What are the meanings and customs of beginning of spring?

Beginning of spring, one of the 24 solar terms, is also called the Spring Festival, the First Month Festival, the New Year Festival and the New Year Festival. Standing means "start"; Spring represents warmth and growth.

Spring Festival is one of the eating customs at the beginning of spring. Lettuce, melon, fruit, cake and sugar are mainly taken out from vegetables and put on plates to feed relatives and friends or eat for the Spring Festival. There are five kinds of dishes: fruit, vegetables, candy, cake and bait. Vegetables mainly include: bean sprouts, radishes, leeks, spinach, lettuce, beans, eggs and shredded potatoes. Du Fu's "beginning of spring", a spring dish with fine lettuce, suddenly reminds people of plum blossoms in Beijing.

Spring pancake is a pancake baked with flour and usually eaten with rolled vegetables. At first, spring cakes and vegetables were put on a plate, which became "spring vegetables". The Song Dynasty's Chronology quoted the Tang Dynasty's Four Seasons Mirror as saying: "There will be an eclipse of radish, spring cake, lettuce and a spring dish in beginning of spring."

More customs begin in spring.

In beginning of spring, there is a folk custom of "beating spring", also known as "beating spring cattle". Fortify the grain when the spring cattle are formed. When the cow is smashed, the grain will flow out and be picked up and put back in the barn, indicating that the barn is full of grain.

Flogging spring cattle prevailed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially after Song Renzong promulgated the Classic of Cattle, the custom of flogging spring cattle spread more widely and became an important part of folk culture. The significance of whipping spring cattle is not limited to sending air conditioning and promoting spring ploughing, but also has certain witchcraft significance. Shandong folks want to break the local cattle, and people compete for the spring cattle, which is called grabbing the spring and taking the cow's head as the luck.