The spring equinox is a festival full of hope and vitality – the spring equinox: spring is beautiful and everything can be expected

The vernal equinox is the fourth of the twenty-four solar terms. Usually from March 19 to 22 of each year, the sun reaches 0 degrees ecliptic longitude and enters the vernal equinox. Yi Zhou Shu Shi Xun Xie: "Spring Equinox, mid-February." Divided, half also. This is the half of ninety days, so it is called a division. "The vernal equinox is exactly in the middle of the three months of spring, and the spring is divided equally, hence the name of the spring equinox. On the day of the vernal equinox, the sun shines directly at the equator, day and night are almost equal, after which the direct position of the sun continues to move from the equator to the northern hemisphere, and the days in the northern hemisphere are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter, so the vernal equinox is also called "ascending equinox". The vernal equinox is one of the earliest established solar terms in ancient China, a solar term full of hope and vitality.

The picture shows the calligraphy and painting works of Xu Wei, a calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty.

Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Shu "Yong 24 Qi Poems : Spring Equinox In February": "The two qi are not in contention, and the spring equinox rains everywhere." Rain to see movies, clouds to listen to thunder. The mountains are blue, and the forest flowers are bright. Liang Jian Xuan Bird spoke, as if to understand people's feelings. "Vivid description of the phenological scenery of the vernal equinox. Three seasons of the spring equinox: one waits for the yuan bird to arrive, the second waits for the thunder to sound, and the third waits for the first electricity. The yuan bird, also known as the xuan bird, refers to the swallow, and when it is the spring equinox, people in the northern region can see the figure of the swallow under the eaves, "the little swallow, wearing a flower dress, every spring here", the song sings this scene. At the time of the spring equinox, the rain increases, often accompanied by thunder and lightning, and nature gradually ends the "silent film" era and becomes sound and colored.

During the spring equinox, the climate in most parts of the country is mild and pleasant, the sun is shining, the grass is long and flying everywhere, the flowers are colorful, the begonias, pear blossoms, magnolias and other orders are open, the willow warblers fly in the fields, the peach and plum white greet the spring and yellow, and the heavens and the earth usher in the scene of red willow green, spring and vitality.

The spring equinox arrives, and the farmers are busy

The plan of the year lies in the spring, and the plan of life lies in diligence. After the spring equinox, the temperature rises significantly, farmers usher in the busy season of spring planting, spring pipe, spring ploughing, most of the wintering crops enter the "spring" stage, and the spring crops are about to be sown, so the folk have "early sting, qingming late, spring equinox sowing is just in time". "Spring equinox wheat rises, a moment is worth a thousand gold", winter wheat and winter rapeseed and other wintering crops in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are in a critical period of growth, "fertilizer water should follow closely"; "spring equinox tea, sprouts", tea trees in the southern region began to sprout new shoots, tea farmers seized the precious opportunity to pick spring tea, make Mingqian tea; "the season to the spring equinox, planting trees should be grasped", fruit farmers ushered in the busy season of planting trees; in addition, "planting barley before and after the spring equinox", "spring equinox, good peanuts", "spring equinox planting beans", "spring equinox, bamboo shoots full of mounds" and other agricultural proverbs, All indicate that the curtain is opening on the busy spring farmers.

In ancient times, agriculture was the foundation of the country, and the ancients attached great importance to the spring equinox day. Ancient emperors helped ploughs on the day of the spring equinox to persuade farmers, and various county governments held ploughing ceremonies, and various folk activities were also circulated. To this day, Hunan Anren, Sichuan Chengdu, Shaanxi Fengxiang and other places still retain the custom of "Spring Break", exchange of ploughing materials, tomb sweeping and ancestor worship, until the Qingming Festival. At the time of the spring equinox, the cattle will begin a year of hard work, and people will feed the glutinous rice balls to treat it, hoping that it will help the owner to cultivate the land, grow good grain, and get a good harvest for the year. In jiangnan rice-growing areas, people eat tangyuan, and at the same time cook some tangyuan without a heart, wear them together with thin bamboo sticks, and place them in the field, known as "sticky finches mouth", which is believed to avoid finches from pecking at crops. "On the day of the spring equinox, the wine is mixed with vinegar, and the flowers are transferred to the trees", the spring equinox is the best time for brewing wine in the north, and there is a spring equinox day in Lingchuan, Shanxi, and the tradition of sacrificing the ancestors with wine and vinegar to pray for a rich harvest.

Chunchun, Holiday God

Spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox, winter solstice, that is, "two solstice, two points", is the first four solar terms established by the Chinese ancestors, but also very important four solar terms, the ancients chose to hold a grand sacrifice on the festival day, namely the spring equinox festival day, the autumn equinox festival, the summer solstice festival and the winter solstice festival, in order to follow the heavens.

As the saying goes, "all things grow by the sun", China's sun worship has a long history, the spring equinox coincides with mid-spring, is an important starting point of the rotation of "spring birth, summer long, autumn harvest, winter Tibet", but also the key node of "yang qi rises, yin qi falls", so the ancients have the tradition of spring equinox festival. The Book of Rites records that "the day of sacrifice is on the altar." Since the Zhou Dynasty, this custom has been followed for generations, with the purpose of praying for a smooth wind and rain and a good harvest of agricultural affairs in the new year at the beginning of spring ploughing. Beijing has a special place for the day, the Temple of the Sun, where emperors have worshipped the great Ming God (sun) since the Ming and Qing dynasties. "Tianfu Guangji": "The sacrifice uses the Tai Prison and the Jade Ceremony three offerings, the seven musics, and the dance eight." A, C, 戌, 壬年, the emperor's personal sacrifice". In order to inherit and promote the excellent culture of liturgical music, since 1990, Beijing has successively restored the four major festivals of "heaven, earth, sun and moon".

Folk legend has the custom of "burning the sun's money and grain" on the day of the spring equinox, that is, burning the blessing characters and red paper posted during the Spring Festival to meet the sun, which has the meaning of "burning blessings and blessings". In addition, people also eat sun cakes made of sticky rice, which are usually printed with three-legged chicken or "golden bird round light" motifs to represent the sun god.

The spring equinox is also a traditional festival of many countries and nationalities, called the "Spring Equinox Festival". On the day of the spring equinox, people will gather in a specific place, turn their palms toward the sun, and meditate in the sun with their eyes closed to welcome the arrival of the spring equinox, while folk belief can draw on the mysterious energy from the sun. The vernal equinox is also the traditional "new year" in countries such as Iran, known as the Nowruz Festival, which means "new day", and has a history of more than 3,000 years.

Day and night, cold and summer

The spring equinox, day and night, cold and summer. The ancients believed that the spring equinox day was equal in cold and summer, and the yin and yang were equal, so there was a tradition of proofreading weights and measures on this day to take the meaning of "fairness". In addition, many places have the folk custom of "spring equinox and erection of eggs". As for why the egg is erected on the day of the spring equinox, some people say that it is to celebrate the arrival of spring, and some people suggest that this move can help people prosper.

However, from the traditional meaning of the spring equinox, the basis of the "spring equinox vertical egg" is probably two: one is to take the meaning of the balance of the spring equinox; the other is the cultural remains and evolution of the early sun worship, the ancient literature and patterns of the sun worship, mostly associating the sun with the god bird, at the same time, the shape of the sun and the egg yolk are quite similar, so the "spring equinox vertical egg" may be a derivative of this "sun worship" custom, the egg erected, representing the energy of the sun.

Today, the game of "vertical egg" has swept the world, and some people have applied for the Guinness World Record for this purpose. According to the investigation and research of the American astronomical science writer Phil Pratt, the understanding of the "vertical egg" in Western countries originated from the report of Chinese customs in the "Life" magazine in Chongqing in 1945, this interesting game made readers in the English-speaking world "eye-opening", and people followed suit, so that the "spring equinox vertical egg" gradually evolved into a global solar terms folklore.

Step into the spring equinox and welcome the great spring light. "Spring and mid-south Yangxi, Rousang over the village dock." The willow wind is weeping, and the rain is back to the pond. "The spring equinox is a colorful and interesting festival, but also a vibrant festival, symbolizing the ideal of "heavenly peace" in the Chinese, and nurturing the joy and hope of moving towards "Spring Flower". In the solar terms time flowing away, the time to the spring equinox, standing in the field of sowing hope, bathing in the sun and the sun sprinkled by the sun, Fang knows that spring is beautiful and everything can be expected.

(The author is an associate research librarian at the 24 Solar Terms Research Center of the Agricultural Museum of China)

Source Beijing Daily

Author Wang Xiaoming

Process Editor Tai Shaofeng