The evolution of the winter solstice
The weather, people, and the sun are urging each other, and the sun brings spring to the winter solstice.
The five lines of embroidery are added with weak threads, and the flying ash is moved by blowing the Jia Liu Guan.
The shore is waiting for the wax generals to relax the willows, and the mountains are cold and want to bloom the plum blossoms.
The clouds and things are not different from each other. The country is different. I teach my children to hold the cup in their hands.
Du Fu
During the Yin and Zhou Dynasties
it was stipulated that the day before the winter solstice was the end of the year, and the winter solstice was equivalent to the Spring Festival. In the Zhou Dynasty, November in winter was regarded as the end of the year. In the first month of the year, the New Year begins with the winter solstice. Since the Zhou Dynasty in the Central Plains, officials and people have held sacrificial activities. "Book of Rites of the Zhou Dynasty": With the winter solstice, the gods, humans and ghosts are welcomed. ?The purpose is to pray for the elimination of epidemic diseases in the country and reduce famine and starvation deaths.
Han Dynasty
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the calendar was changed and the summer calendar was implemented. The end of the year was pushed back to December, and the year-end sacrifices were separated from the winter solstice. But the winter solstice has always been ranked first among the twenty-four solar terms, and is called "Ya Sui". "The Book of Han" says: "The Yang Qi rises at the winter solstice, and the emperor is the leader, so he congratulates you." ?After the winter solstice, the days are getting longer day by day and the Yang Qi is rising. This is the beginning of a solar cycle and an auspicious day that should be celebrated.
Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties
The winter solstice is called "Ya Sui", and people have to pay homage to their parents and elders.
Tang and Song Dynasties
Tang and Song Dynasties paid equal attention to the winter solstice and the beginning of the year. Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty's "Tokyo Menghua Lu": "The winter solstice in November." The capital attaches great importance to this festival. Even the poorest people will accumulate money and borrow money within a year. On this day, they will wear new clothes, prepare food and drink, and enjoy sacrifices to their ancestors. Officials are released and closed to celebrate the comings and goings, just like the New Year. ? Folk customs of the Winter Solstice
There are many worship activities during the Winter Solstice, including worshiping ancestors, worshiping parents, worshiping teachers, etc. Worshiping ancestors during the winter solstice is an act in which people report the harvest of the year to their ancestors and pray for their blessings. The winter solstice sacrifice is a big sacrifice, and generally the whole clan must participate.
Scholars should pay homage to their ancestor Confucius. Since the Winter Solstice is like celebrating the New Year, it is equivalent to adding one year to one’s life. Therefore, a statue of Confucius or a memorial tablet to Confucius should be hung on the Winter Solstice.
On this day, students also prepare gifts to visit their teachers as a reward for a year of education.
Counting Nine
The custom of counting Nine has been popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Zongmao of Liang Dynasty wrote in "Jingchu Years' Notes": "The customs use the number of days of the winter solstice and ninety-nine and eighty-one as the end of the cold." Counting to ninety-nine and eighty-one days, the peach blossoms will bloom and the weather will become warm. In fact, it was ninety-nine and ninety-nine, and the cattle walked all over the fields for ninety days. In Chinese culture, nine is the ultimate number, which is the largest, most numerous and longest-lasting concept. Nine nines or eighty-one is the greatest number.
Painting Nine
The Ming Dynasty's "The Scenery of the Imperial Capital" contains: On the winter solstice, paint a plain plum branch with eighty-one petals. The sun dyes one petal, and when the petals are gone and the ninety-nine comes out, the spring is deep, which is called the ninety-nine to eliminate the cold.
The word "Yingshi" means "Nine", first double hook it into a frame, and fill it in from the first day of the first nine. Use a thick brush to write in black, each word has nine strokes, and each stroke takes one day. It takes exactly eighty-one days to fill in the nine words. After filling in one stroke every day, you have to use a fine brush to write down the weather conditions on the strokes in white. Therefore, writing nine characters on a line is also the more detailed meteorological data for ninety-nine days. ?
There is a folk proverb: ?If you don’t serve dumpling bowls during the New Year, your ears will freeze off and no one will care. ?
"Shuo Dan" (the first day of the Lunar New Year) is the concept of the lunar calendar, and "Winter Solstice" is the concept of the solar calendar. Every nineteen years, after the winter solstice in the solar calendar (Dan), it is the first day of the lunar calendar (Suo). This important moment is called "Jiaozi", which means the starting point of the solar calendar and the lunar calendar. It falls on the winter solstice.
Mr. Zhang Yuanshan believes that the custom of eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice should come from this: the moon-shaped outer skin of the dumplings symbolizes the lunar calendar appearance of the lunar calendar.
The filling of the dumpling is in the shape of a sun, symbolizing the nature of the solar calendar that combines the lunisolar and lunar calendars. Therefore, you must eat dumplings on the first day of the Lunar New Year and the Winter Solstice in the lunar calendar. The standard pleats of dumplings should be twelve, marking the twelve months of the year.
Winter Solstice: A gentleman sees the world with his heart
Winter Solstice is a very important solar term in the Chinese lunar calendar. Most people think that it was measured more than 2,000 years ago, and some people speculate that it was measured when Zhou Gong measured the middle of the world (? Measure the depth of the soil, direct the shadow of the sun, find the middle of the earth, and check the four seasons?). This is actually taken for granted based on the literature. The ancestors who wanted to measure and time the time inevitably got to know the winter solstice. Whether it was the Salisbury Stonehenge four thousand years ago or the Liangzhu Altar five or six thousand years ago, observing the winter solstice is an important part of the history of human civilization. Extremely important activity in the early days.
Adjusting time is the instinct of all living things, and it is also the ability of human beings. When humans measure time, in addition to the moon and stars, the most important thing is to measure the relationship between the sun, the earth, and the human body. ?The tree is eight feet tall. On the summer solstice, the view is five feet long; on the winter solstice, the view is one foot, three feet, five inches long. ?Wooden poles, bamboo poles, and earthen poles are based on eight feet as the standard. In fact, they are based on the eight-foot height of a person. Judging from the human body, because people will see their own shadows getting shorter and shorter in the summer, and they will see their shadows getting longer and longer in the winter. The shortest day is the summer solstice, and the longest day is the winter solstice.
The explanation of the ancients is that when the cathode reaches the yin pole, the yang energy begins to grow, the sun reaches the south, the sun reaches the shortest day, and the sun's shadow reaches the long shadow, so it is called "Winter Solstice". The scientific explanation is that when the sun moves to 270 degrees of ecliptic longitude, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Capricorn (also known as the winter solstice), and the sunlight is most tilted towards the northern hemisphere, and of course the shadow is the longest. For residents of the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day when the sun is at its lowest at noon in the year. It is also the day when the day is the shortest and the night is the longest in the Northern Hemisphere. This day is known as the "solstice day" in the hearts of China's ancestors.
The winter solstice is a great time to maintain health, because the weather begins at the winter solstice. At this time, health maintenance can help ensure strong energy and prevent premature aging, achieving the purpose of prolonging life. During the winter solstice, the diet should be diverse, with a reasonable mix of grains, fruits, meats, and vegetables, and appropriate selection of high-calcium foods. Because the Winter Solstice is the natural transformation of yin and yang, at this time of yin and yang handover, Chinese people can use moxibustion at Shenque point to replenish qi and replenish yang, warm the kidneys and strengthen the spleen, expel wind and remove dampness, warm yang and relieve stress, warm and unblock the meridians, and harmonize Qi and blood are very good for the body and will even make people less sick in the second year.
Some versions also design the Fu hexagram as the cover), use the Fu hexagram as the opening statement, and use the turning point symbolized by the first line of the Fu hexagram to illustrate that human beings are in a critical moment of survival or destruction. A turning point in history. This is also the revelation given to mankind by the winter solstice. The poet Bai Juyi spent the winter solstice in Handan one year. He wrote a poem: "On the winter solstice in Handan Posthouse, I hug my knees and watch the shadows in front of the lamp." I think that when I sit at home late at night, I should talk about people traveling far away. ? Division of the Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice
Mid-November
December 21st
The Winter Solstice is an extremely important event in the Chinese lunar calendar solar terms. Most people think that it was measured more than 2,000 years ago, and some people speculate that it was measured when Zhou Gong measured the middle of the world (? Measure the depth of the soil, direct the shadow of the sun, find the middle of the earth, and check the four seasons?). This is actually taken for granted based on the literature.
Adjusting time is the instinct of all living things, and it is also the ability of human beings. Judging from the human body, because people will see their own shadows getting shorter and shorter in the summer, and they will see their shadows getting longer and longer in the winter. The shortest day is the summer solstice, and the longest day is the winter solstice.
The explanation of the ancients is that when the cathode reaches the yin pole, the yang energy begins to grow, the sun reaches the south, the sun reaches the shortest day, and the sun's shadow reaches the long shadow, so it is called "Winter Solstice". The scientific explanation is that when the sun moves to 270 degrees of ecliptic longitude, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Capricorn (also known as the winter solstice), and the sunlight is most tilted towards the northern hemisphere, and of course the shadow is the longest. For residents of the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day when the sun is at its lowest at noon in the year. It is also the day when the day is the shortest and the night is the longest in the Northern Hemisphere.
This day is known as the "solstice day" in the hearts of China's ancestors.
Three phases of the winter solstice
One phase, earthworm knots
Earthworms are creatures with yin and yang extending. Although the yang energy has grown at this time, the yin energy is still very strong. Strong, the earthworms in the soil are still curled up.
Second period, elk horns are released
Five days after the winter solstice, elk horns are released. Deer belongs to Yang and is a mountain animal. It feels the yin energy and releases its horns at the summer solstice. Elk is a yin animal, and it feels the yang energy and unwinds its horns at the winter solstice.
In the third period, water and springs move.
Due to the initial generation of Yang Qi, the spring water in the mountains can flow and feel warm at this time.