What is beating a spring cow?

In beginning of spring, it is called "Spring Cattle" at the Spring Festival ceremony, and it is also called whipping spring. Folk customs are very popular in many areas of China. "Spring Cattle", with Sang Mu as the skeleton, is made of clay on the second day of the winter solstice. The pattern with a height of 4 feet and a length of 8 feet and 360 days 12 hours was drawn at 4: 08.

The day before in beginning of spring, people went to the Xianjia altar to offer sacrifices, then beat them with colorful whips, and drove the "Spring Cattle" back to the county government, and set up wine and fruit sacrifices in the hall. Men, women and children hold "cows" to help "plow", sing and plant yangko, and pray for a bumper harvest. Before and after liberation, there appeared the agricultural drama of "shooting a spring cow", in which one person tied the plow and the other held it, while dancing, or playing in the countryside or performing on stage, which added the festive atmosphere and expressed the love and pursuit of the working people in China for a better life.

The production of spring cattle is very particular. The length of spring cattle is three feet, six inches and five inches, symbolizing 365 days a year. The oxtail is one foot and two inches long, symbolizing one year 12 months; Four hooves symbolize the four seasons; Wicker symbolizes spring; At the same time, the wicker whip is two feet four inches long, representing the twenty-four solar terms.