What activities are there during the Spring Equinox? When does the 2018 spring equinox begin?
Introduction: The Spring Equinox is the fourth solar term in spring and also an important solar term, so there are many activities related to the Spring Equinox. So what activities are there during the Spring Equinox? When does the 2018 spring equinox begin? Winter has gone and spring has come. February in the lunar calendar has already entered spring. The Fortune Teller website provides you with more detailed information about February in the lunar calendar of 2018!What activities are there during the Spring Equinox?Spring FestivalOn the Spring Equinox in February, people start sweeping tombs and worshipping ancestors, also known as the Spring Festival. Before folks visit the graves, they first hold a grand ceremony to worship their ancestors in the ancestral hall, slaughtering pigs and sheep, inviting drummers to play music, having ritual students recite sacrificial texts, and leading the three offerings ceremony. When tomb sweeping begins on the Spring Equinox, the first things people do are to sweep and offer sacrifices to the tombs of the founding ancestors and distant ancestors. The entire clan and the entire village are mobilized, and the procession is large, with often hundreds or even thousands of people. After sweeping the tombs of the founding ancestor and distant ancestors, each room will then sweep and offer sacrifices to the tombs of their ancestors, and finally each family will sweep and offer sacrifices to the family's private tomb.In most Hakka areas, spring ancestor worship and tomb sweeping begin at the Spring Equinox or earlier and are completed by Qingming Festival at the latest. There is a saying in various places that the tomb doors will be closed after Qingming Festival and the heroic spirits of the ancestors will no longer be able to benefit from it. Memorial DayIn the Zhou Dynasty, there were memorial ceremonies on the Spring Equinox. Pan Rongbi of the Qing Dynasty wrote in "Annals of the Capital's Customs": "On the Spring Equinox, the emperor worships the sun, and on the Autumnal Equinox, the emperor worships the moon. These are grand ceremonies of the country, and the scholars and common people are not allowed to offer sacrifices at their own will." The places for emperors to worship the sun were mostly located in the suburbs of Beijing. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Sun Altar was built. After that, the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices to the Great Ming God (the Sun) at the Sun Altar on the day of the Spring Equinox. The morning sun was set at the hour of Mao on the Spring Equinox. In the years of Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng and Ren, the emperor would personally offer sacrifices, while in other years, officials would offer sacrifices on his behalf.The current Temple of the Sun in Beijing was built in the ninth year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1530). It is the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped the Sun God (known in ancient times as the "God of the Great Ming"). Over a period of more than 400 years starting from the first year of the Longqing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1567), five emperors, namely Tianqi, Chongzhen, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang, came to the Sun Altar to worship in person. After the 23rd year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1843), the “Day of Sacrifice” activities gradually disappeared and have been interrupted for more than 160 years. Spring EggsIt is said that on the vernal equinox every year, tens of millions of people around the world will do the "egg standing up" experiment. As early as 4,000 years ago, China had the tradition of standing eggs on the Spring Equinox to celebrate the arrival of spring. Later it gradually evolved into a tradition of praying for good luck.If you want to successfully "stand an egg upright", you can choose a smooth and symmetrical fresh egg that has been laid for only four or five days, and try to stand it upright on a flat table. Although there are many failures, there are also many successes. Some people explain that this is because the earth's axis is tilted at 66.5 degrees on the "vernal equinox", which is in a state of relative force balance with the orbital plane of the earth's revolution around the sun, which is very conducive to "standing the egg". It is said that a standing egg can remain standing for more than ten days without any external interference. Eat spring vegetablesIn some areas of Lingnan, there is a non-festival custom on the Spring Equinox, which is called "eating spring vegetables on the Spring Equinox." "Spring vegetable" is a kind of wild amaranth, which the locals call "Spring Green Artemisia". On the day of the Spring Equinox, people go to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the fields, most of the plants you see are light green, thin, about the length of a palm.The harvested spring vegetables are usually boiled with fish fillets in a soup called "spring soup". There is also a folk rhyme to record this: "Spring soup nourishes the internal organs, cleanses the liver and intestines; the whole family, young and old, is safe and healthy." The plan for the year lies in spring, when the vernal equinox arrives. Faced with the sprouting of all things, people naturally pray for peace in their homes and good health. Sticky bird mouthOn the day of the Spring Equinox, farmers have a holiday according to custom. Every family eats glutinous rice dumplings, and they also cook more than ten or twenty or thirty glutinous rice dumplings without fillings. They use thin bamboo forks to stick them on the ground outside the field. This is called "catching the sparrows' beaks" to prevent sparrows from destroying the crops.The spring equinox is also a great time for kids to fly kites. Especially on the day of the Spring Equinox. Even the adults get involved. There are many types of kites, including the Wang-shaped kite, the silver carp kite, the squinting moth kite, the thunder worm kite, and the moonlight kite. The biggest ones are two meters high, and the smallest ones are two or three feet high. There are kites for sale in the market, most of which are relatively small and suitable for children to play with, but most are made by themselves and are larger. When flying them, people compete with each other to see who can fly the highest. When does the 2018 spring equinox begin?Wednesday, March 21, 2018 (the fifth day of the second month of the Wuxu Year (Year of the Dog), 9 days until the Spring Equinox of 2018)"Collected Explanations of the Seventy-two Seasons of the Lunar Calendar" states: "In the middle of February, the word fen means half, which corresponds to the middle of a ninety-day period, so it is called fen. Autumn has the same meaning." "Spring and Autumn Fanlu: Yin Yang Out and In, Parts 1 and 2" states: "The spring equinox is when yin and yang are half and half, so the day and night are equal and the cold and heat are balanced." The Spring Equinox is also a festival and sacrificial celebration. Ancient emperors had the ritual of worshiping the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. The Emperor of Zhou Dynasty offered sacrifices to the Sun at the Sun Altar. "Book of Rites": "Sacrifice the sun on the altar." Kong Yingda's commentary: "It refers to the vernal equinox." Pan Rongbi of the Qing Dynasty wrote in The Chronicles of the Capital: “Sacrifices to the sun on the Spring Equinox and to the moon on the Autumn Equinox are grand national ceremonies, and scholars and common people are not allowed to offer sacrifices on their own. Summary: The above content is about [What activities are there during the Spring Equinox? When does the 2018 spring equinox begin? 】Problem analysis, hope it can help everyone! |
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