In a few days, it will be the equinox. Equinox is one of the most important solar terms in the 24 solar terms. Equinox is a very important festival in our country. "Yueling 72 Hou Ji Jie": "in February, it is divided into half, which is the half of the nineties, so it is called the division. Autumn is synonymous with autumn. "The first and second chapters of the spring and Autumn Annals" says: "in the vernal equinox, yin and yang are in half phase, so day and night are both cold and hot. On the Equinox Day, the sun shines directly on the equator, and then moves northward. Let's have a look at the equinox custom.
The custom of equinox
Vernal equinox, one of the 24 solar terms, is on March 21 this year. In the vernal equinox, yin and yang are half the same. Therefore, the cold and heat are even day and night. The word "Fen" indicates the boundary between day and night, between cold and heat. According to the lunar calendar, Dou Zhiren is the vernal equinox, which runs around the Zhou Tian. The day and night of the northern and southern hemispheres are equally divided, and it is also half of the spring, so it is called the vernal equinox. '
In ancient times, the equinox was also a traditional festival, which left behind many customs, such as laying eggs in spring, eating spring vegetables, offering sacrifices in spring, erecting eggs and so on. Among them, the most bizarre one is erecting eggs.
1. Lichun egg
It is said that every year on the equinox, tens of millions of people all over the world are doing the 'vertical egg' experiment. As early as 4000 years ago, China had the tradition of laying eggs on the equinox to celebrate the coming of spring. Later, a tradition of praying for good luck gradually evolved.
If you want to succeed in erecting an egg, you can choose a smooth and well proportioned fresh egg that has just been laid for four or five days, and try to erect it on a flat table. Although there are many losers, there are also many winners. It has been explained that the earth's axis is tilted 66.5 degrees with the vernal equinox, and it is in a state of relative balance with the earth's orbit around the sun, which is conducive to the erection of the egg. It is said that a stable egg can keep for more than ten days without external interference.
2. Eat spring vegetables
In some areas of Lingnan, there is a non festival custom on the Equinox Day, which is called 'eating spring vegetables on the equinox'. 'Chuncai' is a kind of wild amaranth, which is called 'chunbihao' by villagers. On the day of spring equinox, people go to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the field, it is usually light green, thin trees, about the length of palm.
Spring vegetables are usually boiled with fish fillets at home, which is called spring soup. There is also a folk doggerel about this: "spring soup irrigates the internal organs, washes the liver and intestines; the whole family, young and old, is safe and healthy. 'the plan of the year is spring, when the equinox comes. In the face of the germination of all things, people naturally want to pray for the peace and health of their homes.
3. Spring Festival
On the spring equinox of February, we began to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices to ancestors, also called spring sacrifice. Before the folk tomb sweeping, a grand ancestor worship ceremony should be held in the ancestral hall. Pigs and sheep should be slaughtered, and drummers should be invited to play. The ritual students should read the sacrificial texts and lead the three sacrificial rites. At the beginning of spring equinox tomb sweeping, the first thing to do is to sweep the graves of kaijizu and Yuanzu. The whole family and the whole village have to go out. The scale is very large, and the team often reaches hundreds or even thousands of people. After the tombs of kaijizu and Yuanzu were swept, they were divided into different rooms to sweep the tombs of their ancestors, and finally each family swept the private tombs of their families.
In most Hakka areas, spring ancestor worship and tomb sweeping begin at the vernal equinox or earlier, and finish at the latest during the Qingming Festival. There is a saying all over the country that the tomb door will be closed after the Qingming Festival, and the ancestors' spirits will not be used.
4. Sticky sparrow mouth
On the spring equinox, every farmer has a holiday according to the custom. Every family has to eat more than ten or twenty or thirty soups that don't need to be wrapped in the heart. They use bamboo branches to place them on the side of the field outside, which is called sticky sparrow mouth, so as not to damage the crops.
It's also a good time for children to fly kites during the equinox. Especially on the equinox. Even adults are involved. There are three types of kites: Wang Zi kite, silver carp kite, MI moth kite, Lei Gong insect kite and Yue Er Guang kite. The bigger one is two meters high, and the smaller one is two or three feet high. There are kites on the market. Most of them are small and suitable for children to play. Most of them are bigger and paste by themselves. They have to compete with each other to see which one is higher.
5. Memorial Day
In the Zhou Dynasty, there was a memorial ceremony at the spring equinox. Pan rongbi of the Qing Dynasty wrote "Jisheng at the age of the emperor's capital": "the spring equinox festival and the autumn equinox festival are the grand ceremonies of the country, and the people are not allowed to sacrifice without authorization. Most of the places for ancient emperors to worship the sun were located in the suburbs of Beijing. In the Yuan Dynasty, the sun altar was built. Since then, the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties worshipped the Daming God (the sun) in the sun altar on the vernal equinox. The sun is set at the Mao carving of the spring equinox. During the year of a, C, e, Geng and Ren, the emperor makes sacrifices in person, and the rest of the years are sacrificed by officials.
Built in 1530, the current Ritan in Beijing is the place where emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to the sun god. More than 400 years have passed since the first year of Longqing (1567) in the Ming Dynasty. Five emperors, including Tianqi, Chongzhen, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang, came to the altar to offer sacrifices. After the 23rd year (1843) of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty, the activities of "Memorial Day" gradually disappeared, which has been interrupted for more than 160 years.
Spring equinox season, you can eat more red dates and other spleen nourishing sweets, as well as honey, leeks, spinach, less acid and spicy food. In addition, add nuts, peanuts, etc. at least 3 times a week.