On the vernal equinox, the sound of raindrops is faint, and the slanting wind from the willow bank brings the guests home.
The season is late in the north, which shows that there is green waist fertilizer early.
——"Qijue·Awakening"
On the occasion of the infinitely beautiful mid-spring, we usher in the most special solar term-the Spring Equinox.
The Vernal Equinox is the fourth solar term among the twenty-four solar terms and the fourth solar term in spring, after the Waking of Insects and before the Qingming Festival.
This year’s vernal equinox is on March 20 at 17:37:19.
Why is it called the Vernal Equinox?
According to the "Collection of the Seventy-Two Hours of the Moon Order": "The vernal equinox, in the middle of February, is half of the day. This is half of the ninety days, so it is called the equinox. Autumn has the same meaning. ”
It means that the vernal equinox is in the middle of February of the lunar calendar. At this time, half of the 90 days of spring have passed, so it is called “equinox”. The same is true for the autumnal equinox.
"Spring and Autumn Fanlu" explains it this way: "On the vernal equinox, yin and yang are half-phase, so day and night are even and the cold and heat are equal."
This means that on the vernal equinox, the day is yin and yang. Each has half, so day and night are equally divided, and the climate is equally hot and cold.
It can be seen that the vernal equinox has two meanings. One is that spring is divided into two halves, and the other is that day and night, cold and heat are equally divided at this time. It is almost synonymous with "balance" and "symmetry". So why does spring, day and night, cold and heat equal equal parts on the vernal equinox? This is related to the rotation and revolution of the earth.
We know that the earth is constantly rotating and revolving around the sun. The plane on which the earth rotates is called the "equator", and the plane on which the earth revolves around the sun is called the "ecliptic". The angle between the equator and the ecliptic changes over time. Around the vernal equinox every year, this angle reaches a perfect 0°. The ecliptic and the earth's axis form a perpendicular relationship, and at this time, the sun shines directly near the equator.
As a result, the sun shines impartially on all parts of the earth, and everything reaches an almost precise balance. That's why the phenomenon of equinox occurs. On the vernal equinox, day and night are equinoxed all over the world. Day and night are equal in length of 12 hours. Of course, the northern hemisphere where our country is located is no exception.
There are only two such phenomena in a year, namely the spring equinox and the autumnal equinox.
The whole spring is just over halfway at this time, and the whole country is filled with warm, bright and vibrant spring atmosphere.
·Three seasons and three "flower trade winds"·
In order to better reflect the climate changes during the vernal equinox, the ancients divided the fifteen days of the vernal equinox into the following " "Three Waits":
The black bird arrives in the first wait.
Xuanniao refers to swallows. When the spring equinox arrives, swallows will fly back to the north from the south.
The second lord Lei Nai spoke up.
Although the spring thunder has begun to ring during the Jingzhe solar term, the thunder is still relatively weak, and the thunder will not rumble until after the Spring Equinox.
The power will start after three seconds.
In the last five days of the Spring Equinox, lightning begins to appear in the sky, often with lightning and thunder.
Three "Flower Trade Winds"
During the Spring Equinox, "thousands of flowers compete for their beauty". Many flowers will bloom in the wind. The three "Flower Trade Winds" are Begonia flowers, Pear blossoms and magnolias.
Begonia flowers bloom in mid-spring. The flowers are bright and charming. They are known as "the fairy among flowers" and "the noble concubine of flowers". They have always been loved by Chinese people, especially literati and poets. I have a special liking for flowers, and there are countless poems praising Begonia.
Li Qingzhao, a talented woman from the Song Dynasty, still cared about Begonia in the courtyard when she was drunk. She wrote, "I tried asking people behind the curtain, but I found that Begonia was still the same." Go, so burn a high candle to illuminate the red makeup." There is a wonderful saying; Lu You once praised "Shu Ji's beautiful makeup makes people feel colorless in front of the flowers." It seems that the most beautiful thing in Shu is not the girl, but the begonia flower.
In "A Dream of Red Mansions", the sisters of the Grand View Garden established the "Begonia Poetry Society" during the season when the crabapples were in full bloom, and recited many literary and talented crabapple poems with the title of crabapple. Among them, the "Concubine of Xiaoxiang" Lin Daiyu The poem "Ode to the White Begonia" is the most moving:
The Xiang curtain is half rolled up and the door is half closed, and the ice is crushed into earth and jade for the basin.
The pistils of the stolen pear are three-thirds white, and the soul of the plum blossom is borrowed.
Half rolled up the bamboo curtain of Xiang Fei, half closed the door, crushed ice cubes as soil, and used beautiful jade as flower pots. Its three-thirds of whiteness seems to have been stolen from the pistil, and the wisp of fragrant soul seems to have been borrowed from the plum blossom.
In five days, the pear blossoms will also be in full bloom. Pear blossoms are fresh and elegant, famous for their pure white color, and are the most beautiful landscape in mid-spring. Especially during the continuous spring rain, the "pear blossoms with rain" on the trees are really refreshing and moving beyond words. Compared with the coquettishness of peach blossoms, pear blossoms are endowed with more noble and innocent qualities, so Huang Tingjian praised: "The faces of peach blossoms are all red, and they are not as good as natural jade."
After the pear blossoms bloom, the magnolias also bloom one after another. The magnolias that bloom during this period mainly refer to the purple magnolias, while the white magnolias have already bloomed all over the forest as early as the Beginning of Spring. Since there is an ancient story about Hua Mulan joining the army in place of her father, Mulan is often used to refer to women.
These spring-filled phenology all announce to the earth that sunny spring has arrived.
"Spring Equinox Festival" and customs
It is self-evident that the ancients respected the sun. Since the Zhou Dynasty more than two thousand years ago, grand festivals have been held on the vernal equinox. ceremony. This ceremony remained popular until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Books from the Qing Dynasty contain: "Sacrificing the sun at the vernal equinox and the moon at the autumnal equinox are grand ceremonies of the country, and scholars and people are not allowed to worship them improperly."
This shows its importance.
In addition to the official government, ordinary people also have their own unique festival activities. Before the Spring Equinox, people will steam a pastry called "sun cake" in advance. In the early morning of the spring equinox, people place sun cakes, incense burners and other items in the center of the altar table. At the moment the sun rises, the whole family worships devoutly towards the east.
Nowadays, these festival activities have long been cancelled, but the sun cake is still on the dining table with its sweetness, and the world's awe of the sun has not diminished at all, but has been replaced by a more scientific and effective way to explore it , understand it.
Egg-standing on the Vernal Equinox
An ancient and interesting game is also popular during the Spring Equinox, and it has even spread abroad, that is, "Egg-standing". The specific method is this: Pick a fresh egg with a smooth surface that is just four or five days old, place it lightly on the table, and try to stand it up.
"The Spring Equinox is here, and the eggs are pretty." On the Spring Equinox every year, many children will gather together to play this game. It is said that those who succeed in "erecting eggs" will have good luck this year.
Why do people think eggs can stand upright on the vernal equinox? In fact, there is a certain scientific reason for this.
As mentioned before, the earth is in a state of perfect balance during the vernal equinox, with day and night, cold and heat equally divided. The gravity at this time is relatively stable, so it is easier to stand the egg upright. And there are some small bumps on the surface of the egg, which can help the egg to stabilize and not fall over.
Hua Chao Festival
Hua Chao Festival, also known as "Flower Festival", is a festival to commemorate the birthday of flowers. The dates vary from place to place, but they all fall in the second month of the lunar calendar. That is during the Spring Equinox solar term. The Flower Festival is a very important festival in ancient China. It is said that the King of Flowers is in charge of fertility in the world, so ancient women paid special attention to the Flower Festival.
In the Tang Dynasty, the Flower Chao Festival had already been formed. As a woman, Wu Zetian was naturally obsessed with philandering. Every spring, when the flowers are in full bloom, she will ask the palace maids to collect flowers from the world to make flower cakes, and reward the flower cakes to the ministers; the common people also follow suit, picking flowers and making cakes.
In the Song Dynasty, the Flower Festival was very popular, and various festival activities were also very rich. Not only did they worship the flower god and celebrate the birthday of flowers, but they also went on outings to enjoy flowers. Butterfly Club", while men like to drink and compose poems under the moonlight.
Su Shi's famous poem "Spring Night" describes the beauty of the Flower Festival:
A moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold, the flowers are fragrant and the moon is cloudy.
The sound of the singing tube is soft on the balcony, and the night is dark in the swing courtyard.
A spring night is infinitely beautiful, a moment is worth a thousand pieces of gold, the flowers are fragrant and the moon is hazy. Singing and dancing continued on the distant terrace, and the singing came softly, drifting into the swing courtyard in the dark night.
Food Customs
The must-eat food during the Spring Equinox is "spring vegetables". The spring vegetable in Lingnan refers to wild amaranth, which is what the locals call "spring green grass". It grows most luxuriantly around the spring equinox. Therefore, every spring equinox, people take advantage of the spring to dig wild vegetables in the wild, and make "spring soup" with wild amaranth and fish fillets. In the north, spring vegetables refer to vegetables such as lettuce.
In some areas, glutinous rice balls are also eaten on the Spring Equinox. After the farmers are full, they will stick the leftover glutinous rice balls on bamboo poles and stand them on the field ridges. This peculiar practice is called "sticking the sparrow's mouth" because the farmers hope that these glutinous rice balls can stick to the sparrows' mouths and make them more attractive. They can no longer go to the fields to eat crops.
In addition, there are also customs such as making wine, eating soup noodles, and eating braised noodles during the Spring Equinox.
The precise balance and symmetry of the vernal equinox perfectly satisfy the Chinese people’s pursuit of moderate beauty. The flow of time is so precise that there has never been a single mistake for thousands of years. As a result, the earth has created the miracle of life, and mankind has created a brilliant civilization.
Nature also reaches its best balance at the vernal equinox. In this mid-spring season when orioles are singing and swallows are singing, and flowers are blooming, everything is beautiful and colorful at the right time.