What are the traditional customs of the spring equinox

Spring equinox, the vast Chinese land is spring flowers, warblers fly grass, peach blossom excitement, a faction of warmth, peach red, plum white, welcome spring yellow scene. On this day, what are the interesting traditional folk customs? Vernal Equinox is one of the more important of the twenty-four solar terms in China. The spring equinox has a rich connotation, and there are a variety of customs in different parts of the world.

Sacrificing the Day

The spring equinox festival originated in the Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Rites: "Sacrifice the day at the altar." Kong Yingda: "The spring equinox is also called." Thus, this spring equinox custom has been passed down. Qing Pan Rong ah, "the Imperial capital of the times and chronicles": "the spring equinox sacrifice of the sun, the autumn equinox sacrifice of the moon, is the country's great ceremony, the people are not allowed to trespass on the ritual."

Sacrificing the day than the ceremony of heaven and earth, but the ceremony is also quite grand. Ming dynasty emperor sacrificed the day, with the jade and silk, rituals three offerings, music seven music, dance eight playful, three kneeling and nine worship rituals. Qing dynasty emperor rituals for the day: welcome God, laying jade and silk, the first dedication, sub-fresh, the final dedication, answer Fu yesterday, car writing, send God, send prairie and other nine items of the agenda, but also very grand.

Ancient emperors and kings of the day place is located in the outskirts of Beijing. Beijing in the Yuan Dynasty on the construction of the Temple of the Sun, and the existing Temple of the Sun was built in the Ming Jiajing nine years (1530 AD). Located on the east side of Ritan Road in the southeast of Chaoyangmen, Beijing, it is also called Chaoridan, and it was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped the god Daming (the sun) on the day of the vernal equinox. The Chaori Altar is in the southern part of the whole building, sitting in the east and facing west, which is because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and people have to stand in the west to salute the east. It was surrounded by a square outer wall. Before each sacrifice, the emperor would come to the Hall of Apparel inside the North Altar Gate to rest, and then change his clothes to perform the rituals at the Altar of the Asahi. The altar is round, altar platform 1 layer, 33.3 meters in diameter, there are short-shaped wall surrounded by the north and south of the east each has the right to star gate 1.

The west side is the main gate, which is distinguished by having 3 right star gates. Inside the wall in the middle of a square platform made of white stone, called worship altar, 1.89 meters high, 64 meters in circumference. When it was built in the Ming Dynasty, the altar surface was made of red glazed bricks to symbolize the sun of the Daming God, which was an extremely romantic arrangement, but in the Qing Dynasty, it was changed to square bricks to pave the slow, so that the Temple of the Sun was much less colorful. Today's altar of the sun has bid farewell to the feudal emperor sacrifices to the gods of the era, but became a park for people to relax and entertain.

As early as the Zhou Dynasty, there is a spring equinox ritual. According to the "Records of Rites" recorded "sacrificing the sun on the altar", after this custom has been passed down through the generations. Qing dynasty Pan Rong ah, "the emperor Beijing years and times record wins" said: "the spring equinox sacrifice of the sun, the autumn equinox sacrifice of the moon, is the country's great ceremony, the people shall not seize the sacrifice." In some places, the day of the equinox also sweep the tomb and ancestors.

In ancient times, most of the emperor's places of worship for the day were on the outskirts of the capital. By the Yuan Dynasty, a sun altar was built in Beijing.

Sacrificing the sun is not as important as sacrificing to heaven and earth, but the ceremony is also quite grand. Ming Dynasty Emperor, when the sun, with the jade and silk, rituals, three offerings, music, seven music, dance eight feelings, three kneeling and nine worship rituals. Qing dynasty emperor rituals have: welcome the god, laying jade and silk, the first dedication, sub-fresh, the end of the dedication, reply to the blessing of yesterday, the car writing, send the god, send prairie and so on nine agenda, is also very grand. Now, located in Beijing Chaoyangmen outside the southeast of the Temple of the Sun, bid farewell to the era of worship to the gods, become a good place for people to relax and visit.

Ancestor Sacrifice

On the vernal equinox in February, people sweep their tombs to pay homage to their ancestors, also known as the spring festival, which is one of the customs of the vernal equinox. Before sweeping the graves, a grand ceremony of ancestor worship is held in the ancestral hall, pigs are killed, sheep are slaughtered, drummers are invited to play, ritualists read the ritual text, and the band leads the way to perform the three sacrificial rites.

Tomb-sweeping, the first to sweep the graves of the founding ancestor and distant ancestor, the whole clan and the whole village should be mobilized, the scale is very large, the team often reaches hundreds or even thousands of people. After the graves of the founding fathers and distant ancestors are swept, the ancestors' graves of each house are swept, and finally the private graves of each family are swept. In most Hakka areas, spring ancestor sweeping starts at the spring equinox or earlier, and is completed by Qingming at the latest. There is a saying that the door to the tomb will be closed after the Qingming Festival, and the spirits of the ancestors will not be utilized.

In Shandong, Zhejiang, Guizhou and most of the Hakka region, the spring equinox began to sacrifice ancestors, called spring festival. Spring Festival began to hold a grand ancestral rite in the ancestral hall, killing pigs, slaughtering sheep, please drummers playing, by the ritual student read the text of the sacrifice, with the lead in the line of three offerings. Tomb-sweeping begins with the graves of the founding ancestors and distant ancestors. The whole clan and the whole village are mobilized, and the scale of the procession is very large, often amounting to several hundred or even thousands of people. After the graves of the founding ancestors and distant ancestors are swept, then the graves of the ancestors of each house are swept, and finally the private graves of each family are swept. In the spring, the ancestor worship and base sweeping begins at the spring equinox or earlier, and is completed by the Qingming Festival at the latest. It is said that after the Qingming Festival, the foundation gate will be closed, and the spirits of the ancestors will not be able to be used.

Withdrawal of fire grass

Withdrawal of fire grass is an ancient equinox custom, Liang Dai Zong chagrin "Jing Chu chronicles" recorded: North and South Dynasties, Jiangnan people in the spring equinox on this day planted in the roof of the withdrawal of fire grass, so that the whole year do not have to worry about a fire. From the ancient folklore point of view can reflect the people of that time to prevent the importance of fire, but also reflects the people of the peaceful life of the good hope.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" has a medicinal plant - jingtian, as well as prudent fire, fire prevention, fire and other synonyms, the legend is the nemesis of fire. It may be the North and South Dynasties, "Jingchu chronicle" recorded in the "fire prevention grass". On the day of the spring equinox, "the people and planted fire prevention grass on the house". The Ming Dynasty, "Qunfang Spectrum," said Jingtian "both north and south, people planted more than one kind in the courtyard, or potted plants on the house, to fire prevention". Such customs are also recorded in local history books, such as Anhui (Deception County Records): "the fire, that is, the prudent fire, a Jingtian ...... have potted on the house to avoid fire." It is said that the cactus also "fire". Qing Qianlong years, "Quanzhou Fu Zhi," said: "the fire, a cactus, shaped like a man's palm, people planted in pots on the house, the cloud can protect against fire." By the ancients, "fire nemesis" of trees, such as Jiangsu Taizhou folklore, that poplar fire. Northeast Gan equinox folklore, open ponds, planting camphor trees to prevent fire. There are also some places, the old folk in front of the door willow to fire prevention.

Epidemic gas

Equinox custom, Nanling, Anhui Province, the spring equinox is called the "Spring Equinox Festival". At dusk on that day, children in the countryside will compete to beat copper and iron rattles, the sound spread outside the village, the east countryside called "by the aversion to hair dog", the north countryside called "by the epidemic gas", the south countryside called "by the hair of the dog", the west countryside called "by the wild cat". In the north village, it is called "expel the epidemic gas"; in the south village, it is called "expel the hairy dog"; in the west village, it is called "expel the wild cat". Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, women in the mountains on this day to collect the hundred flowers leaves, spring into powder Song, and rice flour and together to do soup noodles to eat, rumor has it that can be cleansing and detoxification.

Eat spring vegetables

Spring equinox, spring thunder, everything is recovering, it is a good time to eat spring vegetables. In the past, Lingnan four Yi (now plus Heshan for five Yi) Kaiping Cang Town Xie surname, there is not section of the spring equinox custom, called "spring equinox eat spring vegetables". "Spring vegetables" is a kind of wild vegetable called "spring bipenny" by the villagers, which is mostly young and green, about as long as the palm of your hand. On the day of the spring equinox, everyone in the village went to pick spring vegetables. Picked back to the spring vegetables and fish often "rolling soup", the name is "spring soup. There is a jingle: "Spring soup to fill dirty. Wash the liver and intestines. The whole family, young and old, safe and healthy." A year since the beginning of spring, people pray for peace and quiet at home, strong and healthy. In the old days, there was a custom of "eating spring vegetables at the spring equinox", which is a kind of wild amaranth, also known as spring bipenny. On the day of the spring equinox, the whole village went to pick spring vegetables, spring vegetables and fish slices back to roll soup, called "spring soup". There is also a saying that "spring soup is a good way to wash the liver and intestines. The whole family, young and old, safe and healthy." In the spring of the year, people still pray for peace of mind and good health.

Brewing

The custom of brewing wine on the spring equinox has been passed down in Zhejiang, Shanxi, etc. In 1913, the Zhejiang "Yu Qian County" recorded that the local "'spring equinox' made wine is stored in the urn, over the three volts of dross since the melting of its color red, the taste of a long time is not bad, so-called the spring equinox wine! ". In Shanxi Lingchuan, the equinox day not only to brew wine, but also with wine, vinegar sacrifices to the first farmers, praying for a good harvest. Making spring equinox wine is a more widely popular spring equinox custom in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang and other places.

Worship and pray for blessings

Fujian Zhangzhou spring equinox customs, folk festivals before and after the spring equinox are the 15th day of the second month of the lunar calendar, the birthday of the Holy King of Kai Zhang. Kai Zhang Sheng Wang, also known as "Chen Sheng Wang", for the Tang Dynasty martial arts scholar Chen Yuanguang, he governed Zhangzhou for 25 years, the rigid martial arts repair, the implementation of the benefits of the government, the dissemination of Chinese culture and farming techniques, the realization of the "north of Quanxing, south of the tide of Huizhou, west of the Ting Gan, the east of all the islands, thousands of miles without the fear of the beacon, known as the land of joy! "People are grateful for his great contribution to Zhangzhou and worship him as the patron saint of Zhangzhou.

In addition, the 19th day of the second month of the lunar calendar is the birth day of Guanyin Bodhisattva, and every year on this day, believers from all over the world go to the Guanyin Temple to pay homage. The 25th day of the 2nd lunar month is the festival day of the King of the Three Mountains. The King of the Three Mountains is the god of the three mountains, Dushan, Mingshan and Towel Mountain, in Jieyang County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province, which was spring as the guardian deity by the Hakka immigrants from Chaozhou in the early years, and thus the believers are mainly of Hakka origin.

Treating plowing oxen and sacrificing birds

The spring equinox custom of treating plowing oxen and sacrificing birds is popular in the south of the Yangtze River. When the spring equinox arrives, the plowing oxen start their year's work, and farmers feed them glutinous rice balls to show their appreciation; and the birds are sacrificed to thank them for reminding them of the time of the year, and hope that the birds will not peck at the grains, so that they can pray for a good year.

Spring Equinox Egg Standing

Legend has it that it is easiest to stand an egg on the spring equinox. According to historical records, the tradition of standing eggs on the vernal equinox originated in China 4,000 years ago, and people used it to celebrate the coming of spring. Many places in China hold egg-raising competitions. Actually, egg standing is not related to the spring equinox. The factor that makes the egg stand up is the earth's gravitational force, but the earth's gravitational force on the day of the spring equinox has a negligible effect on the egg standing. The real reason to make the egg stand up is that although the eggshell is curved, but the eggshell itself is uneven, it is not a point of contact with the table, coupled with the yolk sinking will lower the center of gravity of the egg, as long as you find the 3 salient points, you can be very stable to stand up the egg.

People like to set eggs on the spring equinox probably because it is the balance of time, the balance of day and night.

Flying kites

Flying kites is a traditional custom on the spring equinox, which is practiced by Gao Ding, a literati of the Qing Dynasty, on the day of "The Village Dwelling", which reads: "The grass grows long and the warblers fly on the day of February, and the willows are intoxicated by the spring smoke on the embankment. Children return early from school, busy while the east wind flying paper kites." This poem describes: on a bright February day, children returning from school bathe in the spring light, breathe in the fresh air, and take advantage of the warm east wind to run and fly kites. Children flying kites during the spring equinox is a very old spring recreational activity. On the day of the spring equinox, adults also participate in it. Most of the kites sold in the market are small and suitable for children to play with; if the adults participate, they will make their own bigger ones. This way, they can compete with others to see whose kite flies higher.