Why is Tomb-Sweeping Day a solar calendar?

Unlike the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals, Tomb-Sweeping Day is generally calculated around April 5th in the solar calendar, so why is Tomb-Sweeping Day a solar calendar? Below, I will introduce it to you and welcome you to read it.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a solar calendar:

Unlike most traditional festivals in China, Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the 24 solar terms, and the time depends on the sun's orbit. It is a sign of phenological changes and seasonal order in China, belonging to the solar calendar.

The twenty-four solar terms are divided according to the position of the sun on the ecliptic (that is, the orbit of the earth around the sun). Therefore, the dates of solar terms in the solar calendar are basically fixed. Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, it is around April 5, with a difference of only one or two days, and the date of the lunar calendar changes greatly.

According to reports, since the Qing Dynasty, the vernal equinox has been set at 0 degrees, and every time the sun runs 15 degrees on the ecliptic, it is set as a solar term, so 24 solar terms are 24 specific moments, not 24 specific days. Because the length of a year is determined by the movement of the sun, and the 24 solar terms are also determined by the position of the sun, the date of each solar term does not change much in each year.

However, the actual length of a tropical year is 365.2422 days, and the length of a Gregorian calendar year is 365 days, so there will be 0.2422 days more each year (equivalent to 5.8 hours), and the specific time of solar terms will be postponed by 0.2422 days each year.

As a result, it accumulated to 0.9688 days in four years, almost one day. To correct it, there is something in the solar calendar. Leap year? System, every four years, there will be one more day on February 29th. Due to the delay, the date of solar terms will be changed to the next day after midnight, or one day earlier due to leap year, but the date difference will only be within 3 days.

The dates of solar terms are relatively fixed in the solar calendar. For example, beginning of spring in the solar calendar always falls between February 3rd and 5th. However, in the lunar calendar, the date of solar terms is not easy to determine. Take beginning of spring as an example. It can be the first day of the lunar calendar in the previous year, 65438+February 15, and the latest is the first month, 15. Tomb-Sweeping Day is usually between April 4th and June in the Gregorian calendar, but it cannot be based on the determined lunar calendar date.

What are the customs and delicacies in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs are rich and interesting. In addition to paying attention to the prohibition of fire to sweep graves, there are a series of customs and sports activities such as jogging, swinging, cuju, playing polo and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because Tomb-Sweeping Day wants to ban cold food and fire. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, we all take part in some sports activities to exercise. Therefore, this festival is a distinctive festival, with both sad tears to sweep graves and laughter for an outing.

Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of eating prickly heat in both north and south of China. ? Xunzi? For a fried food, crisp and delicate, what was it called in ancient times? Cold gear? . The prickly heat that is popular in Han areas is different from the north and the south: the prickly heat in the north is generous and free, with wheat flour as the main material; The southern prickly heat is exquisitely made, mainly rice and flour. In ethnic minority areas, there are many kinds of prickly heat with different flavors, especially in Uygur, Dongxiang, Naxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

During his stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Jiangnan had the custom of eating green jiaozi. Green jiaozi is made up of something called. Straw? Mashing the wild plants, squeezing out the juice, then mixing and kneading the juice with dry pure glutinous rice flour, and then starting to wrap jiaozi. Jiaozi's stuffing is exquisite sugar bean paste, and a small piece of sugar lard is added when filling. Jiaozi cooked it and steamed it in a cage. When they come out, brush the cooked vegetable oil evenly on the surface of jiaozi, and you're done.

The youth league itself is a dessert, which is mostly used for breakfast or catering, while snails are on the Qingming table? Major events? . Due to the moderate climate temperature during the Qingming period, snails at this time are clean and delicious. In Changshu, people will invite two or three friends to gather in the snail house from time to time, smoking snails and telling their own family stories, which has a unique flavor.

Qingming cuisine has existed since ancient times. The ancients created some foods to meet the needs of cold food, which was forbidden by fire and cold food. For example, wheat straw mashed juice and glutinous rice are used to make green rice balls, Chinese tallow juice is dyed with black rice to make cakes, or Chinese toon buds are mixed with gluten, and tender willow leaves are mixed with tofu to make cold food. Tomb-Sweeping Day is an ancient festival of sacrifice. People usually use four dishes and six bowls of sake to pay homage to their ancestors. After the sacrifice, the family and invited relatives * * * enjoyed the wine and food. What was it called? Eat Qingming? .

In ancient Jiangnan, people chose shepherd's purse to make wonton for festivals, and made yellow flowers and green fruit cakes as offerings when sweeping graves in Qingming. It is made from the tender leaves of compositae weeds by mashing to remove juice and powder, which is very delicious. Moreover, the tradition of Qingming cuisine also comes from the picnic after the Qingming outing in ancient times.

Qingming diet should be light.

Is it clear? Clear? It is the most important solar term in spring, which is not only related to the custom of sweeping graves, but also particularly important for health care. We say that people should adapt to the four seasons, everything grows in spring, and so does the body. In such a sad and happy Qingming Festival, people should pay more attention to adjusting their diet, daily life and emotions. It's easy at this time of year? Liver flourishing? When the liver qi is particularly strong, it will destroy the soil, which is not good for the spleen and stomach, so pay special attention to the diet.

At this time, chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are prone to occur. If you eat hair again at this time, it is likely to induce these diseases. Hair? From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it refers to products that dispel wind and produce phlegm, send poison to help fire and help evil spirits. Therefore, mutton, dog meat and other foods should be eaten less and the diet should be light.

Suitable foods include adzuki bean, glutinous rice, polished round-grained rice, sesame, peanut, mussel, snail, quail, goose, lettuce, yam, egg, leek, coriander, pear, peach, apple, orange, horseshoe and cherry. Healthy soups should be stewed pork belly with pepper, carrot and bamboo cane, boiled dog belly fish with leek, boiled pig with fresh Smilax glabra, stewed fish head with Chuanxiong and Angelica dahurica, stewed lean pork with Ranunculus ternatus, etc.

When Tomb-Sweeping Day is warm in bloom in spring, many people will choose to go out for a walk and have an outing. Although the customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day vary from place to place, the basic theme of this festival is to sweep graves to worship ancestors and go hiking. Taking advantage of the Qingming small holiday, you may wish to go to the suburbs for an outing!