The origin and significance of Qinglong Festival. When is the Dragon Festival?

Qinglong Festival is also called Dragon Head-up Festival, or Dragon Head-up Festival. Different places have different customs, so it is a good choice to cut a refreshing hair on this day.

When is the Dragon Festival?

The Qinglong Festival on 202 1 falls on the second day of the second lunar month, and the solar calendar falls on Sunday on March 14. Qinglong Festival is also called Dragon Head Raising or Dragon Head Festival. It is a common custom to get a haircut on that day in China.

The origin of Qinglong Festival

The dragon looks up, commonly known as the Qinglong Festival on the second day of the second lunar month. Legend has it that dragons look up. It is a traditional festival in rural China, and it is called "Dragon Head Festival". As the saying goes: "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up and everyone became a farmer." At this time, the sun's spirit rises, the earth thaws, and spring ploughing will begin. This is the time to transport manure and plow the fields. According to legend, this festival originated in the period of leader Fu. Fu "attaches importance to farming and farming". On February 2nd every year, "The Queen Mother delivers meals and plows the fields with her own horses" to take care of herself. Later, the Yellow Emperor, Tang Yao, Yu Shun and Yu Xia all followed the example of their predecessors. For Zhou Wuwang, we have not only followed this traditional practice, but also implemented it as an important national policy. On the second day of February, a ceremony was held, and all civil and military officials could personally plow an acre of land. This is the historical legend of the Dragon Head Festival. On the other hand, Wu Zetian abolished Tang Lizhou as emperor, which provoked the jade emperor to be furious and ordered the Dragon King not to rain for three years. The dragon king could not bear to lose his life, and it rained heavily secretly. When the Jade Emperor learned of this, he shot the Dragon King out of the Heavenly Palace and pinned him down at the foot of the mountain. Lebanese people feel that the Dragon King is deeply grateful to Rain God and prays to heaven every day. Finally, he moved the jade emperor and released the dragon king on the second day of February, so there was a saying that "the dragon looked up on the second day of February" In fact, in the past, rural water conservancy conditions were poor, and farmers attached great importance to the spring rain and celebrated the "Dragon Head Festival" to show respect for dragons, pray for rain and let God bless the harvest. From their wishes, it is good, so the "Dragon Head Festival" has been passed down to this day!

On the second day of the second lunar month, the reason why it is called Dragon Head-raising Festival is actually related to ancient astronomical phenomena. In the old days, people divided the astrology near the ecliptic into 28 groups, which respectively indicated the positions of the sun, the moon and the stars in the sky, commonly known as "Twenty-eight Hostels", as a reference for astronomical observation. The "Twenty-eight Hostels" are divided into four groups according to the four directions of east, west, north and south, resulting in "four elephants": black dragon in the east, white tiger in the west, suzaku in the south and Xuanwu in the north. In Twenty-eight Nights, the horn, kang, ground, room, heart, tail and dustpan form a dragon-shaped star, which is called the Black Dragon in the East. The horn represents the horn of the dragon, the kang represents the throat of the dragon, the old represents the claw of the dragon, the heart represents the heart of the dragon, and the tail and jump represent the tail of the dragon. In Shuowen, it is recorded that the dragon "can be quiet and bright, detailed and huge, short and long, reaching the sky at the vernal equinox and diving in the autumn equinox", which actually refers to the changes in the astrology of the eastern black dragon!

In ancient times, people observed that the stars in the black dragon rose in the eastern night sky in spring and set in the west in autumn, and their cycles and orientations coincided with the agricultural cycle in a year. When farming began in spring, the stars in the black dragon began to rise in the eastern night sky, revealing bright bibcock, crops grew in summer, and the stars in the black dragon hung in the southern night sky; In autumn, the crops are harvested, and the stars in the black dragon begin to fall in the west; Everything lurks in winter, and the stars in the black dragon are hidden under the northern horizon. Every year on the night of the second day of the second lunar month, the stars in the black dragon begin to emerge from the east, and the horns representing the dragon horns begin to appear on the eastern horizon. About an hour later, the dragon's throat rose above the horizon, and near midnight, the Pleiades star appeared. This is the process of "the dragon looks up". Every day after that, the date of "the dragon looks up" is about a little earlier. After more than a month, the whole "faucet" was "lifted". Later, this day was also endowed with multiple meanings and sustenance, and evolved into "Dragon Head-raising Festival" and "Spring Dragon Festival"!

The formation of Erlong Mountain's rise in early February is also related to the natural geographical environment. On February 2nd, the Dragon Head-lifting Festival is mainly popular in the north (there is little water in the south, so it is more popular to offer sacrifices to the land gods). Due to the perennial drought and lack of rain, surface water resources are scarce in the northern region, and the agricultural production that depends on it cannot be separated from water. The invasion of pests and diseases is also a major disaster for crops. Therefore, people's psychology of praying for rain and removing pests and diseases is reflected in their daily beliefs, and the Dragon Head-lifting Festival on February 2 is particularly important for people: relying on the worship of dragons to exorcise evil spirits and win happiness has entrusted people's yearning for a better life-the dragon god protects the world, people and animals are safe, and the grain is abundant. On the day when the dragon looked up, all the clothes belonging to the snake and the dragon were washed and all the bad luck was washed away. Another way of saying it: On February 2nd, the dragon looked up. According to legend, the second day of February is the day when the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan was born. On the second day of February in the solar calendar, it is said that the Dragon King in charge of rainfall in the sky looked up. It means that there will be more rain in the future, which is beneficial to farming. There is a saying that the Dragon King always looks up from the bottom of the sea on the second day of the second lunar month because he misses his lost daughter.

The significance of Qinglong Festival

There are two stars on the "arcturus" of the black faucet: arcturus I and arcturus II, which respectively represent the two horns on the pale faucet. The four stars behind Jiao Su are Kang Su, which is the throat of the dragon. There are four stars under the throat arranged in the dustpan, showing the shape of "Jue Su", representing the dragon's paw. The room, heart, tail and skip behind the dragon's paw represent the dragon's heart and tail respectively.

The dragon looked up. There is a saying that the corner of the East Qinglong Seven Nights just emerged from the ground in the evening, and the dragon just emerged from the corner, so it is called the dragon to look up. Of course, the date is inaccurate. But it probably means that. February 20th in lunar calendar, usually more than March in solar calendar. At this time, the dragon in the East just emerged from the ground for seven nights, and gradually after a few months, the dragon body was completely exposed. So in the beginning, when the horn is exposed, it is called the dragon to look up.

February 2 folk custom

There are many folk customs on February 2nd. Today, although some customs have disappeared, in ancient China, February 2 is of great significance and cannot be ignored. On this day, people will burn incense to worship the dragon god, with the purpose of praying for rain, killing pests and carrying out some activities related to dragons.

1, click

Knocking on the tap woke up the dragon. On the morning of February 2, the northeast used a long pole to hit the beam, which was called "knocking on the tap". Wake up the dragon and save one side. Adults and children still read: "On February 2, the dragon looked up and the big warehouse was full of small warehouses." In some places, kitchen ashes are scattered in the yard to form a big circle, and whole grains are put in the middle, which is called "hoarding" or "filling the warehouse". I wish you a bumper harvest and a full warehouse in Man Cang.

Step 2 scrape the tap

The second day of the second lunar month is the day when dragons are killed and ascended to heaven. People believe that shaving your head on this day will make people lucky. Children's haircut is called "shaving their heads". When the dragon looks up, it will bless children to grow up healthily and get ahead when they grow up. Hairdressing for adults means saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, hoping to bring good omen and good luck. Therefore, the folk proverb says, "Shaving the tap on February 2nd is a good year.".

Step 3 eat dragon food

On this day, there is also a certain emphasis on diet, because people believe that "Rowen has great wealth", so the diet of this day is mostly named after dragons. Eating spring cakes is called "eating dragon forest", eating noodles is called "eating dragon beard meat", eating wonton is called "eating longan", eating jiaozi is called "eating dragon ears", cooking noodles and wonton together is called "eating dragon balls", and eating scallion cakes is called "tearing dragon skin". Everything carries symbols and meanings related to dragons. All these have pinned people's strong desire to pray for the dragon's blessing.