Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional festivals - March 3rd is also called Why Festival.

March 3rd is also called Why Festival.

March 3 is also called why is this festival also called March 3?

Shangsi Festival. Shangsi Festival, commonly known as March 3rd, is a traditional festival of the Han nationality. It was designated as the fourth day of March before the Han Dynasty, and was later designated as the third day of March in the summer calendar. Shangsi Festival is the most important festival in ancient times. People go to the water to take a bath together, which is called "praise" Since then, sacrificial banquets, meandering water and outings have been added.

Shangsi Festival has a long history. In ancient times, Shangsi Festival has become a large-scale folk festival. In spring and quiet time, people go out of their homes and gather at the water's edge to hold ceremonies to clear up the ominous. Shangsi was first included in the documents of the early Han Dynasty. "Zhou Li" Zheng Xuan's Note: "When I was old, I was removed. This March is like water." Shangsi Festival is the most important festival in ancient times. "The Analects of Confucius": "People in late spring, spring clothing achievements, five or six top scholars, six or seven boys. Bathing is almost a deduction, and the wind is dancing and singing. " I wrote about the baby's situation at that time. The baby had to go to the water bank to wash away the dirt, and at the same time it took away the evil spirits from me, which was meaningful for prayer. There is a cloud in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "It is the fourth day of the month, and the officials and the people are all clean in the east water, saying that washing away dirt is a great clean." The article talks about a custom of washing the body with running water and letting disasters and diseases drift with the tide.

After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to the fashion of advocating nature and indulging in landscapes, the significance of celebrating the last festival was greatly weakened for people, while the significance of enjoying the Spring Festival became stronger and stronger. The Biography of Xia Zhongyu in the Western Jin Dynasty described Luoyang as "a talented man and a rotten woman". The festival of Shangsi Festival is scheduled for March 3rd of the lunar calendar. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Shangsi Festival gradually evolved into a festival for royal nobles, ministers and literati to drink water, from which another important custom of Shangsi Festival, Qushui, was derived.

In the Tang Dynasty, Shangsi became one of the grand festivals at that time. The contents of the festival are mainly spring outing and drinking by the water. Song and Wu wrote in "Dream Volume II": "The Tang Dynasty hosted a banquet in Qujiang, and spent all its money here." What he said was the scene of men, women and children in Chang 'an feasting on the banks of Qujiang River. Du Fu's "Two Ways" also described this grand occasion: "On March 3rd, the weather was sunny, and there were many beauties by Chang 'an Waterfront ... The Banquet of Xie En Qujiang on March 3rd by Bai Juyi, a poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, also recorded this grand occasion in detail.

After the Song Dynasty, the Shangsi Festival on March 3rd suddenly disappeared in the north and disappeared from the literature. After the Song Dynasty, the Shangsi Festival on March 3rd, although not recorded in the literature, was still circulated in some parts of the south and southwest.

Folklore:

tie

Sickness (refers to disaster relief, given by ancient witches. Hot springs were very popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the past, people bathed by the water and the river, washed their bodies with bluegrass, and nodded with willow branches dipped in petal water to bless disaster relief. Because at this time, the seasons are changing, and the yin is not exhausted, people are prone to get sick and need to go to the water to wash. The so-called "crisp" means "clean", so "crisp" is a ceremony to eliminate evil spirits through self-cleaning. Why choose the third day? Ying Shao explained that "the dead are also blessed", which not only removed the pathogenic factors, but also prayed for the arrival of Ankang ("custom Yi Tong, sacrificial ceremony"). This view has been recognized by many scholars, such as Wu Bingan, a modern scholar, who believes that the original intention of the festival is "the ancient custom of health care in spring to ward off evil spirits and avoid epidemics." In ancient times, the function of festivals was to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. The actual reason is that the river is too cold in winter, and the water temperature is just right in early March, so people are eager to take their first bath after winter.

Sacrifice Gao Qing

On Shangsi Festival, the most important activity is to offer sacrifices to Gao Yun, the god who manages marriage and childbirth. Gaoqing, also known as Jiao Qing, is named after its use in the suburbs. Through this witchcraft activity, people avoid evil spirits and pray for fertility. Therefore, Shangsi Festival is also a courtship festival and a fertility festival.

Panyu

Bathing (bathing, ancient people went to the river, hot springs were popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially in the open-air hot spring pool) and washing dirty with spring water. It is believed that this can remove the diseases accumulated throughout the winter, clean up immunity and make the New Year auspicious. At that time, people thought that women's infertility was caused by ghosts and gods, so they used the bath of Shangsi Festival to treat infertility. In this way, over time, bathing has become an important part of Shangsi Festival.

Xiumao

There are also activities such as swaddling, pruning or bathing in Shangsi Festival. Bathing is for disaster relief. Prehistoric humans believed that fertility was the result of totem entering women. After entering the era of male chauvinism, people realized that copulation between husband and wife was the cause of childbirth. However, both the concept of totem worship and the understanding that copulation between husband and wife leads to fertility admit that women are the embodiment of fertility and children are conceived by their mothers. However, not every woman can give birth normally, and some women are often unable to get pregnant because of illness. At that time, people thought that women's infertility was caused by ghosts and gods, so they used the bath of Shangsi Festival to treat infertility. In this way, over time, bathing has become an important part of Shangsi Festival.

feather

Feather is a kind of binaural wine glass in ancient China, named after it looks like a bird. There is also a saying that it is named "feather" because it can be inserted with feathers. It is made of various materials, such as wood, jade and pottery. Wood feather is relatively light, and other materials need to be put on the lotus leaf to "walk" on the water smoothly.

Pray for fertility

On Shangsi Festival, the most important activity is to offer sacrifices to Gao Yun, the god who manages marriage and childbirth. Gaoqing, also known as Jiao Qing, is named after its use in the suburbs. From the same media, the same place. The original Shu Gao was a woman. She was a pregnant adult woman. In fact, in ancient times, some nude female statues had very developed thighs and breasts, as well as protruding abdomen, which was a symbol of fertility. Stone reliefs in the Han Dynasty have the image of Gao Qi, which is also associated with babies. Pottery sculpture, the goddess of Hongshan Culture site in Liaoning Province, is the god of fertility. Later, Gao Qi changed a lot. For example, Fuxi, enshrined in the ancestral temple in Huaiyang, Henan Province, is the God of Gao Qi under the patriarchal clan system. At the same time, the worship of sexual tools appeared, including female genital worship and male root worship. Shangsi Festival was originally a witchcraft activity. By offering sacrifices to Gao Qi, meeting men and women and other activities, it is used to ward off evil spirits and pray for fertility.

Give each other vanilla

The ancients believed that vanilla had the function of exorcising evil spirits and was of great benefit to the body.

Go for a spring outing in the suburbs

Spring outing in the suburbs (the first thought) is not only a festival to eliminate disasters and evil spirits, but also a free and happy spring outing. Young men and women go out for an outing, splash water on each other and choose their spouses freely. It is the real Valentine's Day in China, with peony as the theme.