my festival
The Life Wisdom of Ancient Chinese in "Summer Solstice"
The Summer Solstice, also known as the "Summer Festival" or "Summer Solstice Festival", falls on June 21 or 22 of the Gregorian calendar every year.
On this day, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer, which is the longest day of the year and the shortest night in the northern hemisphere.
The summer solstice is an important traditional seasonal solar term, marking the beginning of midsummer.
The turning point of the rise and fall of yin and yang
Liu Xiaofeng, a professor at the Department of History at Tsinghua University, believes that the ancients of my country may have had an accurate understanding and grasp of the summer solstice solar terms 4,200 years ago.
At the Taosi site in Shanxi 4,200 years ago, archaeologists discovered a ruler with scales, proving that the ancient Chinese had mastered the method of measuring the day with a ruler at that time.
The ancients used the standard watch to measure the sun and continuously observed the changes of the sun's shadow during the year, and found the two poles of the summer solstice with the longest sun shadow and the winter solstice with the shortest sun, so as to determine the time of the summer solstice and the winter solstice.
The "zhi" of the summer solstice means "extreme".
"The Seventy-two Hours of the Moon Order" said: "Xia is false, and it is extreme. Everything here is false and great." There are three meanings, one is to illuminate the extreme of yang qi, the other is to illuminate the beginning and arrival of yin qi, and the third is to illuminate the north of tomorrow’s journey, so it is called the “maximum”. Long reach, yin and yang struggle, life and death." Liu Xiaofeng explained that the summer solstice is a turning point in the rise and fall of yin and yang.
The yang qi of the summer solstice reaches its peak and the yin qi begins to germinate, so the summer solstice is also called "one yin birth".
After that, the yang qi weakened, and the yin qi rose gradually. Some creatures that liked yin began to appear, while the creatures belonging to yang began to decline. The antlers of yang began to fall off; Wings chirping; shade-loving herb - Pinellia is born in swamps or paddy fields.
Therefore, there are also three waiting times for the summer solstice: the first waiting for the deer antlers to be resolved; the second waiting for the cicadas to sing;
Important traditional festivals in ancient times
Xiao Fang, a professor at the School of Sociology of Beijing Normal University and chief expert of the National Social Science Fund's major project "Research on the Construction of Civilization Practice Centers in the New Era", told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the summer solstice was not only a solar term in ancient times, but also an important traditional festival.
According to historical records, my country has had the custom of celebrating the summer solstice since the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han issued a new calendar in the first year of Taichu, the Taichu Calendar, with the first month as the beginning of the year, and the twenty-four solar terms were compiled into the calendar for the first time. As one of the twenty-four solar terms, the summer solstice was implemented nationwide; in the Song Dynasty, the imperial court would take three days off on the summer solstice festival to let civil and military officials go home to rest; the summer solstice in the Liao Dynasty was called "chao festival", and women would be on this day "Into the color fan, gift each other with powder and fat"; in the Qing Dynasty, there were many customs and taboos on the summer solstice. According to the "Qing Jialu" record, "the summer solstice is the handover time, the sun time, the second time, and the end time. During the 'three seasons', people should live with caution, forbid cursing, and abstain from shaving their heads." Today, the Summer Solstice Festival has faded out of modern people's cultural life. But relatively few.
However, in northern Europe and other places, the Midsummer Festival, which is set up to celebrate the day with the longest day and the shortest night in the year, is a very important festival.
Xiao Fang said that since the summer solstice is an important period for crop growth, most of the folk activities during this period are aimed at praying for a bumper crop.
Ancient emperors have always had the tradition of offering sacrifices to the ground on the summer solstice.
"Zhou Li Chunguan" said: "When the summer comes, the earth will show things." It means that on the summer solstice, the god of the earth is sacrificed to eliminate famine, starvation and death.
It can be seen that at least in the Zhou Dynasty, the summer solstice sacrificial activities have already begun.
"Historical Records Fengchan Book" also records: "When summer comes, the sacrifice to the ground is only. Music and dance are used, and the gods can be obtained and ritual."
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ceremony of worshiping the earth was held at the Temple of Earth in Beijing.
The ritual of sacrificing the land still exists in some parts of our country today.
In the Jinhua area of Zhejiang, people will sacrifice Tian Gong and Tian Po on the summer solstice, that is, sacrifice to the gods of the land for a good harvest.
Yangjiang, Guangdong holds the Sickle Festival during the summer solstice.
On the day before the opening of the sickle, each household makes cakes and tea, prepares wine, and dances the "Helou Dance" on the square to pray for good weather and good crops.
In ancient times, the emperor sacrificed to the earth during the summer solstice, and the common people used delicious food to sacrifice to their ancestors on this day.
"Hangzhou Prefecture Chronicle" records, "In the summer solstice, the village is set up to worship ancestors, and the meaning of 'two to' is covered, but the city is not." "Shanyin County Chronicle" has "the summer solstice, the ancestors are sacrificed to face." "Shaoxing Prefecture Chronicle" It is written: "In the summer solstice, the first sacrifice is to the face. Xiaoshan each offers tea, called 'Xiazhi tea'." During the summer solstice, farmers will also sacrifice various kinds of wine and meat to the gods of the land, in order to achieve a good harvest.
In addition, the ancients had the custom of "digging a well to change water" on the summer solstice.
Xiao Fang believes that this is similar to the ancient custom of changing fire.
In the eyes of the ancients, fire is a living thing. The same kind of fire cannot be used throughout the year. The fire will be extinguished after a long time, and the fire will be remade.
The summer solstice is "one yin birth", so it is necessary to replace the old water and use new water, which is conducive to health care.
In the Han Dynasty Yueling bamboo slips, there are many records of changing water on the summer solstice.
The fifth month of the lunar calendar is suitable for rest and recuperation
Liu Xiaofeng told reporters that the ancients understood time and solar terms through "yin and yang".
The summer solstice is a season of fierce battles between yin and yang, and between death and life. Therefore, the ancients would be careful to avoid this period, maintain physical and mental stability, and forbid all kinds of desires.
Administrative affairs should also adopt a "doing nothing" approach to governance.
"Book of Rites, Yueling" warns people that on the summer solstice, "gentlemen keep their precepts, they must cover their bodies, don't be impatient, stop sound, don't enter, thin taste, don't bring harmony, restrain their desires, and calm their minds. There is no punishment for things, and it is made by the determination of Yan Yin."
Not only the summer solstice, but throughout the fifth lunar month, the ancients would be careful.
The ancients believed that the poisonous gas in May was the most prosperous, and it was also called the "poisonous month".
Chinese medicine believes that May is the noon month, which belongs to fire. At this time, the yang qi is the most prosperous and the fire is extremely prosperous. At this time, the qi is scattered outside and the inside is weak, so it is not suitable for exhausting activities.
Therefore, many customs of the Dragon Boat Festival and the Summer Solstice Festival in the fifth month of the lunar calendar revolve around "detoxification and health preservation".
The ancients advocated abstinence, fasting, taking herbal baths, inserting wormwood or calamus in front of the door, drinking realgar wine, wearing sachets, etc. in this month to remove evil qi, replenish healthy qi and prevent diseases.
It is worth mentioning that the zongzi that every family eats on the Dragon Boat Festival is actually the earliest food of the Summer Solstice Festival.
Liu Xiaofeng introduced that the zongzi eaten during the summer solstice are "grey zongzi".
The plant ash is boiled into soup, and the glutinous rice is soaked in filtered water. The soaked glutinous rice appears a kind of gray color. Put a jujube in the middle, and then wrap it with chopsticks leaves to make zongzi.
The reason why people have the custom of eating gray rice dumplings on the summer solstice is also because the "non-black and not white" of gray rice dumplings is consistent with the "chaos of heaven and earth" of the summer solstice.
The indispensable "summer solstice noodles"
Although the food customs of the summer solstice vary from place to place, eating noodles is common.
Xiao Fang said that this is mainly because the new wheat has matured around the summer solstice, and eating noodles on the summer solstice also means tasting new.
There is a saying in Beijing that "the head is full of dumplings, the second is the noodles, and the three is the pancake is the egg".
Pan Rongbi's "Jisheng Jisheng at the Age of Emperor Jing" records that in the Qing Dynasty, every family in the capital ate cold noodles, that is, "over the water" and "cold noodles".
Shanxi, a pasta resort, also has a saying of "Dumplings on the Winter Solstice and Dumplings on the Summer Solstice".
During the summer solstice, Nanjing people not only eat noodles, but also eat seasonal food such as eel, jelly, and amaranth.
Further south in Guangdong, the food custom of the summer solstice is also "wonton and summer solstice noodles on the winter solstice". Cantonese people compare the long noodles to the long days on the summer solstice.
Song Yingjie, vice president of China Weather and Twenty-Four Solar Terms Research Institute and "Mr. Chinese Meteorology", also wrote in "The Twenty-Four Solar Terms" that eating noodles on the summer solstice has a long history in the Yellow River Basin where the solar terms originated.
People feel that at this time, "eat the soup cake" and then "take a towel to wipe the sweat", and they can "look bright".
The so-called soup cakes are similar to today's hot soup noodles.
In Song Yingjie's view, eating noodles on the summer solstice has another benefit.
Compared with the winter solstice of "Maodong", during the summer solstice, people are busier with farm work, making dumplings and steaming buns a bit cumbersome. In contrast, cooking noodles is very simple.
In the hot summer, the food should not be as fat and sweet as in the winter. The summer solstice noodles are relatively refreshing, which just meets the health needs of the summer solstice diet.
Liu Xiaofeng believes that the various folk customs of the summer solstice are rooted in the profound traditional culture of the Chinese nation, contain the wisdom of the ancients, and reflect the crystallization of the mature and brilliant ideas of the ancients. .
"The ancients believed that the four seasons of yin and yang are the beginning and end of all things, as well as the root of life and death. Therefore, people must conform to the changes of nature and the great law of heaven and earth. Only by adapting to the four seasons and suitable for cold and heat can we live better. These wisdoms are also useful for modern people. It has important reference significance." Liu Xiaofeng said.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Xia Jin Source: China Youth Daily
June 21, 2022 Version 12