"Flying egrets in desert paddy fields, yellow orioles in the shade and summer wood." This is a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei describing the paddy fields in early summer.
Today's Xiaoman is the second solar term of summer, and the ancients called it the first summer, also known as the first summer. As far as things are concerned, they are small and full: this is the only solar term named after the state in which the plant grows. At this time, the grains of summer crops such as wheat begin to fill, but they are not yet fully ripe, so they are called Xiaoman.
In the small full season, the loquat is yellow, the bayberry is red, and the watermelon is sweet, which can be described as the most beautiful time in early summer. The folk customs of the small full season have worshipping the ancestors of the "silkworm god", sacrificing the god of waterwheels, eating wild vegetables, etc., and the famous calligraphy and painting sites of the past dynasties have presented many of them.
Xiaoman folk customs: sacrifice to the silkworm god, sacrifice to the waterwheel god, etc
In ancient times, people regarded silkworms as heavenly objects. In order to pray for the forgiveness of heavenly creatures and a good harvest of silkworms, a silkworm prayer festival is held when silkworms are released. Silkworm farmers will go to the "Silkworm Niang Temple" to offer fruits, wine, and sumptuous dishes to worship, especially to put the "noodle cocoon" made of noodles on the straw mountain made of straw, in order to pray for a good harvest of silkworm cocoons.
The silkworm cocoon is formed during the small full festival, and it is waiting to be picked to continue the silk, this is the busiest season for farmers, as the saying goes, "small full of three cars", it is said that the silk car, the oil car, the field car.
Modern painter Qi Baishi painted a number of "silkworm mulberry pictures", one of which painted a number of spring silkworms that are eating mulberry leaves, three of them each chewed a leaf, the middle of the leaf was almost eaten up, the spring silkworm was sketched out with a simple brush, and then slightly dyed with light ink according to the shape, the silkworm's soft body, curved body vividly depicted, and then dotted eyes, mouth, tentacles, although it is a freehand pen but extremely realistic, a few strokes convey abundant vitality.
Qi Baishi's silkworm
In the agricultural proverb, the common people often refer to the abundance of rain with "full", and Xiaoman is the season of early rice topdressing and middle rice transplanting in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, the car water and the sacrifice to the water wheel god are also important folk customs in the Xiaoman season.
Ancient paintings depicting this folk custom include the "Picture of the God of the Water Wheel".
On the right side of the "Sacrifice to the Water Wheel God" there is a poem "Irrigation" written in seal writing: "Pick up the seedlings and despise the Song people, and hold the shame of Mengzhuang." What a Ouroboros does, flowing backwards into a pond. The green waves are dancing, and the grass is cool during the day. The slanting sun is declining and the willows are smiling. There is an inscription poem by Qianlong in the upper left corner: "Break the water and re-irrigate, and the farmer will use the village." The orange tree takes the wells, and the overturned car takes the ponds. Xu should do his best to expose his back to the cold. The grain is so difficult, and the word cake sneers at He Lang. ”
"Sacrifice to the God of the Water Wheel" depicting Xiaoman folk customs
Disputes over water sources are a common occurrence in agricultural production, and only by shouting with their arms raised, stomping their feet and meddling to overwhelm each other in terms of momentum can they rightly occupy water resources. The "Farmland Waterwheel" fan painted by Zhang Hong in the Ming Dynasty vividly captures this quarrel in the field.
Ming Dynasty Zhang Hong's "Farmland Waterwheel" Collection of the Palace Museum
Tang Yun, a modern Shanghai-style painter, also has a car water map in his paintings, which he made when he was 32 years old, and the inscription reads: "Flying egrets in desert paddy fields, and yellow orioles in the yin and summer trees." This is a sentence from the poem "Accumulated Rain Rim Chuanzhuang Composition" by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei.
Tang Yun "Desert Paddy Field"
Small and full of scenery: wild vegetables, loquat and pomegranate flowers
In the old days, Xiaoman still had the custom of eating wild vegetables. There are many articles that record wild vegetables in the Book of Songs, and "Mao's Poems and Objects" (compiled by Okamoto Feng, painted by Tachibana Guoxiong) is an illustrated book of animals and plants in the Book of Songs by Japanese sinologists in the eighteenth century, in which the wild vegetables in the Book of Songs are quite expressive.
The depictions of wild plants in ancient paintings and calligraphy are also wonderful.
Biography Wang Yuan Saxifrage
Wang Yuan of the Yuan Dynasty (biography) "Saxifrage" in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei paints a flowering saxifrage, as well as crickets, damselflies, and snails, which are rich in content. Under the management of the artist's short, repetitive dense lines, the saxifrage conveys a fluffy effect and also produces an embroidery-like texture texture. In the lower right corner, two crickets seem to be ready to fight.
Qing Jiang Tingxi, grass stone grasshopper
Jiang Tingxi's "Grasshopper Grasshopper" in the Qing Dynasty depicts caryophyllus, grasshopper and dogtail grass on paper, which is easy to express the characteristics of rich colors, and the painter skillfully uses the color changes between red and green to show the subtle difference between the protective colors of plants and insects. Dogtail grass spikes, similar to the silk hair method of painting animals and animals, are patiently painted one stroke at a time.
The small full season is the season of pomegranate blossoms. "Pomegranate, flowers are better than fruits, there are three kinds of red, peach, and light white, which are as fierce as fire, no substance, and should be planted in the court." Wen Zhenheng of the Ming Dynasty described pomegranates in his "Chronicles of Long Things". Every year in May, because the pomegranate blossoms bloom, it is also known as the Durian Moon.
Song Zhao Chang Shou with pomegranate flowers This picture is selected from the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei "Tang, Song and Yuan Collection Picture Album"
The pomegranate was brought back from Anshi by Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, and there are many good sentences to praise throughout the ages. For example, Tang Hanyu's "May pomegranate flowers shine brightly, and the branches are seen when the seeds are first formed." Tang Kong Shao'an's famous sentence in "Banquet Song of Pomegranate": "Just to come late, the flowers are not blooming in spring." ”
There is no shortage of pomegranate flower masterpieces in the past dynasties, some of which are made of broken branch flowers, and some appear as seasonal flowers of the Dragon Boat Festival. For example, the Yuan people's "Painting Heaven and China Rui" axis, and the Ming Dynasty Lu Zhi's broken branch pomegranate flowers have Wen Zhengming cursive script: the green branches in the south of the Yangtze River in May are even, and the scarves are cut and cut lightly. Cherish Dongjun's pity and loneliness, so he will show Yu Chun.
Yuan Ren Painting Heaven Zhonghua Rui Axis Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Yuan Ren "Painting the Sky Zhonghua Rui", painting pomegranate trees, hollyhocks in full bloom, gardenias are also competing for beauty, and there are pu ai and wild chrysanthemums dotted under the trees and stones. The bark of the tree is characterized by punctate lines, which have an old and mottled feeling.
Yuan Ren Painting Heaven Zhonghua Rui Axis (detail) Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Ming Lu Zhi painted a small scene of pomegranate flowers, collected by the National Palace Museum, Taipei
(This article is based on relevant folk culture materials, the Palace Museum and The Paper's report materials)