What's the date today?

Dear friends, February 4th is the beginning of spring! Soon we can say goodbye to winter. Time flies! Beginning of spring is not only the first of the 24 solar terms, but also an important festival, which marks the beginning of spring in the astronomical sense. What are the customs in beginning of spring? Come and have a look!

The origin of beginning of spring, beginning of spring, existed as a festival as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, there were eight festivals in a year, namely beginning of spring, Changxia, beginning of autumn, beginning of winter, Vernal Equinox, Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. Only the Book of Rites, Moon Order, Huainanzi Astronomical Training written by Liu An in the Western Han Dynasty recorded 24 solar terms. Before the Han Dynasty, the calendar had been changed many times. At that time, beginning of spring among the 24 solar terms was designated as the Spring Festival, which meant that spring began. This title lasted for more than 2000 years, until 19 13, when the national government officially issued a document, making it clear that the first day of the first month of the first month of each year was the Spring Festival. Since then, beginning of spring has only existed as one of the 24 solar terms, and it has been passed down to this day.

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China has been an agricultural country since ancient times, and the key is spring. There is a saying in the folk proverb that "a year's plan lies in spring". The ancient custom in beginning of spring is not only an ancient solar term, but also an important festival. At the beginning of spring, the son of heaven will personally lead the prince and the doctor to welcome the spring in the eastern suburbs and issue a kind order. Spring Festival: The Spring Festival is an important activity in the beginning of spring, and it must be prepared and rehearsed in advance, commonly known as spring performance. The Spring Festival was held the day before beginning of spring, with the aim of bringing back spring and Ju Mang. In the Spring Festival, there is a spring official, a beggar or a prostitute, who announces the arrival of beginning of spring.

Go for a spring outing/hike

After beginning of spring, people like to go out for a spring outing in spring, which is also the main form of spring outing.

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Yao Chun

Beginning of spring has its own food, mainly spring cakes, radishes and five coriander. In the south, it is popular to bite the spring and eat spring rolls.

In fact, biting spring does not stop there. In addition to alleviating difficulties, it is mainly ventilation to keep people young. Spiced board is made up of five kinds of spicy food, with onion, garlic, pepper, ginger, mustard, etc., as a seasoning for meals.

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Ju Mang: Ju Mang is the god of spring, that is, the god of plants and life.

Ju Mang's image is a bird with human face and rules. On this day in beginning of spring, folk customs mainly focus on spring affairs. During the Zhou Dynasty, the East Hall was set up to welcome the Spring Festival, which shows that there is a long history of offering sacrifices to Ju Mang. During the Spring Festival in Ju Mang, Shandong Province, according to Ju Mang's clothing, the climate of that year was predicted: wearing a hat represents warm spring, balding represents cold spring, wearing shoes represents more spring rain, and barefoot represents less spring rain. Around Guangzhou and beginning of spring, people used drums to drive away the plague and pray for peace.

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Whip Spring Cattle: Whip Spring Cattle, also known as Whip Cattle.

It was popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially after Song Renzong promulgated the Classic of Cattle, and the custom of whipping cattle was more extensive. The significance of whipping spring cattle is not limited to sending air conditioning and promoting spring ploughing, but also has certain witchcraft significance. Shandong folks want to break the local cattle, and people compete for the spring cattle, which is called grabbing the spring and taking the cow's head as the luck. In addition to the pictures of spring cattle on the yellow calendar, the pictures of spring cattle are also widely engraved in New Year pictures all over the country as auspicious pictures during the Spring Festival.