What's an almanac for?

In ancient times, the almanac was called the yellow calendar, the imperial calendar or the constitutional book. The almanac before the Qing dynasty used the cycle of the moon to calculate the time, which was called the lunar calendar. This calendar was invented and used in the Xia Dynasty in China, and it is also called the summer calendar, which is also the basis of agricultural production and also called the lunar calendar. Folk commonly known as general book, "book" homophonic "lose", so it is also called general victory or general profit. There are perpetual calendars, centennial calendars, monthly calendars, calendars and so on.

The main function of the calendar is to check the time and make a work plan for one year. In rural areas, farming and production are arranged according to the solar terms of the annual calendar. As far as timeliness and usability are concerned, the almanac is a disposable goods, and it is invalid after expiration. As the saying goes, the outdated imperial calendar is worthless. Use "a universal book to look at the old" to satirize people who are stubborn and stubborn. I remember hearing such a joke when I was a child: it is said that two families live next door, both of which are engaged in small businesses such as picking vendors. A sells salt for a living, and B sells seasonal goods for a living. The wife secretly stores some salt from her husband every day. Near the end of the year, Jia, who had no money for the New Year, spent the New Year by selling the salt quietly stored by his wife. Wife b was not convinced, so she stole dozens of almanacs sold by her husband. At the end of the year, she also asked her husband to exchange money for the New Year, and she was slapped in the face. This joke vividly shows that almanac will naturally become a pile of waste paper after a period of time.

But as far as collection and research are concerned, almanac is not waste paper after use, and some can be called literature. Because it records the track of historical development, including history, politics, culture, customs and so on. , is the witness of history. For example, Zhu Pi's constitutional book in the fourth year of Xuantong in Qing Dynasty was an almanac that failed to circulate after printing, because Xuan Tong Emperor Puyi announced his abdication, thus ending the continuation of the feudal monarchy since Qin Shihuang. This year, also the first year of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing, and announced the establishment of the Republic of China. That is, the provinces are ordered to switch to the Gregorian calendar, that is, the solar calendar. The solar calendar is based on the cycle of the earth's orbit around the sun, so it is also called the solar calendar. Since then, the lunar calendar and solar calendar in China have been used together, which is called "the solar calendar is the world, and people remember summer". This is the first time in the history of China to bring forth the old and bring forth the new.

The ancient almanac (imperial almanac) was compiled by Qin, an official in charge of astronomy, meteorology, solar terms and calendars. A new almanac was made at the end of each year and promulgated by the Ministry of Rites. In addition to the calendar of the whole year, the whole month, the whole day and the whole timetable, there are solar terms of agricultural production for reference, and printed with "national mourning", "no banquets, weddings and funerals", "it is suitable to travel, enter school and get married, but not to cook, break ground and migrate" and so on. There are official editions and folk publishing houses. After liberation, the almanac used the AD calendar, and the Yin and Yang calendars were combined into one, which deleted the elements of choosing the date of geomantic omen and increased the common sense of life. Only the Hong Kong and Taiwan version of the almanac still retains auspicious colors. During the Cultural Revolution, politics was at the forefront, and almanac also had a strong political color, which can be regarded as a special landscape in the history of almanac.

Almanac, because of the limitation of timeliness and practicality, is discarded when it is used up, so there are not many intact objects, and things are rare. It is said that Mr. Qian Daxin, a famous scholar and bibliophile in Qing Dynasty, has only seen a almanac of eight years Wanli of Ming Dynasty. It can be seen that the almanac before the Ming Dynasty is rare and precious. The stock of the Qing dynasty will not be much, and the stock of almanac during the Cultural Revolution is also limited. Therefore, almanac has become another hot spot in the collection.