How many days are left until the Spring Equinox 2017? What are the customs of the Spring Equinox?

How many days are left until the Spring Equinox 2017? What are the customs of the Spring Equinox?
Introduction: The spring rain that "sneaks into the night with the wind, moistening everything silently" brings the life supply needed for the revival of all things in spring. This is also the gift of spring brought by the spring equinox, making the willows sway gently in the breeze and drizzle, with thousands of green silks hanging down. Everywhere there is a vibrant scene, bringing hope. So how many days are left until the Spring Equinox of 2017, and what customs are there during the Spring Equinox? Let’s follow the editor to find out. Mr. Shui Mo will introduce to you what will happen in February 2017 in the second month of the lunar calendar, because February is the beginning of spring, and the earth begins to wake up and look forward to the arrival of spring.

When is the Spring Equinox in 2017 and how many days are left until it?

Gregorian calendar: Monday, March 20, 2017 18:28:35
Lunar calendar: Lunar calendar year Dingyou month Guimao month February 23rd
There are still 9 days until the 2017 Spring Equinox.

What customs are there during the Spring Equinox?

1. Standing Eggs

On the vernal equinox every year, tens of millions of people around the world will do the "egg standing up" experiment. It is still difficult to verify how this game, which is called a "Chinese custom", became a "world game". However, the gameplay is simple, easy and fun: choose a smooth and symmetrical fresh egg that has been laid just four or five days ago, and gently stand it upright on the table. Although there are many failures, there are also many successes.
The Spring Equinox becomes the best time to play the egg-standing game, hence the saying "When the Spring Equinox comes, the eggs are pretty." The upright egg looks so beautiful.

2. Eating Spring Vegetables (Lingnan Custom)

The Xie family in Cangcheng Town, Kaiping, one of the former Four Counties (now Five Counties with Heshan), has a custom that is not a festival, 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, the whole village goes 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 a saying that goes: "Spring soup cleanses the internal organs and cleanses the liver and intestines. The whole family, young and old, are safe and healthy." Since spring, people have been praying for peace in their families and good health.

3. Sending Spring Ox

The Spring Equinox is about to arrive, and people will send pictures of the Spring Ox to every household. The picture is made of red or yellow paper with the lunar calendar dates of the whole year printed on it, as well as a picture of a farmer plowing the fields. It is called the "Spring Ox Picture". The people who sent the pictures were all folk singers who were good at speaking. They mainly talked about spring ploughing and auspiciousness in accordance with the farming season. Every time they went to a house, they would be inspired by the scene and say whatever they saw, until the owner was happy and gave them money. Although the words come out casually, every sentence is rhythmic and pleasant to the ear. Commonly known as "Shuochun", people who talk about spring are called "Chunguan".

4. Sticky Bird's Mouth

On 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.

5. Spring Festival

On the Spring Equinox in February, people start sweeping tombs and worshipping ancestors, also known as the Spring Festival. Before tomb sweeping, a grand ceremony of ancestor worship is held in the ancestral hall, with pigs and sheep being slaughtered, drummers playing music, ritual students reading 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.

6. Worship God

Folk festivals around the Spring Equinox include the birthday of King Kaizhang on February 15th: King Kaizhang, also known as "King Chen", was a military scholar in the Tang Dynasty, Chen Yuanguang, who made great contributions to Zhangzhou and became the patron saint of Zhangzhou after his death. February 19th is the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva. On every birthday, many believers eat vegetarian food and go to various Guanyin temples to worship. February 25th is the Sanshan King Memorial Day: The Sanshan King refers to the mountain gods of Dushan, Mingshan and Jinshan in Jieyang County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. In the early years, they were regarded as patron saints by Chaozhou Hakka immigrants, so their believers are mainly Hakka people.
Summary: Through the above article, we know about the time of the Spring Equinox in 2017 and the rich customs and activities of the Spring Equinox. I hope you like the above article. I also wish you all a happy spring and a good start to the new year!

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