Chinese culture is broad and profound, has a long history, and is all-encompassing, and one of the branches is the colloquialism. The saying has been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth to this day. Throughout the ages, there have been countless and numerous sayings circulating in the anecdotes, and many of these sayings are based on life and act on life, which has played a certain guiding significance for the daily production and life of the ancients. Of course, due to the limitations of the background of the era in which the ancients lived, some sayings belong to feudal dross and do not meet the needs of the development of the times, while the vast majority of sayings are still more useful, especially those that involve dealing with people in the world.
The saying I want to talk about today is called "men will be born in three or eight, and women will be widowed", what does this saying mean? Is it still useful?
First, the "three eights" in the saying
The word "March 8th" is not derogatory, in a broad sense, it refers to "March 8th Women's Day", in the old days, the Southern Fujian region said "March 8th" as a curse word, and people came to curse foreign devils. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, and in the face of the aggression of the great powers, it blindly signed unequal treaties that humiliated the country, and the Xiamen and Quanzhou areas of Fujian in southern Fujian were listed as treaty ports, and many foreign devils began to run amok in this area, and on the third and eighth days of each month, foreign devils swarmed in groups, or drove their cars on the road, or abducted good family women, or regarded the Chinese people as living targets. It was said that "the three-eight devils are coming~", and over time, this sentence was reduced to the word "three-eight".
Later, "March 8" also referred to those who behaved improperly, rudely and did not observe the law.
The "three eights" in this saying is derived from the Song Dynasty, when the temples would open on the "march 8th" day, such as the ancient books recorded that "Xiangguo Temple, as it was, also opened on three or eight days a month." "The capital city Xiangguo Temple is the most stronghold of chonghui, every month Synowang three or eight days to open, trick hundreds of workers column recklessly do not gather. "
What is March 8th? In fact, it refers to the first eight, eighteen and twenty-eighth days of each month in the lunar calendar, and also refers to the August of each year.
Second, why is it said that "men will be widowed if they occupy 38, and women will be widowed"?
This seemingly simple saying contains the three main concepts of the ancients, namely "Mandate of Heaven", "Yin and Yang", and "Male superiority over female inferiority".
First of all, the theory of mandate of heaven, in ancient times, Confucianism is orthodox thought, and confucianism advocated the "mandate of heaven" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the ancient people in addition to the examination of merit, there are few opportunities to change the fate, ancient women are not even the channel to obtain the merit of the name, in short, people's fate, is pinched to death, because of this, breeding the theory of mandate of heaven, to give the "theory of mandate of heaven" a fertile soil.
From a certain point of view, the "Doctrine of Mandate of Heaven" that the ancients generally believed to be a kind of self-consolation, a kind of Ah Q spirit. So what is destiny? It means that as soon as a person is born, his fate is already predestined.
This concept is also reflected in the ancients' emphasis on the eight characters of the birthday. From the fact that the temple is the "March 8th" day opening temple, it can be seen that the eighth, eighteenth and twenty-eighth days of the first month of the month are a good day, and these days are full of yang. And every year in August, it is the autumn harvest season, melons and fruits are fragrant, and the climate is pleasant.
Second, let's talk about yin and yang. Fu Xi opened the heavens and the earth, Fu Xi created Tai Chi, Tai Chi is Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang in the philosophical concepts of the ancients, there is no denying this. However, the use of the yin-yang doctrine in this common saying seems a bit far-fetched.
As mentioned above, "march 8" is full of sunshine, if a man is born on this day, it is considered to be a good birthday, which can promote his manhood, will be stronger and bolder in character, and can achieve certain achievements in his career, that is, "men account for three or eight must be hairy", if women are born on this day, they are considered to be "born at the wrong time", in terms of personality, there is no inherent feminine atmosphere of women, showing a big grin, which does not meet the requirements of the ancients for women to be gentle and elegant, gentle and subtle, in short, "female man" The ancients believed that such a woman would be a kef, that is, "a woman who occupies three or eight will be widowed."
Finally, the so-called "male superiority and female inferiority", the status of ancient women, has been severely suppressed, people believe that women should obey the three subordinates and four virtues, and this saying "women occupy three or eight will be widowed", which obviously has the color of "male superiority and female inferiority", which is an groundless accusation against ancient women.
summary:
Today, this saying is no longer useful, "three points are destined, seven points rely on hard work", people's fate is in their own hands, with the development of information, people also have no shortage of examples of seeing that fate is not good, through their own efforts to achieve achievements, of course, there is no lack of fresh examples of seeing a good hand of cards broken.
"Men accounting for three or eight is not necessarily hairy, and women accounting for three eight is not widowed"
To treat the sayings, we still have to uphold a dialectical attitude, to take their essence, to remove their dross, so that they can be swept away in the waves and absorb nutrition in the many sayings left by the ancients.
What do you think? Comments are welcome.