What does the vernal equinox mean?

The vernal equinox means to divide day and night equally. The "points" here are equal shares. On the vernal equinox, the sun shines directly at the equator, and day and night are almost equal. Then the position of direct sunlight gradually moved northward, with long days and short nights in the northern hemisphere.

The special features of the vernal equinox are not all related to "traveling in the rain". Anyone who has studied geography knows that the greatest feature of the vernal equinox is the word "fen", and it is equally divided. As the saying goes, "the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox are equally divided day and night." On this day of the spring equinox (and autumn equinox) every year, the phenology is half cloudy and half sunny, with an average day and night, and even cold and heat.

However, according to China's own calendar, the meaning of "vernal equinox" is not only about day and night. In China's earliest phenological calendar "Twenty-four solar terms", it is also mentioned that "the middle of February is half a minute, so it is called a minute", that is to say, this day represents that the whole spring has passed by half.

There are more than 360 days in a year, but only the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox indicate the meaning of "average" in their names, so ancient China has always attached special importance to these two days. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that Pan Rongbi, a scholar, recorded in "Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jingdi": "The spring equinox sacrifices the sun and the autumn equinox sacrifices the moon, which is a grand ceremony of the country." The so-called national code means that only the emperor can operate it and ordinary people can't cross it. The sun and the moon are in charge of day and night respectively. The emperor chose to worship the sun and the moon on this day, which is a pious and solemn national ceremony.

However, apart from the ceremonies of the world, from the perspective of the festival itself, two minutes a day is also very interesting. "Twenty-four solar terms" is the earliest phenological calendar in China. It says, "The first time, the birds will arrive." Yuan bird is a swallow. The ancients thought that this kind of bird "comes at the vernal equinox and goes at the autumnal equinox". It is very spiritual for the bird to choose such special two days of communication in a year.