Introduction: "There are three elephants in seventy-nine years, and new graves are raised everywhere", what does "three elephants" mean? Remind people to take precautions early.
The mainland folk count nine cold days from the winter solstice, every nine days is nine, when the count of nine nine days means that the cold has been exhausted, and it is already warm in the middle of spring.
When counting nine, our ancestors left a well-known song of counting nine by observing the changes of nature: "1929 does not make a move, 3949 walks on ice, 5969 looks at willows along the river, 79 rivers open, 89 geese come, 99 plus 19, ploughing cattle everywhere."
The time of Qijiu in 2024 is from February 14th to February 22nd, just as the song says "Qijiu River Open", which means that the weather has begun to warm up during the Qijiu period, and the frozen river surface has begun to melt slowly, indicating that everything has begun to recover, and the spring of wind and beauty has arrived.
But the cold has not completely faded during the seven or nine time periods, the weather at this time is warm and cold, even if it is very warm at noon, but it is still relatively cold in the morning and evening, we should reasonably increase or decrease clothes according to weather changes.
The mainland is an ancient country with an agricultural civilization, and what the peasants are most concerned about is the grain harvest, and the peasants hope that the wind and rain will be smooth and the grain will be abundant. There is an old saying in the rural areas of the mainland called "seven nine appear three elephants, new graves are raised everywhere", the grave represents death, this sentence means that if there are three kinds of weather characteristics during the "seventy-nine" time period, then it indicates that the grain harvest is not good, in ancient times itself is short of material, once the grain harvest is not in good years, then it is easy to cause famine, so that there will be a phenomenon of adding new graves, that is, the year is not good. So what exactly does the "three elephants" mean here? Let's take a look at what the agricultural proverb says.
The first image: 79 "hot baking"
The weather is obviously warmer during the Qijiu period, but it is hot during the Qijiu period, that is, it obviously feels hotter during the Qijiu period, so it is not a good sign for farmers.
The agricultural proverb says, "Seventy-nine is hot, cold in March". It means that if we feel hot during the July and Ninth period, then according to the experience of our ancestors, it indicates that the weather will be relatively cold in the third month of the lunar calendar, that is, there will be "cold spring" weather in the third month of the lunar calendar.
The inverted spring cold refers to the phenomenon that the weather in the middle and late stages of the spring is obviously low, the inverted spring cold will seriously affect agricultural production, the winter wheat in the third month of the lunar calendar has returned to green, the fruit trees have bloomed and hung fruits, farmers have begun spring ploughing and spring sowing, at this time, if the cold weather of the inverted spring occurs, then the winter wheat that has returned to green is prone to frost damage, the fruit trees that have flowered and fruited will seriously fall flowers and fruits, the seeds that have just been sown but have not yet been unearthed will be rotten, and the seedlings that have just been unearthed will be frostbitten in large quantities.
Just as the agricultural proverb says, "Seventy-nine poisonous sun, Qingming baking stove", "Seventy-nine days are sunny, farmers reduce the harvest", all of which are said that if the Qijiu period is too warm, then it indicates that there will be a cold spring.
The second image: 79 "blowing the north wind"
There is a time for the beginning of spring called "east wind thaw", normally the east wind or south wind should blow during the "79" time period, if the "north wind" blows during the 79 time period, then it is not a good thing for farmers.
The agricultural proverb says, "Seventy-nine north wind, ninety-nine ploughing cattle rest". The north wind is often cold, if the wind direction of the Qijiu period is dominated by the north wind, then according to the experience of our ancestors, it indicates that the cold weather will continue for the next period of time, and the weather may still not be warm during the Jiujiu period, which will cause the crops to be postponed and the cattle can only rest.
The third image: 79 "Snow"
According to the experience of our ancestors, if there is still snowy weather in the July or September period, it will also make the farmers more worried.
Just as the agricultural proverb says, "Seventy-nine snowflakes are fluttering, people and animals are worried", the meaning is very simple, if it still snows during the seventy-nine period, then people and animals will be more worried. Normally, the weather has warmed up significantly during the July and September periods, and if the weather is still snowing, it will affect the return of winter wheat, and at the same time, it will also affect spring plowing and spring sowing, and the harvest of crops will be greatly affected. In ancient times, when productivity was backward, once the grain harvest was poor, it would affect people's livelihood, and livestock would not be able to eat enough because they did not have enough food.
The agricultural proverb also says that "when it snows for seven or nine days, the peasants should eat black", which means that if it snows during the seven or nine periods, it indicates that the wheat harvest will be relatively poor, and people can not eat white steamed buns, but can only eat coarse grains such as sorghum. Due to the poor taste of sorghum, sorghum is often used to feed livestock in the year of wheat harvest, and when the wheat harvest is poor, people have to eat sorghum that is difficult to swallow.
According to the experience of our ancestors, it is not a good sign that the hot and dry weather, the north wind and snow are not good signs. Although these agricultural proverbs may not be so accurate in modern society, they still have a strong warning meaning.