Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - The 24 Solar Terms - The origin and custom of fear.

The origin and custom of fear.

The source of fright:

It can be seen from a large number of historical materials that the name of this solar term after beginning of spring is not "awakening", but "awakening". There will be rain after the sting. From the historical reasons of changing "Qi" to "Jing", we can know that changing the name of "Qi" to "Jing" and changing the sequence position of Qi and rain were all done by the Han Dynasty.

Liu Heng, the grandfather of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (179 and 157), in the period of Emperor Wen, in order to avoid Liu's taboo of "constancy", put Lao Tzu's five thousand words "Tao, Tao, constancy; The word "constant" of "name but not constant" was forcibly changed to "constant" This point has continued to this day in the 5,000-word popular reading Tao Te Ching, and no one has ever justified it. Coincidentally, the father of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was named Liu Qi (156+04 1). In order to avoid his father, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty changed the word "qi" into the word "respect" in the 24 solar terms, and from then on "qi" became "respect". Gradually lost the original meaning of the solar term name.

When studying solar terms, later scholars naturally attach importance to beautifying the relationship between the word "Jing" and spring thunder, and artificially make the name and order of festivals conform to the laws of nature, which not only confuses themselves, but also successfully confuses future generations. However, from the perspective of the transformation of natural qi and the change of "five movements and six qi", it is absolutely impossible to start stinging after rain, because it can only be used in Longxing.

Of the six ancient calendars. The names of the "quiet" solar terms are all "qi". Contemporary Jiang Tao's article "Born in Yang, Ruled in Yin —— On the Twenty-four solar terms and their changes since Qing Dynasty" summarizes the changes of the first six qi of the twenty-four solar terms in previous calendars.

As can be seen from the data. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Guan Kai was changed into a frightened bird; In the Yuan and two years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the order of solar terms changed. Move the rain before the sting and clear the sky before Grain Rain. In the seventeenth year of Emperor Kai of Sui Dynasty, the startled sting returned to awakening sting. In the second year of Tang Wude, the order of waking up first and then raining was restored. In the seventeenth year of Tang Kaiyuan, it rained after the change to beginning of spring, and the thorn was changed to a fright. Accustomed to this day.

It can be seen that the change of starting stab into assault stab is the product of taboo in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Later generations have repeatedly reversed the order of fright to the back of rain, which is the result of losing the original meaning of solar terms given by intellectual culture and attaching the word "fright" to natural phenomena. If it is located according to the material reaction, it should be before the rain. Therefore, we should correctly grasp "enlightenment" and "earthquake", and the earthquake can never be applied to the first month. It can only start in February and then listen to the thunder.

The custom of fear:

1, you should eat pears if you are scared.

Because the weather is obviously warmer after the sting, people are prone to dry mouth and cough due to exogenous factors. Pear is cold and sweet, and has the effects of moistening lung, relieving cough, nourishing yin and clearing heat. Eating pears at this time is very nourishing to the body.

2. Sacrifice the white tiger to solve right and wrong

According to the folklore in China, the white tiger is the god of tongue and right and wrong. Every year it comes out to feed and eat people. If you commit a crime, you will often be made waves by evil villains this year, which will hinder your future development and lead to all kinds of troubles.

In order to protect themselves, everyone sacrificed the white tiger on the day of shock. The so-called white tiger sacrifice refers to the white tiger painted with paper for sacrifice. Paper tigers are usually yellow and black, with a pair of fangs painted on the corners.

When offering sacrifices, you need to feed it with the blood of the fat pig, so that it won't hurt people after eating it, and then put raw pork on the mouth of the paper tiger, so that it is covered with oil and water and can't open its mouth to tell people right and wrong.

3. The shock absorber should be covered with a drum skin.

Fear is caused by thunder. The ancients imagined Thor as a bird's beak, a winged god, holding a hammer in one hand and knocking on many drums around his body in the other, making a rumbling thunder. On this shocking day, Raytheon played drums in the sky, and the world also took this opportunity to cover the drums.

4. "Play the villain" to drive away the mold

The folk custom of "beating a villain" symbolizes that in early February, all hibernating snakes, insects, rats and ants will be awakened with a thunder, and reptiles and ants at home will also get up and look for food everywhere.

Therefore, in ancient times, people would smoke the four corners of their homes with incense and wormwood to drive away snakes, insects, mosquitoes, rats and musty smells. Over time, it gradually evolved into the habit of slapping unhappy people and driving away bad luck, which is the predecessor of "beating villains".