The "24 solar terms" were officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on November 30, 2016, and are summarized as "the knowledge system formed by Chinese through observing the annual movement of the sun". A few years ago, I wanted to write about the 24 solar terms in China, but I couldn't stick to it because I was busy with work. Now pick up this idea again, and I hope that every solar term this year can be accompanied by my article.
Spring is born and summer is long, autumn is harvested and winter is hidden, and each season has its own appearance throughout the year. Time is not just a cold scale, it also teaches us how to live better. There's a quote that I particularly like: "Young man, your job is to level the land, not to be anxious." You do things in March and April, and you have your own answer in ** month. With this as a preface, we begin to share the first of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar: the beginning of spring.
The beginning of spring is astronomical, that is, when the sun reaches 315 degrees of yellow longitude. In Yu Shicun's "Book of Time", such a period of history is recorded:
Ancient Chinese folk were all celebrated on the day of "Lichun", which is equivalent to the current "Spring Festival", and the first day of the first lunar month is called "New Year's Day". In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established China. Representatives of the provincial governors met in Nanjing and decided to use the Gregorian calendar, calling the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar "Spring Festival" and the first day of January in the Gregorian calendar "New Year's Day". In early January 1912, when Sun Yat-sen took office as the provisional chief in Nanjing, in order to "go to Xiazheng, so Shunnong, from the Western calendar, so it will be counted", the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is set as the Spring Festival, and January 1 of the Gregorian calendar is called the first "New Year" of the year, and it is still called "New Year's Day".
From this history, it is not difficult for us to see the importance of "Lichun" in the minds of Chinese.
With a pair of discerning eyes and a delicate heart, the ancients watched the flowers bloom and fall, and the swallows came and went, summing up the broad and profound 24 solar terms and 72 seasons. Five days and one wait, one wait and one change, three times for one solar term, six solar terms for one season, four seasons and twenty-four solar terms for a cycle, cycle after cycle, year after year. The phenology of the beginning of spring is that the east wind thaws, the second waits for the stinging insects to start vibrating, and the third waits for the fish to lose the ice. It is said that the east wind warms up, and the earth begins to thaw; Five days after the beginning of spring, the dormant insects slowly wake up in the hole, and it can also be said that the hibernating animals begin to move; After another five days, the ice in the river began to melt and the fish began to swim to the surface, at which point there were still crushed ice chips on the surface of the water that had not completely melted, floating on the surface as if they were being carried by the fish.
The beginning of spring, is the advent of spring, but not immediately on the spring bright, full of spring, at this time in the vast north, or snow is flying, the grass is not green, even if the south has been full of spring flowers, but still in the sudden high and low sharply changed temperature in the suffering of uncertain weather. The awakened stinging insects are still active underground, and the fish chasing the sun are still swimming against the ice. Under the surface that is still wrapped in coldness, only by looking for spring with your heart can you perceive the spring in the snow, the harmony in the rain, the warmth under the ice, and realize that the breath of spring has filled the world and all things have spring! Only then will we understand why the beginning of spring will be the beginning of spring, and it will be the beginning of a new cycle of the 24 solar terms.
There are countless customs of the beginning of spring, such as whipping spring cattle, hanging spring flags, and cutting spring ......When it comes to eating habits, we have to mention spring plates. The custom of Chunpan began in the Wuxinpan of the Jin Dynasty. According to the Jin Dynasty's "Records of the Wind and Soil", these five xins "are green onions, garlic, leeks, brassica, and coriander (suī), that is, onions, garlic, leeks, rape, and coriander. The purpose is "five xin, so five visceral qi". In Du Fu's poem "The Beginning of Spring", the spring plate is composed of lettuce and shredded radish, and the tradition of eating it with pancake rolls continues. Su Dongpo Shiyun: "I feel that the east wind is cold, and the artemisia and yellow leeks try the spring plate." "The main course is Artemisia annua and yellow leek. The spring plate varies slightly from era to era, but lettuce, shredded radish, and leeks are generally the main vegetables in the spring plate.
I really like one of the essays "Youth" written by Li Dazhao, which is deafening to read. The first sentence of the word is "Spring carries the sun, the east wind thaws", which contains the first wait of the beginning of spring, which shows that in Li Dazhao's heart, the beginning of spring represents the beginning of youth. I hope that you and I, no matter our age, can be as Li Dazhao hopes: "I hope that my dear young people will be born in youth and die in youth, and born in youth and die in youth." Go forward and don't look behind, turn your back on the darkness and turn to the light, enter civilization for the world, create happiness for mankind, and create a youthful family, a youthful country, a youthful nation, a youthful human being, a youthful earth, a youthful universe, and enjoy its endless life. Plough the waves. ”
Reference Books: 1"The Book of Time: Yu Shicun Says the Twenty-four Solar Terms" by Yu Shicun, painted by Lao Shu, China Friendship Publishing Company;
2."Twenty-four Solar Terms" Song Yingjie, CITIC Publishing Group;
3."Twenty-four Solar Terms and Seventy-two Seasons: The Poetic Life Aesthetics of the Chinese" by Xu Lijing, illustrated by Xu Dongdong, CITIC Publishing Group;