The 24 solar terms ballads are the twenty-four solar term songs (Hakka folk songs). The lyrics are as follows:
Song of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms (Hakka folk songs)
Lyrics: Qiulin (adaptation) Song: Qiulin Sing: Qiulin
Spring Rain The sky is clear in spring and the valley is full of awns in summer.
Autumn is dew, autumn is cold and frost is falling, winter is snowing and there is little severe cold in winter.
At the beginning of spring, flowers bloom, rain comes, spring thunder stings, frogs chirp at the equinox, fields are plowed during the Qingming Festival, and spring tea is given during the Grain Rain.
Plowing the fields in the Beginning of Summer, irrigating the fields during Xiaoman, watching the fruits of the Ear seeds, watching the crops during the Summer Solstice, ripening the grains during the Xiaoshu, and busy harvesting during the Great Heat.
Before the beginning of autumn, after planting the beans, the fields are cultivated in the summer heat, and the fields are cultivated in the white dew.
As soon as the frost comes, the crops are harvested at the beginning of winter, and the light and heavy snows are free, waiting for the winter year, the light cold for one year, and the big cold for reunion.
Song introduction: Most of the Hakka people make a living by farming, especially growing rice, which has become a part of the Hakka people’s life. The twenty-four festivals are also something that every farmer must know. This song also lets friends who have never farmed know what farmers are doing in each of the twenty-four festivals.
The Song of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms is a short poem compiled to facilitate the memory of the twenty-four solar terms in the ancient Chinese calendar. There are many versions that have been circulated to this day. Solar terms refer to the twenty-four seasons and climate. They are a calendar established in ancient China to express seasonal changes and guide agricultural work. They are the crystallization of the long-term experience and wisdom of the working people in ancient China.
Since the Chinese lunar calendar is a "lunar-solar calendar", which is based on the movement of the sun and the moon, it cannot completely reflect the solar cycle. However, China is an agricultural society, and agriculture needs to be strictly understood. The movement of the sun and farming are completely based on the sun, so the "twenty-four solar terms" that individually reflect the sun's movement cycle are added to the calendar and are used as the standard for determining leap months.