Who knows the folklore of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period?

In the past, every sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the rural custom is to invite the old and young girls who have been married, and then send them back with a good reception.

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, there was a prime minister of the State of Jin named Hu Yan. He is to protect and follow the Duke of Jin Wen Duke Chong Er exile in the countries of merit (see "Duke Chong Er nineteen years of exile career" article), sealed the prime minister of the logistics management of the dynasty, very smart and capable, the whole of the state of Jin are very respectful of him. Whenever the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth month of the sixth fox Yan birthday, there are always countless people to him to pay tribute to the birthday gift. The fox Yan slowly and arrogant. As time went by, people were dissatisfied with him. However, the people dared not speak out against him because of his high power and influence.

Fox Yan's daughter's in-laws were Zhao Wei, a minister at the time. He was disgusted by the behavior of XU Yan, so he advised her frankly. However, XU Yan could not listen to him, and he ignored Zhao Fai's bitter advice, instead scolding his in-laws in public. Zhao Fai was old and weak, and soon died of anger. His son hated his father-in-law's lack of friendship and was determined to avenge his father's death.

The next year, Jin's summer grain was plagued by a disaster, fox Yan out of the capital to release grain, and on his way out, he said, the sixth day of June must be rushed back to celebrate his birthday. Fox Yan's son-in-law got this news, decided to make a birthday party on the sixth day of June, kill Fox Yan, to avenge his father's death. Fox Yan's son-in-law met his wife. Asked her, "Do the people of the world hate people like my father-in-law?" Fox Yan's daughter, who was also angry at her father's actions, replied smoothly, "Even you and I hate him, what need is there to say about others?" His husband then spelled out the plan. When his wife heard it, her face turned red and white, and she said, "I am a member of your family, and I can't care about my mother's family, so you see to it!"

From then on, the daughter of the fox Yan's heart all day long, she hated her father's arrogance and arrogance, and she was desperate for her in-laws. But on second thought, remembering her father's good, her own daughter could not see death. She finally ran back to her mother's home on the fifth day of June to tell her mother of her husband's plan. Her mother was shocked and rushed to send a letter to XU Yan overnight. The son-in-law of the fox Yan saw his wife escaping and knew that the secret had been exposed, and smothered himself in his home waiting for the fox Yan to come and clean himself up.

June 6 morning, fox Yan personally came to the in-laws house, fox Yan saw his son-in-law like nothing, son-in-law and horse back to the Xiangfu. That year on the birthday feast, fox Yan said: "I put food this year, personally see the suffering of the people, know that I do things wrong in recent years. Today, my son-in-law designed to harm me, although too vicious, but things did not work, he is for the people to eliminate harm, for the father to take revenge, I will not blame. Daughter to save her father's crisis, do a great filial piety, deserve to receive my worship. And hope that my son-in-law in my face, regardless of hatred, the two make peace!" From then on, Fox Yan truly changed his ways, and his son-in-law became even closer than before. In order to always remember this lesson, fox Yan every June 6 to invite back to the daughter, son-in-law reunion. This thing is publicized, the people follow the example of each, also in the June 6 to receive back the daughter, should be an elimination of hatred and grievances, free from disasters and difficulties of the auspicious. Over the years, it has become a customary practice that has been passed down to the present day, and is known as the "Auntie's Day".

Customs related to the Spring Festival

New Year's Eve is the last day of the year, according to Lu Buwei's "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals. According to the Lu Shi Chun Qiu. Jidong Ji, written by Lu Bu Wei, the ancients used to beat drums on the day before New Year's Day to expel the "plague ghosts", which is the origin of the "New Year's Eve" festival.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household would use peach stalks to carve the images of Shentan and Yubi, and hang them in front of the door on the day before the New Year's Eve, to avoid the intrusion of demons and ghosts. Later, people smacked of carving wooden people trouble, directly in the peach wood to draw two gods, mention the name of God Tantui, Yu Ji, in the afternoon of New Year's Eve hanging on both sides of the door, in order to suppress the evil spirits, this is the original peach talisman. On the peach wood has a role in warding off evil records, the earliest from the "Zuo Zhuan", which recorded the ancient people with peach wood made bow for the removal of the disaster ceremony. Zhuangzi: "insert peach branches in the household, even under the ash. Children enter without fear, and ghosts fear." It can be seen that the ancient people on the special beliefs of peach wood originated in the spring and autumn and warring states period. Such as the "warring states policy . Qi Ce III" said that when Meng Chang Jun intended to enter the Qin, Su Qin told him the fable of the earth puppet and peach stalks to dissuade him, in which the earth puppet man said the peach stalks: "Today, the peach stalks of Zi Dongguo are also carved and peeled the child as a human being." It can be known that the Warring States period already had the practice of chipping peach wood for people.

The Spring Festival has a long history, according to historical records, it emerged in the Yu and Shun period of sacrifice to the gods and ancestors, China's Yin and Shang period of the bronzes have "Dan" hieroglyphics. However, in the Zhou Dynasty, the first month of the lunar calendar was November. After the unification of the country by Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the tenth month of the summer calendar was taken as the first month (i.e., the first month, in order to avoid the name of Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), "赢政"). It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the Spring Festival began to be fixed on the first day of the first month of the summer calendar, which was gradually elevated to a national holiday.

The Spring Festival was first celebrated in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the "Book of Rites", the Zhou Dynasty, every Spring Festival, the Zhou Emperor will always lead the vassals and the generals, to the eastern suburbs of the grand sacrificial activities, pray for a year of wind and rain, grain abundance, the country and the people in peace, back to the palace, but also rewarded the ministers, and Bude and the order of the benefit of the people.

The origin of Jumang, the god of spring

Jumang, the god of spring in ancient Chinese mythology, is in charge of agricultural time, which is very important in the ancient society that is mainly based on agriculture, and plays an important role in the Spring Festival, and welcoming the god of spring on the day of the Spring Festival is one of the most important activities of the Spring Festival.

China has had the concept of worshiping the god of spring since ancient times, and has inherited many customs of welcoming spring and sacrificing to the god of spring, but the myths and legends about the god of spring are very diverse. Or that the god of spring for the Qingdi, or that the god of spring for the Jumang, or that the two are one and the same. Perhaps the mixture of primitive worship and religion gave rise to the various titles of the spring god.

Jumang (or Jurong) was a descendant of Shao Hao (少昊), a man named Chong (重), a minister of Fuxi (伏羲), who became the god of spring after his death and was in charge of the agricultural seasons. The original face of Jumang was a bird with a human face, riding on two dragons. After historical evolution, the image we now see in the rituals and paintings is that of a cowherd boy riding a bull in spring, with two hairpins on his head and a willow whip in his hand, which is also known as the Mangtong (芒童).

For more than 2,000 years, the life of Jumang, the god of spring, has been recorded in many documents, such as "Lüshi Chunqiu. Meng Chun": "Its emperor Taibai Gao, its god Jumang." Gao lured note: "Taibaigao, Fuxi's, with wood virtue king of the world's number, died sacrificed in the east, for the emperor of wood virtue. Jumang, less white gao clan's descendant son said heavy, Zuo wood virtue of the emperor, died as the god of wood officials."

"Mozi. The name of the ghost of the next" there is also a legend about Jumang: "In the past, Zheng Mu Gong when the day in the middle of the day in the temple, there is a god into the door and the left, the bird body, plain clothes, the three best, the face of the square. Zheng Mu Gong see, is fear, run. God said: "No fear! The emperor enjoys the female bright virtue, so that I tin female life of ten years nine, so that if the country is prosperous, the descendants of Mao, do not lose." Zheng Mu Gong again bow bow, said:

'Dare to ask the name of the god?' He said, 'I am Jumang.'" Here Duke Zheng Mu should be Duke Qin Mu. It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Mu of Qin was a wise king, able to appoint wise ministers, once took five sheepskin to ransom Thyme Xi from the hands of the people of Chu, entrusted to him to take on the important task of the country; but also able to love the people, once pardoned three hundred of his runaway horses killed to eat the wild people under the歧下, and later this group of people remembered his benevolence to help him to defeat the armies of the State of Jin, captured the king of Jin, Yigu (Yigu that is, the Duke Hui of Jin, in the Han Yuan battle by the Qin captured) (Yiwu was the Duke Hui of Jin, captured by Qin in the Battle of Han Yuan); and because of these good virtues, Heaven and Earth asked Jumang, the god of wood and the god of spring, to add nineteen years of life to him. In addition, Dongjun in the Chu Rhetoric is also considered to be the god of spring in Chu.

The origin of the first month do not shave

On the first month do not shave the head of the legend, Jiangsu Huaiyin and other places of folklore to recognize the beginning of the Qin Shi Huang, in order to avoid the taboo, the folk on the first month of each year was renamed as the first month, but also the formation of a custom not to "shave the head", or else there is a plague of blood.

Cold food, Qingming traceability

Tracing the Qingming Festival, about the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, has been more than two thousand years of Rexroth. Qingming first existed as a very important festival. The original meaning of Qingming is that nature has reached the time when it has turned warm and everything starts to revive for spring plowing. Festivals are signs of changes in the climate and the order of the seasons in China, while festivals contain certain customs and activities and some kind of commemorative significance. The Qingming Festival, due to its proximity to the day of the Cold Food Festival, has gradually merged with the Cold Food Festival to become a traditional Chinese festival and the most important festival of worship, a day of ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping.

Cold food means that fire is forbidden and only cold or pre-cooked food can be eaten. In ancient times, the Cold Food Festival was celebrated the day before the Qingming Festival. Legend has it that this custom originated during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when someone in the state of Jin wanted to kill the duke Chong Er, so the loyal minister Jie Zhi Pui (also known as Jie Zi Pui) escorted Chong Er to escape, and even, when he was starving and cold, he cut off the meat of his own thigh and gave it to Chong Er to eat, hoping that he would return to his country in peace and become the king of the country and be diligent in his government and love for the people.

More than ten years later, Chong Er finally returned to his country to become the king of the state, that is, one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Duke of Jin (see the article "The Duke of Jin who created a century of hegemony"), and one by one, he rewarded those who had assisted him in exile, but forgot about Jie Zhi Pui, who was reminded of this by a bystander and then hurriedly sent to ask for the Jie Zhi Pui to come to collect the rewards. However, Jie Zhi Pui and his mother went to live in seclusion in the mountains. Duke Wen of Jin and his ministers searched in the mountain but could not find them. Some people suggested to set fire to the mountain, and Jie Zhi Pui, being a filial son, would surely save his mother out. However, the fire burned for three days and three nights, but still could not see Jie Zhi Tui. After the fire was extinguished, people found Jie Zhi Pui carrying his mother's body under a willow tree. Duke Wen of Jin was very sad and remorseful, and buried them under the willow tree. Duke Wen of Jin designated the day the fire was set on the mountain as the Cold Food Festival, stipulating that the people forbid the use of fire and eat cold food for one day in honor of Jie Zhi Pui's loyalty.

The next year, the Duke of Jin and his ministers climbed the mountain to pay homage to Jie Zhi Tui, and they found that the old willow tree where Jie Zhi Tui was buried had risen from the dead, and the Duke of Jin went up and folded the willow branches and put them on his head in a circle and hung the willow outside the door to commemorate this, which has gradually evolved into today's custom of the Ching Ming Festival. The custom of sweeping graves in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period is not on the occasion of the Qingming, "the Records of the Grand Historian. Liou Hou Shijia" said that Zhang Liang paid his respects to Huang Shi Gong, who taught him the art of war, on the day of summer and the day of waxing in winter. It is also mentioned in the Eastern Zhou and Warring States period that a disgraced man from Qi often begged for sacrificial offerings at Dongguo's grave, which shows that tomb-sweeping was prevalent in the Warring States period. As for this custom is scheduled for Qingming, is the Tang Dynasty later began to prevail.

Plugging in cornelian cherry blossoms to avoid bad weather

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the small and weak state of Wu had to pay tribute to its strong neighbor, the state of Chu, every year on time. One year, Wu's emissary offered the king of Chu his specialty "Cornus officinalis" as a medicinal herb. The king of Chu looked down on the unattractive "Wu Yu" and thought that Wu was teasing him, so he had the messenger thrown out. The king of Chu was accompanied by a doctor named Zhu, who kept the cornelian cherry in a safe place. In the following year, the king of Chu suffered from the cold and his old illness returned, and his ministers were at their wits' end. Dr. Zhu saw the time has come, and hastily will be decocted Wu cornelian cherry, to the king of Chu served, a moment to stop the pain, the king of Chu rejoiced, rewarded Dr. Zhu, and asked what this is the medicine? The king of Chu was so happy that he rewarded Dr. Zhu and asked what kind of medicine it was. Dr. Zhu then reported to the king of Chu about last year's Wu envoy's offering of the medicine. After hearing this, the king of Chu was very remorseful, and sent people to apologize to the king of Wu with gifts on one side, and ordered people to plant cornelian cherry on the other side.

A few years later, Chu was plagued by an epidemic, and the cornelian cherry blossoms saved the lives of thousands of people.

A few years later, there was a plague in Chu, and thousands of people's lives were saved by it. In order to thank Dr. Zhu for saving their lives, the people of Chu added the word "Zhu" in front of the word "Wu" and renamed it as "Wu Zhuyu". Later generations of medical doctors added a grass on the word "Zhu", officially named "Cornus", and has been inherited, so that there is a "Cornus less a person" such as the famous sentence.

July 15 words "Ghost Festival"

Legend, every year from July 1 to July 15, the king of hell opened the gates of hell, the ghosts of the netherworld are all back to the yang world, visit their friends and relatives and children and grandchildren, so people say July for the ghost month, there are "half of July, the ghosts run amok! "

In ancient times, people believed in ghosts and gods. The Weekly Rites and Sacrifices said, "All living beings must die, and death must return to the earth, and this is called a ghost." The pre-Qin canon "Liezi. Tianrui" said: "the spirit from the form of each return to its own, so called ghosts, ghosts return also, return to its true home." Folk say ghosts come and go without a trace, the image of terror, magic, often haunted at night to make trouble, people are in awe of it, and fear. Ghost concept of the city's illusory, imaginary products. But unknowingly, ghosts have become a culture, quietly into our lives.

The primitive ancestors cognitive and understanding of ghosts that people have three souls and seven vampires, after the death of people, the seven vampires separated, leaving only three souls are called ghosts. Ancient people cognized ghosts with reference to human beings. People in the pre-Qin period believed that ghosts were just another way of existence after the death of human beings, and that ghosts, like human beings, were neutral words.

First in, the folk July 15, most of the gradual retention of only the form of sacrifice, as a remembrance of ancestors and memorial.

Unique winter solstice rituals and customs

In the pre-Qin period, people had a fear of the winter solstice. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, there was a tradition of cutting off travel on the winter solstice, such as "Zhou Yi. Xiangzhuan" recorded: "the first king to the day closed, business travel can not." In addition, the Warring States book "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" also recorded the characteristics of the winter solstice and the behavior of people should be: "It is the month, the day is short to, yin and yang fight, all the swings. Gentlemen fasting, the place must trap, the body wants to be peaceful, go to the sound and color, prohibit the appetite, the shape of the nature of peace, things want to be quiet, in order to wait for the determination of yin and yang." It is advocated that a gentleman should fast on the winter solstice, abstain from all kinds of desires, and stabilize his body and mind, so as to achieve tranquility of the body and quietness of affairs, and to wait for the transformation of yin and yang. This is the day becomes shorter, yin and yang two qi competition, all kinds of creatures have been swept silent requirements.

Origin of Lapa Festival

The eighth day of the twelfth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is the Lapa Festival, a traditional festival of the Han Chinese people. On this day, it is customary to eat Lapa congee in most regions. There are many different folk legends about the Lapa Festival and the origin of drinking Lapa congee.

Legend has it that in ancient times, Zhuan Xu, one of the five emperors, had three of his sons turn into evil spirits after their deaths, specializing in coming out to frighten children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and were afraid of ghosts and gods, believing that adults and children who suffered from strokes and illnesses and were in poor health were all due to epidemics and ghosts. These evil spirits are not afraid of the world, single afraid of red (red) beans, so there is a "red beans to beat the ghosts," said. Therefore, on the eighth day of the first day of the lunar month to red small beans, red small beans porridge, in order to get rid of the epidemic to welcome the good luck.

Another story, according to legend, Qin Shi Huang to build the Great Wall, the world of civil workers were ordered to come, can not go home for many years, food by the family to send. Some workers, home across thousands of mountains, food delivery, resulting in a number of workers died of starvation in the Great Wall site. One year on the eighth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, no food to eat the migrant workers have accumulated a few handfuls of grains and cereals, put in a pot of gruel, each person drank a bowl, and finally died of starvation under the Great Wall. Later, people in order to commemorate the death of starvation in the Great Wall site workers, will be in the first eight days of each year to eat "Lapa congee", in order to commemorate.

Based on these records, it can be seen that in the pre-Qin period, people regarded the winter solstice as a festival to put things at rest.

The above festivals were held during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods