Twenty-four solar terms folk stories

The folk stories of the 24 solar terms are the crystallization of the ancient civilization and wisdom of the Chinese nation. Since we were sensible, we have known this ancient dividing method, eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter, and these customs make us deeply remember. Let's look at 24 solar terms's folk stories.

Once upon a time, there was a prodigal son whose family was quite rich. But the prodigal son didn't know the seasonal solar terms and didn't farm well. All he did was eat, drink and be merry, which exhausted his father's ancestral business. Later, he had to borrow money from his relatives.

After a long time, relatives ignored him. He had to borrow clothes from his uncle and pawn almost all his few clothes, leaving only a cotton-padded jacket with some value.

On the first day of the first month, the prodigal son called to visit his uncle to pay a New Year call, in fact, in order to borrow this cotton-padded jacket. When I saw my uncle wearing a cotton-padded jacket, it was so cold that I didn't have the courage to let him take it off.

Finally, in February, the prodigal son thought: My uncle may not wear a cotton-padded jacket these days, so he came to my uncle's house. As soon as my uncle heard that he wanted to borrow a cotton-padded jacket, he said, "On February 28th, chickens and ducks froze to death." Hearing this, the prodigal son had no choice but to leave.

In March, the weather is getting warmer and warmer. The prodigal son thought: My uncle may not wear a cotton-padded jacket these days, so he came to my uncle's house. As soon as my uncle heard that he wanted to borrow a cotton-padded jacket, he said, "On March 3, the bachelor froze to death."

The prodigal son knew that his uncle was a bachelor, but when he heard this, he had no choice but to leave.

In April, the weather is warmer. The prodigal son thought: My uncle may not wear cotton-padded jacket these days, so he came to my uncle's house again. When my uncle heard that he still wanted to borrow his cotton-padded jacket, he said, "On April 20, the branches were frozen." Hearing this, the prodigal son knew that there was no way to borrow a cotton-padded jacket and had to go.

In May, people all wore light clothes, and the prodigal son thought, What can my uncle say if I borrow a cotton-padded jacket now? Who knows, my uncle said, "You can't send cold clothes after eating May Zongzi."

In June, it was so hot that people were shirtless. The prodigal son thought, I'll borrow a cotton-padded jacket in the dog days of June, and see what you say! Who knows my uncle said, "people are not caterpillars, but are afraid of the cold north wind in June."

In July, the weather was still very hot, and the prodigal son borrowed a cotton-padded jacket from his uncle. My uncle said, "I had a meal in July and a half, and let my son Dipo stand." The meaning is clear:

It's getting cold, so I can't borrow a cotton-padded jacket. In August, the prodigal son never gave up and went to see his uncle again. My uncle said, "On August 15th, the wild goose gate opened, and frost came on the wild goose's head." It's starting to frost. Who wants to lend out the cotton-padded jacket?

In September, the prodigal son still refused to give up and went to his uncle's house again. Before I could speak, my uncle said, "It's the Double Ninth Festival. Insects and ants are going to prepare for the winter-forget about my cotton-padded jacket. I once helped you, but actually I hurt you. You can't borrow anything to pawn in the future. I won't lend you J O, you'd better farm well and support yourself! "

Later, the prodigal son turned around, worked hard and finally accumulated his family business.

24 solar terms Folk Tales 2 24 solar terms Cold Folk Tales

The story of great cold tail food:

It is said that Zhang Fude, a servant of the Zhou Dynasty, accompanied his beloved daughter thousands of miles to find her father because her master went to a distant place to be an official, and Zhang Fude sacrificed his life to save her daughter from freezing to death. The master felt his loyalty and built a temple for sacrifice. Zhou Wuwang was named "Houtu". Later, everyone regarded it as "Fude Shen Zheng" because it could benefit the village and people.

The first, fifteenth or the second and sixteenth day of each month is the day to worship the land god, which is called "tooth making". February 2 is the first time to make teeth, called "head teeth"; The dentist on the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month was the last to do it, so it was called "tail tooth". Tail tooth is the "end" of the business's one-year activities and the "first sound" of the people's Spring Festival activities. On this day, people's homes will burn land and public funds to worship the god of justice. In addition to the increasingly popular tail tooth banquet in recent years, according to the traditional custom, the whole family get together to "eat tail teeth". The main food is moist cakes and steamed bread.

The story of eating Laba porridge in the Great Cold;

The great cold coincides with Laba Festival. Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, whose real name is Gautama Siddharta, is the son of Su Fan, King of Kapilovi (now Nepal) in northern India. When he was young, he saw that all life was suffering from physical illness and death. In order to seek the true meaning of life and the liberation of life and death, he abandoned the royal life and became a monk. He stayed in the snow-capped mountains for six years, and often every wheat and hemp was eclipsed. Later, I found that asceticism was not the way out, so I gave up asceticism and went down the mountain. At this time, a shepherdess saw that he was weak and cooked chyle (made of milk and grain) to raise him. Sakyamuni recovered from this and stayed under the bodhi tree for seven days. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he saw the stars at night and became a Buddha. In order not to forget the six-year suffering of the Buddha before he became a monk, but also to commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, ancient Indians ate mixed porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a commemoration. Therefore, Laba Festival was introduced to China from ancient India, and Laba became the Buddha's enlightenment day.

Great cold story

Since Buddhism was introduced to China, temples have cooked porridge with fragrant valleys and fruits and distributed it to believers and loyal men and women. On the day of Laba, Buddhist ceremonies were held in various monasteries, just like the story of a shepherdess offering chyle before becoming a monk. She cooked porridge with torreya grandis and fruits for the Buddha and named it Laba porridge. In some monasteries, monks hold bowls and give alms along the street before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The collected rice, chestnuts, dates and nuts are boiled into Laba porridge and distributed to the poor. Everyone thinks that eating it can be blessed by the Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". Generally speaking, the Buddha porridge in the temple is delicious and abundant, which can meet the needs of believers who come to the temple to attend the memorial ceremony. Some believers come specifically for "porridge" and think that Laba porridge is auspicious for the Buddha, not only for their own consumption, but also for their families. Year after year, the tradition of boiling Laba porridge in monasteries spread widely among the people, and gradually formed the custom of Laba Festival in northern China.

The story of a cold year.

It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers. The elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square. They all praised him for his high cooking skills, and he became famous over the years. Fiona Fang is known as the "King of Zhang Zao" thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. When the eldest brother left this world, the younger brother only knew poetry and painting. Although he spends a lot of time, he never does housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day.

One day, he finally came up with a good idea On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of the death of Kitchen God, in the middle of the night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He took his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall showing the appearance of the king and his dead wife, and the whole family was shocked. The painter said, "When I slept, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him' Nine Days East Chef ordered the chef to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy, lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. My brother is very angry when he knows that you are going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on the evening of the 30th to punish you. " Hearing this, the sons and daughters' nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Ping's favorite sweets to the stove to eat, pleading with the kitchen king for forgiveness. Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The family live in harmony and live in peace. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and every household's kitchen was labeled as the king of kitchens. Over time, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god spread, from the Zhou Dynasty, the palace also included it in the ritual, and established the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god throughout the country, becoming a fixed ceremony.

Folk stories of the twenty-four solar terms 3 The origin of the twenty-four solar terms

The so-called solar term is to divide the position change of the sun on the ecliptic and the evolution order of the earth's climate into 24 cycles, each of which is about half a month, divided into 12 months.

The lunar calendar was originally used in ancient China, and the date was determined according to the smoothness of the surface of the moon and the change of its image. But the climate on earth mainly depends on the relative position between the earth and the sun, and has nothing to do with the moon.

According to textual research, as early as 2700 years ago in the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period (48 1 year before 722 BC), wise ancestors realized that the length of human shadow might be related to the position of the sun and climate change. After a long time of thinking, the result is that the length of the sun's projection on the summer needle is measured with soil gauge, and the vernal equinox, autumnal equinox, summer solstice and winter are correctly determined.

The so-called soil gauge mapping is an "instant" method, that is, the length of its shadow is measured with a vertical pole at noon, and the shortest day of the shadow in a year is designated as "summer solstice" and the longest day is designated as "winter solstice"; The places where the shadow of the middle two days (winter solstice to summer solstice and summer solstice to winter solstice) is half of the total length are designated as "vernal equinox" and "autumn equinox" respectively.

Today, the world's oldest "Duke of Zhou Observatory" is still in Gaocheng Town at the foot of Hanshan Mountain in Henan Province, which is the best proof.

By the end of the Warring States Period, that is, in 239 BC, there were four more (Twelve Dynasties in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu). By the Han Dynasty, the 24 solar terms had been completely recorded, and the order was exactly the same as now. 15 was determined as the solar term, and the solar term was determined by the Big Dipper. For example, "Huainanzi Astronomical Training" records:' The old line was once, the fifteenth day was a festival, and it changed at twenty-four o'clock. "

The ancients divided the twenty-four solar terms into twelve solar terms and twelve middle qi.

Twelve solar terms: beginning of spring, Jing Zhe, Qingming, Long Summer, Mangzhong, Xiaoshu, beginning of autumn, Bailu, Hanlu, beginning of winter, Heavy Snow and Slight Cold.

Twelve Qi: Spring Equinox, Grain Rain, Xiaoman, Summer Solstice, Great Summer, Early Summer, Autumn Equinox, Early Frost, Light Snow, Winter Solstice and Great Cold.

In ancient times, solar terms were defined by "constant gas". "Constant gas", also known as "flat gas", is to divide a year into 24 equal parts, each equal part is 15.2 184 days, that is, the average distance between every two solar terms is greater than 15 days.

The solar terms used in modern times are based on the position of the sun, which is also called "fixing the air". But the sun moves unevenly on the ecliptic every day, and the number of days between two solar terms is different. The sun moves faster around the "winter solstice", and the two solar terms are separated by more than 14 days; The sun moves slowly around the "summer solstice", and the interval between the two gases exceeds 16 days. Although the handover date of solar terms is defined by "fixed space", the number of days is uneven, but it can indicate the real position of the sun, so the "vernal equinox" and "autumnal equinox" must be the day when the day and night are equally divided.

What I want to say here is that in the Sui Dynasty, Liu Moulin pointed out that it was unreasonable to use "constant gas" and proposed to use the "constant gas" method to calculate the solar eclipse between the sun and the moon; But it was not until the Qing dynasty that the method of "fixing qi" was completely changed.

Solar terms are determined by the method of "fixing qi", which is fixed on a certain day of the sun and does not change with the date of the lunar calendar, so it belongs to the solar calendar category. In the solar calendar, Boxing Day is almost the same every year, with a difference of one day at most.

Generally speaking, the solar terms in the first half of the year are around 6th and 2 1 day of each month, and in the second half, around 8th and 23rd of each month. Today, there is a popular folk song that can help people remember the 24 solar terms.

Spring rain shocks spring and clear valley days, summer is full of mountains and summer is connected with heat, autumn dew is cold and frost, and winter snow drifts.

Come on June 2 1 day in the first half of the year and August 23 in the second half. The dates of the two festivals are fixed every month, with a maximum difference of one or two days.

Solar terms indicate the different positions of the sun in the sky in a year, so they also indicate the changes of the four seasons. The industrious and wise ancients also took into account the climate, images and agricultural activities at that time when determining the names of the 24 solar terms. For example, beginning of spring, Changxia, beginning of autumn, beginning of winter and the eight solar terms of vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox and winter solstice represent seasonal changes.

Eight solar terms, such as slight summer heat, great summer heat, slight cold, severe cold, white dew, cold dew and first frost, reflect the change of temperature. The first five solar terms represent the time and process of hot and cold weather. The last three solar terms indicate that the weather turns cold and the condensation of water vapor in the air is different. The four solar terms, rain, Grain Rain, light snow and heavy snow, indicate the period and degree of rainfall and snowfall. As for the four solar terms of "Jing Zhe", "Qingming", "Xiaoman" and "Mangzhong", they reflect the growth and development phenomenon and agricultural activities of organisms affected by climate change.

For thousands of years, "Food is the most important thing for the people" (Han Shi Li Chuan). And food can only come from farming. However, farming activities "depend on keeping pace with the times" (Agricultural Book of Shu Sages in Western Han Dynasty). It can be said that almost all ancient agricultural books in China talk about the first priority of farming is to seize the farming season. The traditional agricultural word in China is "Chen Jiuqi", in which "Chen" means "Yes" (Shuowen Jiezi written by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty). Therefore, farmers all over the world have been using solar terms to guide farming, and have summarized countless solar terms proverbs. For example, there is a popular proverb in the Jianghuai Valley of Anhui Province: "There are two festivals in January, one lasts for fifteen days. The weather is warm in early spring, and rain and feces are sent. The spring equinox plough is not idle. There are many kinds of trees in Qingming, and Grain Rain cultivates the land, ordering melons and beans in long summer, and not planting cotton in Xiaoman. When awn seeds harvest new wheat, crops grow rapidly from summer to the sun. A little summer heat is not hot, but a big summer heat is dog days. Cabbage is planted in autumn and new cotton is picked in summer. You should set the date of the Millennium and plant wheat fields at the autumnal equinox. Harvest in the cold dew, and the first frost turns over the ground. Beginning of winter finished cooking, and the snow was plowed and raked. It's already very cold on a snowy day, and the solstice day in winter becomes very long. Slight cold will soon accumulate fertilizer, and severe cold will celebrate the New Year ","It is the right time to plant cotton in Grain Rain early in Qingming Festival, and it is the right time to plant wheat in early frost ". The last two are solar terms proverbs popular in northern Anhui. These proverbs still shine with the light of science. However, it should be pointed out that the 24 solar terms were founded in ancient times and completed in the Qin and Han Dynasties. During this period, the economic and cultural center of China has been in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, solar terms reflect the climate characteristics and agricultural activities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which are not completely in line with the national conditions. The solar term proverbs summarized in various places are also local and cannot be used to guide agricultural activities regardless of regions. This is why the proverbs mentioned above are particularly popular.

For example, the following agricultural proverb circulating in Northeast China reflects the relationship between the characteristics of solar terms and agriculture, which is somewhat different from the above-mentioned areas: "The sun turns in beginning of spring, and the rain flows along the river. Frightened crows, the vernal equinox drops dry. Qingming is busy planting millet, and Grain Rain is busy farming. Long summer goose feathers live, birds come here. Everyone was happy when the awn was planted, but cotton could not be found on the summer solstice. The summer heat is not hot, but the summer heat is in the dog days. Beginning of autumn is busy playing indigo and sharpening knives and sickles in summer. The Millennium is busy cutting land, and there is no field in the autumn equinox. Before the cold dew is cold, the frost has changed. Beginning of winter sealed the sky first, and Xiaoxue River sealed it. The heavy snow turned into winter, and the winter solstice lasted for nine days. Xiao Han is busy buying and selling, and Dahan wants to celebrate the New Year. " Similarly, there is spring ploughing and spring sowing in Northeast China: "Qingming is busy planting wheat, and Grain Rain is busy farming. Qingming wheat grain rain valley, sorghum beans before and after long summer. " Reflecting the production of summer hoes, there are: "catch up slowly and shovel awn seeds." There are no seedlings on the solstice of summer, and there is no harvest in autumn. Reflect the autumn harvest: "There is no field at the autumnal equinox, so prepare a knife and sickle. Cold dew doesn't pick up cigarettes, first frost doesn't complain. Reflecting climate change are: "The cold dew is not cold, but the weather has changed, and there is frost first." . Beginning of winter does not fief, not for three or five days. "Wait, these agricultural proverbs have been tested by production practice and are very close to reality.

In addition, farmers always pray for a bumper harvest and disaster relief, so they have formed various solar terms customs, such as hiking and sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which are still very popular today. Some solar terms have become important festivals. For example, beginning of spring Day is the Spring Festival. The seasonal culture of the Chinese nation, which is composed of them, has been enriched and developed in the long history of thousands of years and has gone global.

In the long years, the folk customs of solar terms infected poets and gave birth to countless poems and songs, such as Qingming written by Du Mu in the Tang Dynasty: "It rains a lot during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Excuse me, where is the restaurant? The shepherd boy refers to Xinghua Village. " At the same time, painting, dancing, music and other projects were born.