant, and then repay the gifts of the gods when the autumn harvest is harvested. Therefore, during the two seasons of the spring equinox and the autumn equinox, the ancients made two large-scale activities to sacrifice the land gods, and this sacrifice activity was called "Spring Society" and "Autumn Society", and the Spring Society and the Autumn Society were collectively called "Society Day". Shang Binghe, a famous Yi scholar in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, said that sheri "can be described as the oldest and most common festival in Chinese history." "The land temples that exist everywhere today are the remnants of the Sheri Shrine.
Xiao Fang told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that like many traditional festivals of sacrifice in China, the Spring Society is divided into official and civil societies. The official society is solemn and solemn, the etiquette is complicated, and the civil society is full of life and has become a day of entertainment for neighborhood gatherings. There are various recreational activities in the civil society, including beating the club drum, eating the food club, drinking the community wine, watching the community drama and many other customs, and on this day, women and children will also go out to play. Chunshe is a rare and lively festival in the traditional folk, and the word "society" originated from the gathering activities of the folk society.
There are many poems in the Tang poems that describe the scene of the folk spring society. "The rice sorghum under the goose lake mountain is fertile, and the guinea pig is half hidden." Mulberry shadow oblique spring society scattered, the family support drunk" describes the Jiangxi lead mountain Goose Lake Mountain Spring Society, the family drunk scene. Lu You, a famous poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, also had many poems related to the Spring Society, such as "Sheri", "She drink", "She drum", "She meat" and so on.
Brew spring wine
In ancient times, the people of Shanxi and Zhejiang had the custom of brewing wine and mixing vinegar at the spring equinox. Xiao Fang said that the ancients brewed vinegar and wine at the spring equinox, probably taking the mood of "equality of heaven and earth" at the spring equinox, which means balance, balance can be reconciled, and good wine and vinegar can be made. In addition, during the spring equinox, the earth's gas penetrates, and microorganisms begin to be active, which is also conducive to the manufacture of wine and vinegar. There is a county chronicle in Zhejiang that records, "The spring equinox wine is stored in an urn, and after three volts of dregs, it is self-chemicalized, and its color is red and the taste is not bad for a long time, which is called the spring equinox wine." The folk proverb also has a saying that "good wine knows the seasons, and spring brewing is as expensive as gold".
Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Hangzhou all have ancient wine-making traditions. Gao Lian, a famous opera writer of the Ming Dynasty, recorded an old Hangzhou custom in the "Eight Notes of Zunsheng": picking flowers and rice to make wine when pear blossoms are in bloom, called "pear blossom spring". The poem "Hangzhou Spring Hope" written by Bai Juyi when he was in charge of the history of Hangzhou also wrote that "Qingqigu wine takes advantage of pear blossoms", and the author's original note: "Its custom, winemaking is ripe when the pear blossoms are ripe, and the number is 'pear blossom spring'." ”
Nowadays, the pace of people's lives is getting faster and faster, and the cultural tradition of "brewing spring wine" is gradually disappearing. At present, only Zhejiang and Shanxi in the mainland still retain the custom of brewing wine on the day of the spring equinox. In Lingchuan, Shanxi, on the day of the spring equinox, not only brews wine, but also sacrifices wine to the first farmers and prays for abundant grains.
Flower Dynasty Festival
Like other solar terms, the vernal equinox has three phenology: "one waits for the bird to arrive; the second waits for thunder to sound; and the third wait for the first electricity." This means that during the spring equinox the swallows fly back from the south back to the north, and when it rains the sky starts to thunder and sends out lightning. The spring equinox also has three flower letters, "one waits for begonias, two waits for pear blossoms, and three waits for magnolias". However, there are far more flowers blooming during the spring equinox than these three.
Thousands of purples and thousands of reds, flowers like brocade. When a hundred flowers are in full bloom, it is natural that festivals about flowers are indispensable. Xiao Fang said that there is a very old festival around the spring equinox, called the "Flower Dynasty Festival", also called the "Flower God Festival", commonly known as "Hundred Peanuts Day". The specific time of the "Flower Dynasty Festival" varies from place to place, some on the second day of the first month of February, some on the twelfth of February, and some on the fifteenth of February.
In ancient times, the "Flower Dynasty" and the "Mid-Autumn Festival" had the same important status, and it was said that "flowers were on the moon and the sunset". According to legend, the flower god lives in the flower temple, so the celebration ceremony of the flower festival is mostly held in the flower temple. Flower temples are all over the country, especially in Jiangnan.
On the day of the "Flower Dynasty Festival", Jiangnan flower farmers will rush to the temple early in the morning to worship the flower god, and offer pastries and offerings in front of the idols to pray for blessings. Qing Ren Cai Yun's "YongHua Dynasty" poem Yun: "The day of the hundred peanuts is a good day, and it is not yet half the spring of the flower dynasty." Thousands of purples and thousands of reds are draped in splendid embroidery, and Shanglao embellishes the flower god", which depicts the grand situation of the Jiangnan people in the old days when they celebrated the Flower God Festival. The Southern Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Record of Dreams" also records the lively scene of citizens rushing out of the city to play during the Flower Dynasty Festival. Local officials in various places should also take their subordinates to the suburbs and villages on this day to comfort Nongsang.
The "Flower Dynasty Festival" in Hangzhou is usually on the fifteenth day of the second month of the lunar calendar. On this day, the clever girls will carry red cloth strips through the courtyard and "hang red" flowers and trees. Qing Wu Cunkai's "Jiangxiang Festival Poetry" has a poem "Hanging Red" that reads: "Cherishing flowers and hearts is too attentive, and the bottom of a chixia tree is divided." Sending a message to Aunt Mo, Chunhong is not a pomegranate group. "The red hanging of flowers and trees is not only a prayer for the flourishing of flowers and trees, but also a remnant of the ancient tradition of hanging and protecting flowers. Later, the custom of hanging red in the flower dynasty was passed down from generation to generation, and there was more and more auspicious and rich, festive and lively atmosphere.
In Xiao Fang's view, the Flower Dynasty Festival is not only a day when the ancients were close to nature, but also reflected the aesthetics and tastes of the ancients, and was the aesthetic expression of the daily life of the ancients. Therefore, the Flower Dynasty Festival is also a festival and custom that modern people should inherit.
Dig wild vegetables
The spring equinox is also a time when wild vegetables grow luxuriantly. Xiao Fang said that since ancient times, people have had the custom of going to the wild to dig wild vegetables at the spring equinox. In the Song Dynasty, digging wild vegetables was a national custom, and even emperors and empresses would participate, so the Flower Dynasty Festival also had another name for "Picking Vegetables Festival". In the concept of people at that time, "picking" had the meaning of "guessing" and "digging". According to the "Past Events of Wulin", every year on the second day of february, the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Palace held a "picking feast", which was actually a game of guessing the names of wild vegetables. The eunuch prepared a batch of wooden axes, piled them with wet soil, and planted various wild vegetables dug up one by one, one for each tree. Then I found a batch of silk cloth, cut it into long strips, wrote the name of the wild vegetable, rolled it up, and pressed it against the bottom of the wild vegetable. There are many people who participate in the picking banquet, and empresses, princes, imperial daughters, concubines, eunuchs, and high palace ladies are eligible to participate. See a wild vegetable, guess its name, and then pull out a rolled silk cloth strip, compare it with the name of the wild vegetable on it, and guess correctly and there will be a reward.
Xiao Fang said that it is more interesting to compare the record of "picking vegetables and feasting" in the "Past Affairs of Wulin" with the record of "tribute from King Wuyue" in the "Song Hui's Draft". The "Song Hui Zhi Manuscript" records that on the second day of February in the second year of the Taiping Revival of the Northern Song Dynasty (977), Qian Li, the king of Wuyue who "returned to the Song Dynasty", paid tribute to "four golden pickers, four golden wrong knives, twenty silver pickers, and twenty silver wrong knives". The gold-inlaid jade knife is used to dig wild vegetables, and the picker is used to replace the wood.
Digging wild vegetables in spring is also a special living custom of modern people. At the time of the spring equinox, maran head, cabbage, artemisia, dandelion, bracken, etc. sprout and are ready to be turned into a fresh side dish on the table. Wild vegetables are extremely easy to eat, and they should be prepared with salt, sesame oil and sugar to meet the refreshing taste of spring. Wild vegetables have the effect of cooling, detoxifying and defeating fire, and are very suitable for spring consumption when the yang qi rises.
Vertical egg
Photographed by Xia Jin, a reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network
On the day of the vernal equinox, countless people in the world are doing the experiment of "vertical egg": take a fresh egg, slowly put it up on the table, "spring equinox, egg is pretty". This ancient game, which originated in China, is now popular all over the world. Xiao Fang said that the basis of the egg game is actually the "equal level" heavenly path contained in the spring equinox.
Xiao Fang believes that "equality" means justice and fairness, so the spring equinox is a sacred day. He told the Reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that on the day of the Spring Equinox, the ancients would also correct the weights and measures tools to see if the scales and buckets used met the standards, so that Tong Shu was not deceived.
Xiao Fang believes that the spring equinox embodies the neutralization of traditional Chinese culture, that is, impartiality and no fault. Therefore, the spring equinox is also the traditional Chinese "standard day", and its connotations of "justice" and "equality" still have important guiding significance in modern society.
Source: China Youth Daily client