Are the 24 solar terms still meaningful in modern society? China Folk Custom Network

Twenty-four solar terms are the discovery of the wisdom of Chinese ancestors. The 24 solar terms are very good, but they are only suitable for China, or more accurately, only for the land of North China in the Yellow River basin.

Beginning of spring, rain, fright, vernal equinox, Qingming, Grain Rain;

Long summer, Xiaoman, Mangzhong, Summer Solstice, Xiaoshu, Dashu;

Beginning of autumn, Chu Shu, Bailu, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, First Frost;

Beginning of winter, light snow, heavy snow. Winter solstice, slight cold, severe cold.

The concept of season, when it first appeared, was very simple and based on people's direct feelings. When people want to define the accurate concept of the four seasons and want to incorporate the concept of the four seasons into the calendar, people realize that they can't define the four seasons just according to the temperature. At the same time, the temperature varies from place to place, and the temperature at the same time in different years is not the same. Therefore, we must find a most stable and universally applicable standard to determine the four seasons. Our clever ancestors discovered this standard, that is, the north-south position of the sun. This standard is astronomical. Although the north-south position of the sun can not only determine the temperature of a place, but also affect the temperature change in a year regularly. Therefore, it is of practical value to determine the four seasons according to the north-south position of the sun. Of course, the four seasons determined in this way are definitely different from those directly determined by temperature. Usually, the direct season is called the meteorological season. Meteorological season cannot be used as calendar season. The astronomical season mentioned just now can be used as the calendar season. The meteorological season usually lags behind the astronomical season, and the Yellow River Basin in China lags behind by about three periods. The four seasons set by the above eight solar terms are astronomical season and calendar season.

Solar terms are defined by the 2.4 equal angle of the great circle that the sun passes through in the sky, not by the 2.4 equal time of a year, so the time intervals are unequal. According to the approximate number of days, some are 15 days, and some are 16 days. Therefore, how to divide the months of the year so as to express the 24 solar terms succinctly and accurately enough, so that they can be arranged with the simplest rules and easy to remember, is an important task in calendar design.

It is still used to grow crops! ! !