The beginning of thawing the "Gregorian calendar" in Lichun Dongfeng

Wang Yumin

In the Chinese yin and yang calendar, the first day of the first month is the beginning of the year of the "Lunar Calendar". Then what day is the beginning of the year of the "Gregorian Calendar"? It is the beginning of spring. Lichun is the first solar term in the 24th solar terms. The time is generally on the 3-5th of the Gregorian calendar. This year's spring festival is at 17:46 on February 4, when the sun reaches 315°C. Divided from the ecliptic, the beginning of spring is exactly between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, and “stand” is the meaning of “beginning”. Ancient China used it as the beginning of spring. From the beginning of spring to the beginning of summer, it was called spring.

In ancient China, the 15 days of the beginning of the spring were divided into three waiting periods: "When the east wind thawed, the second worm began to quake, and the third linger lost ice." In other words, after the beginning of spring, the east wind warms up and the earth thaws. Five days later, the insects in the crickets slowly awaken in the cave. In five days, the ice in the river begins to melt, the fish swims on the water, and there is no water on the water. The crushed icings are like being carried by fish.

Lichun is the beginning of the year of the lunar calendar in the lunar calendar. This is particularly particular in ancient times. There are activities such as feng shui divination, genus fortune-telling, and push-character divination. In many cases, the beginning of the year is started. Sometimes the calculation of the zodiac is also from The beginning of spring.

The Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Zhen wrote a complete and vivid “Four Poems,” and the first “Prepare for the Spring Lunar New Year” was written like this:

Spring and winter transfer law Lu, heaven and earth for star cream. Ice diving, diving and beloved Liu Fang. As early as the morning rushes to the rain, the remaining snow swells the sun. All things contain new ideas, and they have long days of joy.

"Lvlu", the concept of the ancients is that the rhythm is related to the season; "Star Cream", the stars turn every year, and the frost falls every year in the cold, so in the poem and text, "Star Cream" means "age." All the poems have opened the spring of ice, and the wind warms the willow buds, and the snow and snow and everything is flourishing.

The ancients also started from the beginning of spring and made the first, third, and fifth places of the twenty-four solar terms, such as the beginning of the spring, the thriller, the Ching Ming, and so on, called the “economy”, and the two, four, six... The vernal equinoxes and valley rains are called "zhongqi" and the "zhongqi" is strictly related to the month. That is, the month with "rainwater" must be the first month, and the month with the "spring vernal equinox" must be February. The above verse titled "The beginning of the Spring Festival" means that the beginning of spring is the "sweet spot" of the first month.

However, the "Spring New Year" of Lichun is not always the same as the New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar. Before Spring Festival, it is "caught" before and after the Spring Festival. Sometimes it appears in the lunar month before the Spring Festival, and sometimes goes to a day after the Spring Festival, because Lichun is "Fairing" is not a representative of the first month (it is rain), so it does not matter if you go to the lunar month.

There is an anonymous poem written like this:

Sixty-nine heads are played in the spring of the year. Colorful flags and gongs and drums, looking around the house Yin whip spring cattle.

What is "whip spring"? It turns out that this is an event that has the greatest impact and the most widespread popularity in China's spring customs. The whip spring cattle activity originated in the pre-Qin period. Since the arrival of spring, the peasants prepared to plow the soil and plowed the fields. The whipping of the spring oxen ceremony represented the end of the cat's winter and the beginning of the spring plowing. In the Zhou Dynasty, the spring whip-buying event was formally listed as a national ceremony. However, the spring cows that were whipped were not real cows, but they used earth and clay cows of the size of a real cow. In the Tang and Song dynasties, this set of ceremonies evolved into activities that were held at the same time across the country. On the day of the beginning of the spring, the emperor led the Baiguan to whip the cows in front of the Xiannong altar in Kyoto. At the same time, the local governors and entourage at all levels led the people in the process. The local eastern suburbs welcome spring whip cattle.

The scene of the whip spring cow is very lively. The first whip is first drawn by the emperor or the chief chief officer, and then the whip is punished according to the size of the officer's office. The bull is finally smashed. Finally, the crowd of spectators rush to fight for the crushed soil. It is said that Earth thrown into his field can guarantee a good harvest. In addition, there are also spring buffaloes tied up with hard paper. The cows are filled with grain in advance. After the paper cows are broken, the grains flow out and they are scrambled by people. This is also a good omen for harvest.

The "Gregorian Calendar" in the Lunar Calendar - Twenty-four Seasons

Twenty-four solar terms are a unique division of the Chinese lunar calendar and are an out-and-out "Chinese heritage."

The calendar comes from people's observation of nature. The solar calendar sets the time for the Earth to orbit around the Sun (called "return year", about 365 and 1/4 days) as a year; the lunar calendar defines 12 lunar months as a year. However, the lunar calendar is more complex. Folks often call the lunar calendar “the lunar calendar.” In fact, although the lunar calendar has strictly used the lunar month (the lunar month that reflects the moon’s profit and loss), it is not a lunar calendar. The true lunar calendar, such as the Islamic calendar, is 12 months of the lunar month, with an average of 29.5 days a month and 12 months being about 355 days, about 10 days less than the year of the real Gregorian calendar. If our lunar calendar is also like this, the annual Spring Festival will be 10-11 days ahead of the previous year. This will advance year by year, and will increase to 16 years. We will shake the New Year in the middle of the summer.

To avoid this phenomenon, China’s lunar calendar needs to insert a lunar month every three years or so to maintain its synchronism with the Gregorian calendar. Because of the continuous insertion of lunar months, the Chinese Lunar Calendar has become a “yin and yang calendar”—using only the lunar month. It is stipulated that the average number of days in the lunar calendar year should be equal to that of the Gregorian calendar year.

If readers think about it a little, they will realize the interesting phenomenon of the Chinese Lunar New Year: the number of days in the normal year (the average year) is less than the number of days in the Gregorian calendar year, which is about 355 days. However, if there is a leap month, the year is 13 months and it will grow to 384 days. about. However, the year that reflects the return of the four seasons may not be so flexible. The changes in the four seasons of nature in spring, summer, autumn and winter are 365 and 1/4 days. Therefore, it is impossible for the lunar month to coincide exactly with the change of season. For example, in the Beijing area, winter wheat is sown every October in the lunar calendar. If last year was planted in early October, planting in mid-October will be appropriate this year. It will be pushed back to the end of October next year. The following month will be added, and it will be back in early October. .

Obviously, such calendars are very inconvenient for directing agricultural activities. It is necessary to develop a method that fully reflects the Gregorian calendar year. In parallel with the lunar month, the relationship between the annual season, climate, and farming and this division is fixed. Practical, so the "sweat" came into being.

The Gregorian calendar reflects the operation of the sun in the sky (actually the earth revolves around the sun, but we see it on the earth as the sun goes around the earth once a year in the sky). When the sun runs to its southernmost point, it is the shortest and the longest in the night. At noon we see the lowest elevation angle of the sun. This day is called the “winter solstice.” When the sun reaches its northernmost position, it is the longest and the shortest at night, at noon. The highest altitude angle of the sun is called the “summer solstice”; while the “spring equinox” and “equinoxes”, the sun just passes through the equator and stays up evenly. If we want to represent the process of changes throughout the year, the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice are certainly the four best “nodes”, but these four points alone are far from enough, and agricultural activities such as seeding, transplanting, cultivating, Harvesting, etc. needs to be fixed at a more accurate time period each year. Before and after it can't be worse than ten days and a half months, so the four nodes must be further subdivided so that each season is divided into six equal parts. The whole year is 24, and the one is 15 days. Right and left, this is the most appropriate application. These 24 paragraphs have become "24 solar terms" and are still in use today.

The full twenty-four solar terms name was first seen in the Han Dynasty's Huainanzi Astronomical Training. Its name is:

Lichun, rain, thriller, vernal equinox, Ching Ming, Guyu, Xixia, Xiaoman, Mang, Xiazhi, Xiaoshu, Dashu, Liqiu, Shushu, Bailu, Qiufen, Hanlu, Cascade, Lidong, Xiaoxue, Snow, Winter Solstice, Xiaohan, and Dahe. Before the Ming Dynasty, the division of the twenty-four solar terms was very simple. Divide 365 and 1/4 days by 24 to get 15 and 7/32 days. Measure the time of the day when the winter solstice took place. Count from this moment and rank them in order. Go on it. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the division was more complicated. The length of the ecliptic line that the sun walks through in the star sky was divided into 24 parts. The sun passed a node and delivered a solar term. The duration of each solar term was not exactly the same.

With twenty-four solar terms, the time for planting winter wheat in Beijing can be determined: Before and after the “winter”, it is not necessary whether it is in the early or late October of the lunar calendar.

The Revolution of 1911 over 100 years ago overturned the imperial system. The calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, and the Gregorian calendar was a pure solar calendar. Since then, the solar terms and the Gregorian calendar date have formed a close relationship. There is also a jingle that recalls the names of solar terms and time:

The spring rain spooks the spring and clears the sky, and the summer is full of summer and summer.

In the autumn, the autumn frost and frost fall, and the winter snow and snow fall in winter.

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