Has the winter solstice started? Are the days longer? What are the climatic characteristics?

Tomorrow is 2065438+200965438+1October 20th, which is a severe cold solar term of "Wax Tree Silver Mountain, North Wind Whistling Alone". This solar term has a long history in China, and because it is the Lunar New Year shortly after the Great Cold, people often start to prepare for the New Year at this time, and there are many customs to welcome the New Year. Let me introduce it to you.

"Custom Yi Tong": "New things have been paid, so there is a big sacrifice." Du Qing's Proverbs of Banners and Wen Lan's Proverbs of Ancient Times refer to December. When it's cold, as the saying goes, "Be sure to keep a fire and nothing will come out." People need to keep warm during the cold, reduce outdoor activities and prevent being hurt by the cold.

In fact, the last month of the twelfth lunar month, as the last solar term, is a slack season, but every household is "busy" celebrating the Spring Festival-this is the custom of "welcoming the new year in the cold". The so-called "welcoming the cold" means that there will be a series of folk activities from the cold to the Lunar New Year. To sum up, there are at least ten customs, namely, eating glutinous rice, drinking porridge, drinking wine, making teeth, cleaning dust, pasting windows, steaming offerings, getting married and going to the market.

"Eating glutinous rice" is the day of the Great Cold Festival. The ancients ate glutinous rice.

"Drinking porridge" means "drinking Laba porridge" as the saying goes. Drinking porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is a long-standing custom. This kind of porridge is made of rice, beans, dates, lotus roots, peanuts, medlar, chestnuts, nuts, longan, raisins and walnuts.

"Indulge" means to indulge in eating and drinking. Cai Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Random Thoughts" that "the year-end sacrifice of wax figures is an official banquet".

"Tooth-making", also known as "rich dishes", was originally a ceremony to worship the land father-in-law, so a full meal is commonly called "toothache". Dentures include "head teeth" and "tail teeth". The first tooth is on the second day of the second lunar month, and the last tooth is on the sixteenth lunar month. The family sat around eating tail teeth.

However, for employees, tail teeth are not delicious, because employers often decide whether employees will stay or not in the coming year at the dinner table. Therefore, there is a saying that "eating the first tooth sticks to the mouth and eating the tail tooth worries". Tail-toothed rice is very rich, and a chicken is indispensable for hard dishes. In the past, it was hard to say when it was dissolved. It was always a chicken head to signal dissolution.

Because of this "hidden rule", in order to let employees who have worked hard for a year make good use of the year-end dinner, some well-meaning employers will turn their heads to themselves or simply remove them. The popular "annual meeting" of modern enterprises is the inheritance of rich food.

"Dust removal", also known as "dust removal" and "dust removal", means general cleaning: "Every family paints the walls and sweeps away bad luck"; On the contrary, "the twelfth lunar month is not dusty, and the plague will be recruited in the coming year." Generally, dust removal is carried out on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, that is, the day of "offering sacrifices to the stove". Avoid words when removing dust, and pay attention to "moistening things quietly".

"Sticking windows" means sticking windows with new paper. "Stick up windows for good luck." For the sake of beauty, some people will cut some auspicious patterns and stick them on the windows, so it is also called "stick grilles", which is usually held on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month.

"Steamed food" is an offering prepared for sacrifice. In the past, cakes, cakes and steamed bread used for sacrifice were all steamed with noodles, so they were called.

"In a hurry to get married", the superstition says that at the end of the twelfth lunar month, the immortal went to heaven to "report a year's work". At this time, there is no need to choose a wedding date in "Everyone is Happy". This is a leisurely time. Therefore, the old folk scene is "getting married in the countryside."

"Fair", the traditional China New Year party, buys La Worship products and new year's goods.

"Bathing" and "dust removal" are the same meaning. Is to do a good job of personal hygiene, that is, to wash away the troubles and bad luck of a year. So when you are busy at the end of the year, you have to get a haircut and take a bath, which is the old saying "rich but"

There are still many customs of welcoming the new in the cold, which vary from place to place, but the theme is basically around "sacrifice", and some of them still exist today. Why is this happening? It is clearly recorded in Ying Shao's Customs and Wax in the Han Dynasty: "Wax gatherers hunt animals to sacrifice their ancestors. Or "pick up the wax and hand in a new one. "Therefore, a big sacrifice will reward you." The December of the lunar calendar where the Great Cold is located is called the twelfth lunar month, and its earliest source is the month of 2008. Therefore, sacrifice is the most important and necessary thing for the ancients after the great cold solar terms.