Understanding of the meaning of the 24 solar terms

The meaning of the twenty-four solar terms is understood as follows:

1, spring

Beginning of spring: Standing is the beginning, and beginning of spring is the beginning of spring; Rain: it began to rain and gradually increased; Sting: Sting means hiding. Sting refers to the sudden movement of spring thunder, which awakens the hibernating animals in the soil; Equinox: Equinox means equal share. The vernal equinox means that day and night are equally divided; Qingming: sunny weather and lush vegetation; Grain Rain: Rain makes a hundred valleys. With sufficient and timely rainfall, cereal crops can thrive.

2. Summer

Long summer: the beginning of summer; Xiaoman: the seeds of summer crops such as wheat begin to be full; Miscanthus: crops with awns such as wheat mature; Summer solstice: hot summer is coming; Summer heat: Summer heat means heat. Slight heat in summer means that the climate begins to get hot; Big institutions: the hottest time of the year.

3. Autumn

Beginning of autumn: the beginning of autumn; Summer: it means that the hot summer is over; White dew: the weather turns cold and the dew condenses into white; Autumnal equinox: divided equally between day and night; Cold dew: dew is cold and will freeze; First frost: it's getting colder and colder, frosty.

4. Winter

Beginning of winter: The beginning of winter; Xiaoxue: It's starting to snow; Heavy snow: the snowfall increases, and there may be snow on the ground; Solstice of winter: the cold winter is coming; Slight cold: the climate began to get cold; Great cold: the coldest time of the year.

The origin of the twenty-four solar terms

In ancient China, the sundial was measured by earth gauge, and the longest sun shadow was defined as "sun to day" (also called long day to day, long day to day, winter to day), and the shortest sun shadow was "short day to day" (also called short day to day and summer to day). One day in spring and autumn is the same length of day and night, which is designated as "vernal equinox" and "autumnal equinox". There were only four solar terms in Shang dynasty, while there were eight solar terms in Zhou dynasty.

The names of the twenty-four solar terms first appeared in Tian Zi Xun of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, and the concepts of Yin and Yang, four seasons, eight places, twelve degrees and twenty-four solar terms were also mentioned in the Preface of Historical Records Taishi Gong. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Luo compiled solar terms into the calendar, stipulating that the month without neutral gas was the last month of leap month.