Festivals Related to the Stem and Branch Calendar

The Chinese calendar has been dominated by the lunisolar calendar since at least the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and by the Western Han Dynasty, its direction was irreversible. Fewer solid traditional festivals are related to the Stem and Branch calendar, and some have even been changed to dates on the lunisolar calendar for convenience later.　　

She day - the ancient day of sacrifice to the gods of the earth, spring and autumn two sacrifices, divided into spring and autumn society. The fifth e day after the spring, around the vernal equinox, is the day for farmers to pray for the year. Autumn after the fifth e day for the autumn society, before and after the autumn equinox. Ancient working people not only expressed their good wishes for reducing natural disasters and obtaining a good harvest in this way, but also took advantage of such festivals to carry out recreational activities that were rare for them. On the arrival of the day of the community, the people gathered to compete in various types of performances, and collective feasts, very lively.

Duanwu Festival - Dragon Boat Festival was not the first five days of May, said Dr. Ma Guangting, a folklorist: originally in the pre-Qin to the Han Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival days are different every year, with the dry-branch calendar set in the month of noon (corresponding to more than the lunar month of May) the first of the day of the noon, but to the Wei and Jin dynasties, the lunar calendar is becoming increasingly popular, began to change the number instead of projecting the month of noon, the day of the noon. Digital instead of projecting the noon day of the month of noon, and directly the Dragon Boat Festival is scheduled for the first five days of the month of May.

On the "Dragon Boat" Festival has a variety of origin, now more research results prove that the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival originated in the ancient Luo Yue people's summer solstice festival, which has experienced from the summer solstice festival to the Dragon Boat Festival to the May 5 "Dragon Boat" Festival of the evolution of the process. Ancient Luoyue people worshiped the sun, and the earliest sacrificial altar for measuring celestial phenomena located on the Tropic of Cancer was found on the Tetrapod of Daming Mountain, the ancestral mountain of Luoyue people. It shows that the ancient Luo and Yue people invented the calendar at the same time they invented rice agriculture. The earliest calendar of the Luo and Yue people was the solar calendar. The solar calendar takes the summer solstice, when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, as the center of the year, and the winter solstice, when the sun is most oblique and the sun is weakest, as the end of the year and the beginning of the year. After the popularity of the lunar calendar and the method of dry-branch chronology, the ancient Luo Yue people of the summer solstice in the month of noon as the year's yang is the most abundant month, that the first noon of the month of noon is the yang in the yang of the day, and therefore the first noon of the month of noon as the day of the festival of the yang, known as the Dragon Boat Festival. Because of the Wu in the Chinese zodiac belongs to the horse, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Horse Moon and Horse Day Festival or the Dragon Boat Festival. This is the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Because the day of the Dragon Boat Festival varies from year to year, during the Han Dynasty, the imperial court stipulated that the Dragon Boat Festival be changed to the fifth day of the fifth month every year in order to facilitate the festival, so the Dragon Boat Festival evolved into the present day of the fifth day of the fifth month.

Xie Shouqiu, president of the Guangxi Luo Yue Cultural Research Association, said in an interview with reporters that the month of Wu is not exactly the same as May because it is the month from the beginning of the Mangyong Festival to the end of the Summer Solstice Festival. The real Dragon Boat Festival is the first day of the month of noon , such as the first day of the month of gengwu in the year of jiawu ewu, or June 16, 2014 (May 19 on the lunar calendar).

Entry and Exit of Plum Blossom - These two days are determined based on the festival combined with the stem and branch to project. According to the calendar, the first C day after the Mangseong Festival is the Entering Plum, and the first Wei day after the Xiaosummer Festival is the Exiting Plum. If the heavenly stem of the day of Mangsu is C, the day will be designated as the entry of plum, and the earthly branch of the day of Xiaosummer is Wei, the day will be designated as the exit of plum. Chinese calendar has mold rain beginning and end of the day records: the beginning of the day called "into mold", the end of the day called "out of mold", is also in the plum out of the title.

"In reality, can not rely on the calendar into the plum, out of the plum to guide production and life, but to listen to the weather station issued by the plum rain forecast." Meteorologists say the meteorological season of plum rain refers to the frequent precipitation process that occurs in China's middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to southern Japan from mid- to late-June to early-mid-July every year. At this time is the plum ripening period, so called "plum rain"; but also because of this stage of high temperature and high humidity, objects are easy to moisture mold, also known as "moldy rain". The period of occurrence of the plum rain in various parts of the world and there are differences.

Three ambrosia - the summer solstice after the third g day for the "first ambrosia", from the summer solstice after the fourth g day for the "middle ambrosia", the first g day after the beginning of the fall for the "last ambush", always called "three ambush". The "first ambush" and "last ambush" are 10 days, and the number of days in the middle ambush is not fixed. This is because when the summer solstice and the beginning of the fall when there are four g days in the middle of the ambush is 10 days, there are five g days is 20 days, so "middle ambush" to "last ambush" sometimes for 10 days, sometimes for 20 days. For example, in 2014, the "three ambrosia days", July 18th to the "first ambrosia", July 28th to the "middle ambrosia", August 7th to the "last ambrosia ", August 17, "out of ambush", *** count 30 days.

"Three ambush days" weather is characterized by high temperatures, low air pressure and air humidity. Such meteorological conditions have an adverse effect on human health.

Health experts warned that from the summer solstice to the ambush of this period of time, the public should pay attention to prevent heatstroke, as far as possible to reduce unnecessary outings, if they go out, they should take protective measures; to pay attention to the timely hydration, often drink cool water, plum soup, green bean soup, drinks, etc.; eat more bitter and acidic foods; avoid excessive exertion, to ensure that sufficient rest and sleep.

Waxing Day -- Han Dynasty to the winter solstice after the third e day for the waxing day, to be sacrificed to the hundred gods. The South Dynasty Security Department "Jing Chu chronicles" to the first eight days of December for the wax, referred to as Lahai, folk still have the habit of drinking Lahai congee; but also "Buddha became a day", it is said that Shakyamuni was the day to become a Buddha.