Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional stories - What are the legends of the vernal equinox? What are the legends of the vernal equinox?

What are the legends of the vernal equinox? What are the legends of the vernal equinox?

Legend of the origin of vernal equinox:

A long time ago, there was an emperor who deeply loved the people and cared about folk life. His name is Yandi. When he knew that people needed more food to satisfy their hunger, he prayed to heaven to provide people with food seeds. So, God sent a red finch to send food seeds to Emperor Yan. Emperor Yan, who loved the people, immediately distributed the five-grain seeds to all people. People happily planted the five-grain seeds in the fields, looking forward to a good harvest day by day. But after a long time, those rice seedlings did not bloom and there was no bumper harvest.

So Emperor Yan went to ask God, and God said it was because the sun hid and fell asleep, and the seeds of the five grains didn't get enough sunshine, so they couldn't blossom and bear fruit. Emperor Yan was very worried that his people would not have enough to eat and lead a bad life. He asked God how to wake up the sun. God said: On the day of the vernal equinox, day and night are divided equally, and someone needs to ride a colorful bird to go to Penglai Island to get the sun back and hang it in the sky again. Penglai Island is a fairy tale island. No one has been there. It is said that there are many difficulties to reach this island. For the people, Emperor Yan decided to go to the island to find the sun himself.

So, on the day of the vernal equinox, Emperor Yan rode a colorful bird across the sea of Wan Li and came to Penglai Island. Strange to say, many birds are afraid to go near the rough sea because they are afraid of being swept into the sea by the waves. However, on the vernal equinox, when Emperor Yan rode colorful birds, the sea was very calm and the sea was blue.

When Emperor Yan came to Penglai Island, he picked up the sun and rode back to his hometown. He hung the sun on the city head of his hometown to let the sun shine on the earth. Since then, the earth has been rich in food, and all people are very happy. Emperor Yan was honored as the sun god.

People are very grateful to Yan Di, the sun god, so they always worship the sun every spring equinox, and people will stand on the back of a bird like Yan Di. Later, people even found that even eggs could stand up on this day.

After the vernal equinox, swallows fly back from the south, spring thunder begins and lightning comes.

Folklore of vernal equinox:

In the folk, the spring equinox season, began to sweep graves to worship ancestors, which is also called the Spring Festival. Before sweeping the grave, a grand ancestor worship ceremony should be held in the ancestral hall, pigs and sheep should be slaughtered, drummers should be invited to play, and the ritual students should read the eulogy and quote three praises. At the beginning of the spring equinox grave sweeping, the first thing is to sweep the graves of ancestors and distant ancestors. The whole family and the whole village have to be dispatched on a large scale, and the team often reaches hundreds or even thousands. After the ancestral graves of Kaiji and Yuanzu were swept, they were divided into rooms to sweep the graves of ancestors in each room, and finally each family swept the graves privately. In most Hakka areas, ancestor worship and grave sweeping in spring begin at the vernal equinox or earlier, and must end in Tomb-Sweeping Day at the latest. There is a saying everywhere that after the Qingming Festival, the tomb door is closed, and the ancestors' spirits are not needed.

In ancient times, farmers had a holiday on the vernal equinox, and every family had to eat glutinous rice balls. Moreover, they have to cook a dozen or twenty or thirty dumplings, and put them in the outdoor fields with thin bamboo forks. That's called sticking the bird's mouth, so as not to ruin the crops. The vernal equinox is also a good time for children to fly kites. Especially at the vernal equinox. Even adults are involved. Kites are divided into Wang Zi Kite, Silver Carp Kite, Myxomoth Kite, Leigong Kite and Moon Light Kite. The biggest kite is two meters high, and the smallest one is two or three feet. There are kites on the market, many of which are smaller than others' and suitable for children to play with, but most of them are posted by themselves, and the bigger ones have to compete with each other to see which one flies high.

There are many folklore about the diet in spring, and Chinese medicine also pays attention to it, commonly known as eating "spring". Eating spring vegetables at the spring equinox can be said to be the best proof. In the past, there was a custom in the four cities (now Heshan is the five cities) called "eating spring vegetables at the vernal equinox". "Spring vegetable" is a kind of wild amaranth, which villagers call "Artemisia chun". On the vernal equinox, the whole village went to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the wild, it is often green and thin, about the length of a palm. Picked spring vegetables are usually boiled with fish fillets at home, which is called "spring soup". There is a jingle that says, "Spring soup is dirty, but it washes the liver and intestines. The whole family is safe and healthy. " Since the spring of the year, people still pray for peace and health at home.

The legend of vertical eggs at the vernal equinox

Every year, this day is gradually changing from a short day to a long night. On this day, day and night are divided equally. In ancient legends, laying eggs on the vernal equinox is the easiest day, and the saying that "when the vernal equinox arrives, the eggs will be beautiful" has been passed down to this day. Many people think that the vernal equinox is a day with the same length of day and night in the northern and southern hemispheres, and the earth's axis with an inclination of 66.5 degrees and the orbital plane of the earth's revolution around the sun are in a state of relative balance of force, which is very beneficial to vertical eggs; Some people think that the vertical egg is purely a matter of skill, which has nothing to do with the vernal equinox.

Whether an egg can stand up is mainly influenced by gravity, which has nothing to do with the earth's revolution around the sun, and has little to do with latitude and longitude. The influence of gravity change between the sun and the earth is negligible.

"As long as the balance is well grasped, the eggs can stand on a calm plane. Of course, patience is very important. " He Laoshi said that although there was a custom of oviposition at the vernal equinox in ancient times, it was not directly related to the easier oviposition at the vernal equinox. The common people mainly celebrate the arrival of spring.

The legend of the vernal equinox and Spring Festival

In the old days, aristocratic families also held ancestor worship ceremonies at the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox, commonly known as Spring Sacrifice and Autumn Sacrifice, which mainly collected ancestral portraits and genealogy. Every spring and autumn equinox, clean the courtyard in advance, clean the sacrificial utensils, and buy three sacrifices, incense sticks and offerings. The elders led the clan to burn incense, light candles and kowtow three times. After the sacrifice, the whole clan will hold a banquet and get together to contact their feelings. In the old society, women's private schools should be listed in ancestral temples to worship their ancestors. People of other nationalities who return to their hometowns to get rich will also go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors; If the clan rules are seriously corrupted, it is necessary to open the ancestral hall for public punishment.

February 15th of the lunar calendar is the birthday of the popular Kao and Baihua. Also known as the Flower Festival, also known as the word "Flower Dynasty". Mohanji said: "February is the flower festival in Luoyang custom, and February is the vegetable picking festival in folk"; The notes on the visit to the West Lake say, "February 15th is the Flower Dynasty".

At the Flower Festival, there is a "Lantern Festival" activity. This kind of lantern is usually made of translucent oil paper "glossy paper" produced locally, which can be used as an umbrella cover. Also called "umbrella lamp". Decorations, flowers, rare birds and animals are carved on it. According to Tao's magazine Ying Tu Need, "There are 200 to 300 lanterns made of colorful Wuling broken branches ... or tied with colors as pavilions, which can be as high as three or four.

Solar terms refer to the twenty-four solar terms and climate, which is a supplementary calendar formulated by China in ancient times to guide farming, and is the crystallization of the long-term experience and wisdom of the working people of the Chinese nation.

Since China was an agricultural society in ancient times, agriculture needed to have a strict understanding of the operation of the sun, and farming was carried out entirely according to the sun. Therefore, the "twenty-four solar terms" that reflect the solar cycle alone are added to the calendar as the standard for determining leap months.

China's orthodox 24 solar terms are based on Henan. China's lunar calendar is a combination of yin and yang, which is based on the movement of the sun and the moon, so adding 24 solar terms can better reflect the cycle of the sun's movement.

24 solar terms is: beginning of spring, Rain, Sting, Equinox, Qingming, Grain Rain, Changxia, Xiaoman? , Miscanthus, Summer Solstice, Little Summer, Big Summer, beginning of autumn, Chushu, Millennium, Equinox, Cold Dew, First Frost, beginning of winter, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Winter Solstice, Slight Cold and Severe Cold.

2016165438+1October 30th, China's "Twenty-four solar terms" was officially listed in UNESCO's representative list of human intangible cultural heritage.