Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - The 24 Solar Terms - The origin of solar terms in Grain Rain

The origin of solar terms in Grain Rain

Every festival or solar term has its origin. For China, which has a history of more than 5,000 years, the origin of many solar terms dates back to a long time ago. So what is the origin of solar terms in Grain Rain? Next, I will introduce it to you.

The origin of solar terms in Grain Rain

Rain means "Rain gives birth to hundreds of valleys", and it is called Grain Rain when the sun reaches 30 degrees on April 20th or 2 1 day every year. Grain Rain is the last solar term in spring. "。 In this season when spring leaves and summer comes, duckweed in the pond begins to grow, and spring tea is harvested around this season. At this moment, it paints a picture of everything growing and thriving. As the saying goes, "The season of the year lies in spring. "The solar terms in Grain Rain, which entered the solar calendar in April, are very different from those in early spring and February, although they share the word" rain ". Rainy solar terms, no snowflakes flying, listening to the silent spring rain, means that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River began to rain.

Climatic characteristics of solar terms in Grain Rain

Sandstorm According to the 24 solar terms, Grain Rain is the last solar term in spring. Grain Rain in late spring means that spring will end and summer will come. The large-scale invasion of cold air into the south is rare, but the cold air activities affecting the north will not stop.

Spring drought. Huaihe river basin is a transitional zone between the spring rain area in the south of the Yangtze River and the spring drought area in the north. From the north of the Huaihe River in Qinling Mountains, the spring rain dropped sharply.

Strong convective weather. Generally speaking, April to August is the peak period of strong convective weather in a year. In May, severe weather such as thunderstorms, hail, strong winds and tornadoes will increase significantly in many areas in the south. Lightning protection, hail suppression and wind protection are put on the agenda.

Heavy rain. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River in China, it often begins to rain obviously, especially in South China. Once cold air meets warm and humid air, it often forms a long rainy day, and it has entered the first flood season of the year.

The origin of Grain Rain

As for the origin of solar terms in Grain Rain, according to Huainanzi, the creation of characters in Cangjie is an earth-shattering event. The Yellow Emperor issued imperial edicts in late spring and early summer, announcing the success of Cangjie's word-making, and calling on all the people in the world to * * * the ambition of 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.

Introduction to the legend of Grain Rain

Among the people, there is a story circulating in Guanzhong, Shaanxi:

According to legend, more than 4,000 years ago, Huangdi in Xuanyuan urgently needed a historian in charge of historical materials. One day, the Yellow Emperor discovered Cang Xie with both ability and political integrity and appointed Cang Xie as a historian. He remembered the important events of the country clearly by tying knots, which was very appreciated by the Yellow Emperor. Later, the knot notes became more and more backward. Once, Cang Xie went out hunting with a hunter. The hunter pointed to the traces of various wild animals left on the ground and told the whereabouts of wild animals. Cang Xie was deeply inspired: "A footprint represents a thing!" After returning home, Cang Xie packed up and went out for a trip. He climbed mountains and waded, was not ashamed to ask questions, and expressed everything he saw according to its characteristics. Pictographic by class, original text. Because of his contribution to word-making, he touched the Emperor of Heaven. At that time, there was a famine in the world, so he ordered the heavenly soldiers to open the granary of the Heavenly Palace, and millet was planted, and all the people in the world were saved.

After Cang Xie's death, people buried him in his hometown-north of Shiguan Town, Baishui County. There is a couplet engraved on the door of the tomb: "Su Yu felt the emperor of heaven in those days, and the same text was forever matched with the tomb of the bridge." People set the day of offering sacrifices to Cang Xie as the day of Grain Rain, which is now "Grain Rain Festival". Nowadays, every Grain Rain Festival, there is a temple fair in Shiguan Town, Baishui County to worship Cang Xie.

Legend of solar terms in Grain Rain II

According to legend, during the period of Tang Gaozong, floods broke out in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Grain Rain, a young man, moved the villagers to the city wall, and by the way, he kept a peony flower and planted it in a hundred gardens, so he took good care of it.

In order to pay off the debt, Feng Dan, a peony flower, became a human figure to treat Grain Rain's seriously ill mother. Unexpectedly, Feng Dan was captured by vultures and forced to make wine with blood.

Knowing this, Grain Rain rushed to the vulture's cave and rescued Feng Dan, but he died unfortunately.

In memory of him, people named this day "Grain Rain", which is the origin of the solar terms in Grain Rain.

What season is it in Grain Rain? Spring.

Grain Rain is the last solar term in China in spring; Grain Rain is a good season for planting crops, and proper rainfall is beneficial to rejuvenation and jointing of overwintering crops and sowing and emergence of spring crops. Farmers should seize the favorable opportunity for spring ploughing production. Every April 20th or 2 1 day, when the sun reaches 30 degrees of the yellow meridian, it is Grain Rain.

Summer in Grain Rain is a good time for grain growth. The cold wave was completely lifted, the temperature warmed up, and the seedlings grew sturdily. "In mid-March, since the rain began, the soil paste has been pulsating, and today the rain is in the valley of water. Rain is silent, just like the rain in my field. At this time, cover the valley and sow, from top to bottom. "

In the Grain Rain, the sun reaches the longitude of 30. At this time, the climate is comfortable, the weather is cool and it rains from time to time. This is a good season to nourish everything. After Grain Rain, the long summer is coming, the temperature is rising gradually, and the clothes are getting cold.

What did you eat before and after Grain Rain?

Grain Rain eats black rice: It is a traditional custom to eat black rice in Grain Rain. Even in Zhaoxing Dong Village, there is a custom of "eating black rice, beating face and sowing rice seeds". On this day in Grain Rain, young men and women fully express their love. Young men will go to the girl's house to throw bamboo baskets and beg for black rice. The more people go, the more embarrassed the girl's family feels. It is a double moral expression of local farming culture and marriage customs.

Grain Rain drinks Grain Rain tea: Spring is the season of tea germination. In the south of China, Grain Rain has the habit of picking tea, so every year, no matter what the weather is like, people will go to the nearby Chashan to pick some new tea and come back to make tea. It is said that drinking tea in Grain Rain on this day can clear fire, ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight. Therefore, no matter what the weather is in Grain Rain, people will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

Toona sinensis in Grain Rain: Eating Toona sinensis in northern Grain Rain. Toona sinensis was listed around Grain Rain. At this time, Toona sinensis is mellow and refreshing, with high nutritional value. It is said that Toona sinensis is as tender as silk before rain. Toona sinensis has the functions of improving immunity, invigorating stomach, regulating qi, relieving diarrhea, moistening skin, resisting bacteria, diminishing inflammation and killing insects. Grain Rain and Grain Rain are warm spring seasons to worship the sea and good days to go fishing. In order to go to sea safely and return home with a full load, fishermen in Grain Rain will hold a sea sacrifice on this day to pray for Poseidon's blessing.

Grain Rain custom

Grain Rain post, forbidden scorpion symbol

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.

Sacrifice Cang Xie, thank you.

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.

Enjoy peony and 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.

Put three sacrifices to the sea festival.

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 warm sea in spring, and it is a good day for hundreds of fish to go to the shallow sea. As the saying goes: "After Grain Rain, a hundred fish are near the shore." In order to go to sea safely and go home with full load, fishermen in Grain Rain held Poseidon Festival 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.

The Origin and Story of Grain Rain

Since the existence of the world, human beings have gone through hundreds of thousands of years without words. In the era of the Yellow Emperor, an able man Cang Xie appeared in North Korea. He is determined to get rid of the suffering of the world without Chinese characters, quit his job, travel around Kyushu, return to his hometown of Wu Yang Village, and live alone in a deserted ditch to create Chinese characters. It has been built for three years, and there are so many words in a bucket of rapeseed. The Jade Emperor was very moved and decided to reward Cang Xie. What is the prize? I won a gold medal.

That night, Cang Xie was sleeping soundly when he suddenly heard someone calling him. "Cang Xie, come and receive the prize." Cang Xie broke his eyes in a daze, only to see that the room was full of bright light. He didn't know why, so he quickly sat up and looked around. It doesn't matter at first sight, but I saw a golden man standing on the ground. He muttered: What's wrong with this? Where did you get this gold man? Is it a dream? Just thinking, the rooster in the east neighbor crowed, and soon it was dawn, and Jin people were still standing firmly on the ground. He remembered the shouts he heard in his dream and understood that the golden man was a prize given to him by the gods in heaven. On second thought, I just did what I should do, and I don't deserve such a reward. So, he made three obeisances in the air, which was a thank-you to the gods. The next day, he called the boys in the village and sent the gold man to the palace of the Yellow Emperor. When the Yellow Emperor asked about the origin of the Jin people, he only said that he found it by accident and said it was a thing in the world. It should be used by people all over the world. I found it by accident, but I dare not take it for personal use. I'm here to present the award. The Yellow Emperor knew his noble personality and accepted it with a smile. However, after four or five days, just as the Yellow Emperor and his ministers were looking at the Golden Man, suddenly a light came and the Golden Man disappeared. The Yellow Emperor felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't know where the Golden Man was, so he sent someone to inform Cang Xie.

It is said that Cang Xie was sleeping soundly. In his dream, he heard someone shouting, "Cang Xie, you don't want the golden man who was given by the Jade Emperor. What do you want? " Cang Xie said in his dream, "I want a bumper harvest of grain, so that all people in the world can have food." The man said, "OK, I'll report to the Jade Emperor and ask him to take back the gold man and send you some millet. Hearing this, Cang Xie woke up, looked out of the window and saw the stars all over the sky. Knowing that he was dreaming, he didn't think much and fell asleep again.

The next day, the weather was fine and there were no clouds in Wan Li. Cang Xie was about to go out when he saw the falling grain in the sky. Particles are denser than raindrops. It rained for half an hour, and the ground accumulated more than a foot before stopping. Cang Xie was pleasantly surprised, and hurried out to see that the village was covered with grains and mountains. The villagers were also surprised. Everyone wanted millet at home.

At this moment, Cang Xie suddenly remembered the scene in his dream. Knowing that this was the jade emperor's reward for himself, he quickly reported it to the Yellow Emperor. On the way, I met people sent by the Yellow Emperor, explained the situation to each other and went to see the Yellow Emperor together. After listening to Cang Xie's report, Huangdi deeply felt that Cang Xie's contribution was worthy of great praise. So he took Grain Rain Day as a festival, called Grain Rain Day, and ordered people all over the world to sing and dance crazily on this day every year, thanking God. Since then, Grain Rain Festival has continued. People in Baishui Town regard this day as a festival to worship Cang Xie.

The Development History of Grain Rain

About 4,000 years ago, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan was acclaimed as the leader of the tribal alliance by tribal leaders, and he named Cang Xie Zuo Shi. After Cang Xie became a historian, he used different kinds of shells and knots as markers to record events. However, as Cang Xie is responsible for more and more affairs, the old methods are far from meeting the demand, and Cang Xie is very worried.

Every year, Grain Rain Festival, Cang Xie Temple will hold a traditional temple fair, which lasts for seven to ten days. Year after year, thousands of people come here from all directions to hold a grand and warm ceremony of entering the temple and a grand and solemn memorial ceremony to commemorate and sacrifice Cang Xie, the father of Chinese characters. People dance yangko, run bamboo horses, play social fire, perform martial arts, beat gongs and drums, perform big dramas, sing and dance, and express their reverence and nostalgia for Cang Sheng. Troupe and business also came to join in the fun, very lively. Cangjie Temple Fair has become a grand local festival. Even the local customs, such as going to school, honoring words, drinking red bean porridge, living in caves, begging for rain, begging for beggars and praying for blessings, are all related to Cang Xie.

The historical record of Grain Rain.

"Tongwei Filial Piety Helps the Gods": "In the fifteenth day after the Qingming Festival, the bucket refers to Chen and is Grain Rain. In mid-March, it is said that the rain gives birth to hundreds of valleys, which are clean and bright. "

Qunfangpu: "Grain Rain, the valley is born with the rain." Before and after Grain Rain, the weather turned warmer and the rainfall increased, which was beneficial to the sowing and growth of spring crops.

Twenty-four solar terms: "In mid-March, after the rain, the earth's paste pulsates, and now it rains its valley in water. Rain is silent, just like the rain in my field. At this time, cover the valley and sow, from top to bottom. " At this time, the weather is mild and the rainfall increases obviously, which has a great relationship with the growth and development of cereal crops. Appropriate rainfall is beneficial to rejuvenation and jointing of overwintering crops and sowing and emergence of spring crops. In ancient times, the so-called "rain gives birth to hundreds of valleys" embodies the significance of modern agricultural climate of "Grain Rain". However, too much rain or severe drought will often cause harm and affect the later yield. Grain Rain is in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which not only points out its agricultural significance, but also shows that "spring rain is as expensive as oil".