The legend of summer solstice

Summer solstice is one of the "four seasons and eight festivals" Since ancient times, people have had the custom of celebrating the harvest and offering sacrifices to their ancestors at this time to pray for a year of prosperity. In the ancient farming society, people lived and worked in peace and contentment. They chose a day to worship the gods and ancestors, and they had various regular festivals. Abundant offerings to gods and ancestors developed into festival feasts, and gradually formed some established ways of celebration, that is, the so-called festival folk customs.

"The Book of Rites" said: "When the summer solstice comes, the antlers are untied, the cicadas begin to sing, Pinellia is born, and Furong is glorious." This means that when the summer solstice comes, cicadas in nature begin to sing, and Pinellia ternata hibiscus blooms one after another. Summer is great and extreme, everything grows and prospers to the extreme, and the spirit of the sun also reaches the extreme.

As soon as the antlers were released, Yizhoushu said, "On the day of the summer solstice, the antlers were released." Deer are active mountain animals, and their antlers fall off in summer solstice, which is the result of the replacement of everything in nature. Then he said, "Antlers don't understand, but soldiers often change." It means that the antlers will not fall off and the war will not stop.

When cicadas start to sing, people feel that summer is coming, not only the heat and sunshine. A pleasant cicada song also announced the official arrival of summer. Xia Chan is also called "cicada", and male cicadas sing from summer to the future.

Third, Pinellia ternata was born. Pinellia ternata is a wild herb, named after it grows in midsummer. Pinellia ternata is a white herb that likes yin, and it has the effects of eliminating dampness and resolving phlegm, reducing adverse reactions, stopping vomiting, reducing swelling and resolving hard mass. Named after being born in a swamp or rice field in midsummer. In the hot summer, some yin-loving creatures began to appear, while yang-loving creatures began to decline.

Brief introduction of summer solstice

The summer solstice is the 10 of the 24 solar terms. Fighting means noon; The yellow meridian of the sun is 90 degrees; Gregorian calendar June 2 1-22. The solstice in summer is the turning point for the sun to move northward. After the summer solstice, the sun will go back, and the point of direct sunlight will move south from the Tropic of Cancer (23 26' north latitude). For the area north of the Tropic of Cancer in China, the height of the noon sun begins to decrease day by day from summer to the future. For the area south of the Tropic of Cancer in China, after the summer solstice, the height of the sun began to decrease day by day at noon after the direct sunlight came back from the south.

The summer solstice is in midsummer, that is, at noon, belonging to the sun; Although summer is full of yang and the daytime is the longest, it is not necessarily the hottest day of the year, so the heat near the surface is still accumulating and has not reached the maximum. After the summer solstice, the ground is heated strongly and the air convection is strong, which is easy to form thunderstorms. The summer solstice is not only one of the 24 solar terms, but also a festival in the ancient "four seasons and eight festivals". Since ancient times, people have the custom of worshipping gods and ancestors in the summer solstice. In addition, after the summer solstice, people generally drink Qingbuliang soup, herbal tea and sour plum soup to escape the heat.

Although the summer solstice has the longest day and the highest sun angle, it is not the hottest time of the year. Because, close to the surface of the heat, at this time still continue to save, did not reach the maximum time. As the saying goes, "it's hot in dog days." The "dog days" in 20 18 last from July 17 to August 26th. The real high temperature weather is around beginning of autumn from mid-July to mid-August, with the highest temperature in all parts of the country, and the highest temperature in some areas can reach about 40℃.

After the summer solstice, the ground is heated strongly and the air convection is strong. Sudden thunderstorms are often easy to form in the afternoon to evening. Because of the small rainfall range, people call it "summer rain dividing fields" Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, skillfully used this weather to write a famous poem, "The east rises and the west falls, and the road is sunny and sunny."

China folks divide 15 days from summer to the future into three "hours", usually the first three days, the middle five days and the last seven days. During this period, the temperature in most parts of China was high, the sunshine was sufficient, the crops grew rapidly, and the physiological and ecological water demand was high. The precipitation at this time has a great influence on agricultural output, and there is a saying that "the rain from summer to the sun is worth a thousand dollars". In general, the precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Huanghuai area can generally meet the requirements of crop growth. The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age says: "It rained on June 3rd, and the Tian family thought it was sweet, and the whole city congratulated each other." It can be seen that as early as 1000 years ago, people had a clear understanding of the characteristics of this rainfall.

The origin of the twenty-four solar terms

Twenty-four solar terms originated in the Yellow River Basin. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, four solar terms were set, namely, mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn and mid-winter. After continuous improvement and perfection, by the Qin and Han Dynasties, the 24 solar terms had been completely established. In BC 104, the taichu calendar written by Deng Ping officially set 24 solar terms in the calendar, and defined the astronomical position of the 24 solar terms.

The time when the sun runs along the longitude of the Yellow River from zero 15 degrees is called "a solar term". It runs 360 degrees every year, and * * * experiences 24 solar terms, twice a month. Among them, the first solar term of each month is "solar term", that is, beginning of spring, Jingzhe, Qingming, Changxia, Mangzhong, Xiaoshu, beginning of autumn, Bailu, Hanlu, beginning of winter, Heavy Snow, Xiaohan, etc. 12 solar terms; The second solar term of each month is "Zhongqi", that is, there are 12 solar terms such as rain, vernal equinox, Grain Rain, Xiaoman, summer solstice, great heat, intense heat, autumnal equinox, first frost, light snow, winter solstice and great cold. "Solar term" and "neutral qi" appear alternately, each lasting 15 days. Now people have called "solar terms" and "neutral gas" solar terms.

Twenty-four solar terms reflect the apparent movement of the sun in one year, so the dates of solar terms are basically fixed in the current Gregorian calendar, with the first half of the year being 6 days and 2 1, and the second half being 8 days and 23 days, with a difference of 1-2 days.