The Origin and Characteristics of Grain Rain Customs

The arrival of solar terms in Grain Rain basically means that the cold wave in winter is over and the temperature is gradually rising. How much do you know about Grain Rain? Let me introduce the characteristics and customs of solar terms in Grain Rain, hoping to help you.

The Origin and Characteristics of Grain Rain Customs

The origin of Grain Rain

There is a legend about the origin of Grain Rain. According to Huai Nan Zi, creating characters in Cang Xie is an earth-shattering event. In late spring and early summer, the Yellow Emperor issued imperial edicts, announcing the success of Cang Xie's ci-creation, and calling on people all over the world to aspire to * * * Xi. An unusual rain fell on this day, leaving countless Gu Mi, so later generations named this day Grain Rain, which became one of the 24 solar terms.

Customs in Grain Rain

1, Grain Rain post, no scorpion symbol

Pests are the enemy of farmers. During the bumper harvest period, the custom of banning the killing of five poisons was popular among the people. After Grain Rain, the temperature rose. In order to reduce pests, farmers put up posters of Grain Rain to kill pests when they entered the fields, so as to drive away the fierce Naji. This custom is very popular in Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Grain Rain stickers are a kind of New Year pictures, engraved with images of hens catching scorpions, heavenly teachers removing five poisons or magical spells. Among them, "The old gentleman on the throne was like a dharma, and in mid-March in Grain Rain, snakes and scorpions were extinct", "In mid-March in Grain Rain, the old gentleman came down to earth with a seven-star sword to cut the scorpion essence" and so on.

Grain Rain posts in Shandong are generally made of yellow paper. Xiajin county annals in the sixth year of Qing Qianlong: "Grain Rain, cinnabar forbids scorpions." Draw a forbidden scorpion symbol with cinnabar and stick it on the wall or scorpion cave to pin people's psychology of killing pests and expecting a bumper harvest. In Linfen, Shanxi, the symbol of Zhang Tianshi is painted on the door of Grain Rain, which is called "Forbidden Scorpion".

Shaanxi Fengxiang Scorpion Curse is woodcut, which shows that there is a great demand. It reads: "In mid-March in Grain Rain, the scorpion brags, the god chicken bites, and the poisonous insect turns into water ..." In the center of the picture, the rooster is holding the insect and there is a big scorpion under his paw. This painting is printed with a spell.

Why do people think that roosters can cure scorpions? The cultural psychology of this custom can be seen from the novel The Journey to the West. Chapter 55: In order to catch scorpion essence, the Monkey King went to ask Pleiadian official. Pleiadian officials were originally a rooster with two crowns. When he was deformed, he called to the scorpion essence, and the scorpion essence immediately showed its original shape. Scorpion essence died on the hillside again. Therefore, Grain Rain posts are mainly roosters.

2. Sacrifice Cang Xie and be grateful.

Grain Rain Festival is a day to worship Cang Xie Temple in Baishui County, Shaanxi Province. Legend has it that the Jade Emperor gave Grain Rain to the world because of his great merits in creating characters in Cangjie. This is the origin of Grain Rain. This origin is also supported by literature. For example, there is a passage in "Jing Xun in Huainan" that "Cang Xie once wrote a book, but it rained a lot".

On this day in Grain Rain, Cang Xie Temple, located at the turn of the three counties, gathered people from eight neighboring villages, forming a grand temple fair year after year, offering solemn sacrifices to the ancestor of writing.

In the past, Grain Rain Temple Fair was hosted by ten major clubs established by hundreds of villages north of Luohe in Baishui County in turn. A few days before the temple fair, Cang Xie Temple should be cleaned, and stone tablets, plaques, pillars and brick carvings should be washed. And please write couplets for halls, halls, theaters, bell and drum towers, mountain gates, zhaobi, etc. All these are praises of Cang Xie's merits. Such as "the pen fell, earth-shattering; Wencheng is here, ghosts cry and dragons hide. " There is also "four eyes are clear about the Millennium, and six books are clear about the eternal words." Wait a minute.

Busy in the temple, busier outside the temple. In addition to planting melons and beans, villagers have to clean the courtyard and set the table, while women are eager to make new clothes, grind flour and rice and steam steamed bread. At the same time, invite relatives, call friends and travel with horses and chariots. An endless stream, everywhere is busy, happy scene.

On this day in Grain Rain, the temple fair officially began. Early in the morning, the deacons came outside the temple. 16 the third cannon is in front, let go; 10 Long Feihu flag and 12 bunting followed closely; Eight open gongs and a pair of cards to avoid silence followed; Followed by the dragon head, melon, cymbal, stirrup, pen, fairy hand, dragon stick, sun and moon map, dragon fan, halberd, cloud card, broadsword and spear gun; A people's umbrella is held high; Behind the umbrella is the solemn and childlike Cangshensheng Building with a golden top and a red cover. There are 24 temple guards, arranged in two rows; Five nanmu tables are filled with incense burners, sacrificial vessels, fragrant paper cannons and steamed buns for pigs and sheep; The top ten club presidents followed closely, with two classes of musicians playing and three-eye firecrackers crushing. All the people are watching, and the spirit is magnificent.

After entering the temple, people from all walks of life held plates, presented eighteen arhats, statues of the Eight Immortals, meals and tributes on the gong table, and kowtowed three times and nine times on the carpet in front of the temple. At this time, both the furnace tripod and the crane spit out curled cigarettes, which made people feel mysterious and solemn.

After the Grain Rain ceremony, teachers and students from all schools lined up in front of the temple to offer sacrifices. They took off their hats and bowed three times, and then sang a hymn to commemorate Cang Sheng's great achievements. The lyrics of a song are like this: "In the past years, we created words to save profits. This is a great life, why Wei Wei;" Enlightenment civilization, great achievements actually hung in the universe, in order to linger and be brilliant forever. " Then people sacrifice. They presented steamed buns with various designs specially made for Cang Xie, burned incense and kowtowed, and prayed for peace.

3. Enjoy peony tea.

Grain Rain is an important time for peony to bloom, so peony is called "Grain Rain Flower". During the Three Dynasties, viewing peony in Grain Rain became an important recreational activity in people's leisure time. Today, there are more peony flowers in Heze, Shandong, Luoyang, Henan and Pengzhou, Sichuan than in Grain Rain for people to enjoy.

However, due to the warming climate, peonies often bloom before they arrive in Grain Rain, so Heze Peony Fair and Pengzhou Peony Fair should be opened in advance according to the flowering period.

In addition, during my stay in Grain Rain, the spring was warm and moderate, with abundant rainfall. After winter conditioning, tea trees have reached the best state in color, taste and fragrance.

People think that tea before tomorrow and tea before rain collected in Grain Rain season are the best teas in a year. In addition to buds, Grain Rain tea has one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves. Tea with a bud and a tender leaf is soaked in water with a big flag like an ancient gun, called a flag gun; A sparrow's tongue has two tender leaves and a bud, which makes it a sparrow's tongue.

Tea farmers believe that only dry tea made of new tea picked in Grain Rain on this day can be regarded as real tea before rain. And there is a strict requirement that it must be picked in the morning. After the new tea was made in the spring of Tang and Song Dynasties, tea farmers and tea customers were keen on a kind of "tea fighting" activity, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of new tea and ranking it.

4, put three kinds of animals, offering sacrifices to the sea

For fishermen, Grain Rain Festival is a popular custom of offering sacrifices to the sea. For example, fishermen in the northern coastal areas of China have celebrated Grain Rain Festival for more than 2,000 years, and it was renamed Fisherman's Day in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty.

Grain Rain is a good time to go fishing in shallow water when the sea is warm in spring. As the saying goes: "After Grain Rain, a hundred fish are near the shore." In order to go to sea safely and return home with full loads, fishermen in Grain Rain held a sea sacrifice on this day, praying for Poseidon's blessing. This custom is still popular in Rongcheng, Jiaodong, Shandong.

In the past, every village by the sea had a temple of the sea or mother. During the sacrifice, fishermen carried offerings to the front of the temple, beating gongs and drums, and the scene was grand. When offering sacrifices to the sea, fishermen set up pig, chicken, fish, steamed bread, candy and other offerings on the beach, lit incense sticks and firecrackers, toasted Poseidon, the sea god, and then set sail for fishing.

Characteristics of Grain Rain

The most important feature of Grain Rain is the continuous spring rain, which embodies the significance of "Grain Rain" in agricultural climate and is also the reflection of ancient farming culture on festivals. After the solar term in Grain Rain, the temperature rises, the rainfall increases, and the humidity in the air further increases, which is very suitable for the growth of cereal crops.