What are the origins and customs of the 24 solar terms?

The origin of the vernal equinox of the 24 solar terms, customs and what to pay attention to.

The 24 solar terms originated in the Yellow River Valley. As far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, the four solar terms of mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn and mid-winter were determined. After continuous improvement and perfection, by the Qin and Han dynasties, the 24 solar terms have been fully established.

In 104 B.C., the 24 solar terms were officially set in the calendar, and the astronomical position of the 24 solar terms was clarified.

Historically, most of China's major political, economic, cultural, and agricultural centers were concentrated in the Central Plains of the Yellow River Basin, and the 24 solar terms were established based on the climate and phenology of this area.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period, there was a concept among the Chinese working people of the southern solstice and the northern solstice. Subsequently, according to the position of the sun and moon at the beginning of the month and the middle of the month, and natural phenomena such as weather and the growth of animals and plants, people used the relationship between them to divide the year into 24 equal parts. And give each equal part a proper name, which is the twenty-four solar terms.

In the "December Chronicle" of Lü's Spring and Autumn Period, which was written in the late Warring States period, there are eight solar terms such as the beginning of spring, the spring equinox, the beginning of summer, the summer solstice, the beginning of autumn, the autumn equinox, the beginning of winter, and the winter solstice, which are the most important of the 24 solar terms. The transition of the seasons is marked, and the four seasons of the year are clearly demarcated. By the Qin and Han dynasties, the 24 solar terms had been fully established.

The 24 solar terms point out that climate change, the amount of rain and the length of frost period are the results of long-term observation, exploration and summary of astronomy, meteorology and phenology by the working people of China, which have a very important and far-reaching impact on agricultural cultivation, and are generally more applicable to agricultural activities in the Yellow River Basin.

Twenty-four solar terms

The 24 solar terms refer to the beginning of spring, rain, stunning, vernal equinox, Qingming, Guyu, Lixia, Xiaoman, Mangzhong, summer solstice, Xiaoxia, Great heat, Beginning of autumn, Summer, White Dew, Autumn Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost, Beginning of Winter, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Winter Solstice, Small Cold and Great Cold.

The song of the 24 solar terms: the spring rain shocks the spring and the valley sky, and the summer is full of mangs and the summer is connected. Autumn dew, autumn frost, winter snow and snow and winter small and big cold. There are two sessions per month that do not change, with a maximum difference of one or two days. In the first half of the year, it was sixty-twenty-one, and in the second half of the year, it was eighty-twenty-three.

In ancient China, the sundial was measured by Tugui, and the longest annual solar shadow was set as the "solstice" (also known as the day long solstice, that is, the Taiyin, long solstice, and winter solstice of the four elephants in the Taiji diagram), and the shortest day shadow was "the short solstice" (also known as the short solstice, summer solstice). In spring and autumn, the length of day and night is equal to that of the "spring equinox" and "autumn equinox".

During the Shang Dynasty, there were only four solar terms (Sixiang, i.e., the four seasons), but by the Zhou Dynasty, it had developed to eight (Bagua). By the Qin and Han dynasties, the 24 solar terms had been fully established. In 104 B.C., the "Taichu Calendar" formulated by Deng Ping officially set the 24 solar terms in the calendar, clarifying the astronomical position of the 24 solar terms.

The names of the 24 solar terms were first seen in the Huainanzi Tianwen Xun, and the concepts of yin and yang (the movement of the sun and the moon), the four seasons (the four seasons), the eight digits (eight trigrams), the twelve degrees (hours), and the 24 solar terms were also mentioned in the "On the Essentials of the Six Schools" in the "Historical Records of Taishi Gongzi Zixu". During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the solar terms were compiled into the "Taichu Calendar", and the month without Zhongqi was set as the leap month of the previous month.

The 24 solar terms reflect the annual apparent movement of the sun, so the date of its western calendar is almost fixed, the solar terms in the first half of the year are on the 6th, the middle solar terms are on the 21st, the solar terms in the second half of the year are on the 8th, and the middle solar terms are on the 23rd, and the front and back are not different from 1 2 days. The 12 solar terms are also the beginning of each of the Ganzhi months, for example, the beginning of spring is the beginning of the Yin month, and the sting is the beginning of the Mao month.

The beginning of spring, the spring equinox, the beginning of summer, the summer solstice, the beginning of autumn, the autumn equinox, the beginning of winter, and the winter solstice, also known as the eight, are the eight key nodes that distinguish the impact of rotational motion on the earth; Sixteen of them, including rain, sting, Qingming, Guyu, Xiaoman, mangzhong, Xiaoxia, Daheat, Chuxia, Bailu, Handew, frost, Xiaoxue, Daxue, Xiaohan, and Dahan, reflect more subtle climate change in the four seasons.

Type of climate. The 24 solar terms are the product of agricultural civilization, which is a knowledge system formed by the ancient ancestors by observing the movement of celestial bodies combined with the laws of geography, climate and phenological changes. Agricultural production is closely related to geographical and climatic resources, and superior geographical and climatic resources are important conditions for the birth of agricultural civilization.

China is located in the eastern part of the Eurasian continent and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, with huge differences in the thermal properties of land and sea, thus forming the most typical monsoon climate in the world.

The monsoon climate is a mixture of continental and oceanic climates. In winter, the weather is cold, dry and rainless, under the influence of dry and cold airflows from the inland; In summer, it is affected by the warm and humid air flow from the ocean, and it is hot, humid and rainy. Abundant sunshine, abundant precipitation, high temperature and humidity rain and heat are very superior climatic resources in China during the same period.

The high temperature period is consistent with the rainy period, and the water and heat are well matched, which is very beneficial to the growth of crops. Climate factors include light, temperature and precipitation, among which precipitation is an important factor in climate.

1. It reflects the influence of the sun on the earth, which belongs to the solar calendar. It is a knowledge system formed by observing the annual movement of the sun and recognizing the changes in season, climate, phenology and other aspects of the year. It not only plays a guiding role in agricultural production, but also affects the clothing, food, housing and transportation of the ancients, and even cultural concepts.

2. First of all, as a long-standing knowledge system of time and rich in colorful activities, the 24 solar terms carry profound spiritual and cultural connotations, such as respecting nature, conforming to the time of day, respecting ancestors, filial piety and respect for relatives, good neighbors and friends, etc., which are one of the important parts of China's excellent traditional culture. As an important embodiment and carrier of China's excellent traditional culture, the 14 solar terms should be highly valued and give full play to their positive role in the current social and cultural construction process.

3. The 24 solar terms can accurately reflect the rhythm and rhythm of nature, and reflect the harmonious relationship between man and nature. This point is of great practical significance to people today. Today, with the increasing advancement of industrialization and informatization, our activity space is more and more confined to the reinforced concrete urban forest, the rhythm of life is more and more in accordance with the rhythm of machine operation, time is becoming more and more homogeneous, and the relationship with nature is becoming more and more alienated, so we begin to increasingly ignore or even ignore the value and significance of natural factors to the development of human society.

Therefore, in the context of today's national policy of advocating the construction of ecological civilization, it is necessary and realistic to re-understand and deeply explore the traditional harmonious relationship between man and nature embodied behind the 24 solar terms.

In ancient China, the longest annual shadow of the sun was called the "solstice" (also known as the day solstice, the long solstice, and the winter solstice), and the shortest day shadow was called the "day short solstice"), the summer solstice. In spring and autumn, the length of day and night is equal, and it is set as the "spring equinox" and "autumn equinox". In the Shang Dynasty, there were only four solar terms: mid-spring, midsummer, mid-autumn, and midwinter, but in the Zhou Dynasty, it developed to eight, and the 24 solar terms were fully established in the Qin and Han dynasties.

In 104 B.C., Deng Ping formulated the "Taichu Calendar", which officially set the 24 solar terms as the calendar and clarified the astronomical position of the 24 solar terms.

The 24 solar terms are actually the key to the 24 seasons, 2 per month. The 24 solar terms take the cycle of the earth's revolution around the sun as a cycle, and basically summarize the difference in the position of the sun on the ecliptic in different seasons of the year, the exact time of cold and warm exchanges, the occurrence of natural phenomena such as rainfall and snowfall, and the recording time of some phenological phenomena in nature. The start date of the 24 solar terms of China's zodiac calendar is basically the same as the internationally used solar calendar, with a difference of one or two days at most.

This is because the Zodiac calendar, like the Gregorian calendar, is based on the fact that the earth revolves around the sun once a year. The Zodiac Calendar is a calendar that uses 60 different groups of zodiac signs to represent the year, month, and day. The zodiac law takes the beginning of spring as the beginning of the year and the festival as the beginning of the month.

Its 24 solar terms are divided into 12 months, and each month contains two solar terms, with no leap months. The zodiac calendar is related to the periodic movement of the earth around the sun, and the year, month and day are determined by the apparent movement of the sun, and have nothing to do with the lunar phase. <

However, unlike the usual Gregorian calendar (AD, etc.), the length of the month in the latter is artificially predetermined and has nothing to do with celestial phenomena, so it is a gregorian calendar with Chinese characteristics. Since ancient times, the zodiac calendar has been popular in books such as the perpetual calendar, and is used for elephant numbers, feng shui, and life science. The 24 solar terms are the time baseline promulgated by the officials of the past dynasties, the compass to guide agricultural production, and the compass for people to predict the cold, warm, snow and rain in their daily life.

The 24 solar terms more accurately reflect the changes of the seasons, are used to guide agricultural activities, and affect the food, clothing, and housing of thousands of households. <>

The 24 solar terms originated in ancient China, and are the laws summarized by the ancients in long-term life and agricultural production, and are mainly used to arrange agricultural production activities.

The origin of the 24 solar terms is summed up by the working people of our country in the long-term labor practice.

The "24 solar terms" are the crystallization of the long-term experience and wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people, and originated in the Yellow River Valley in China.

1. Introduction to the vernal equinox.

The vernal equinox is the midpoint of the ninety days of spring. One of the 24 solar terms, the annual Gregorian calendar is about March 20, when the sun is located at 0° of yellow longitude (vernal equinox). On the day of the vernal equinox, the sun shines directly on the Earth's equator, and the seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are reversed, with the northern hemisphere being the vernal equinox and the southern hemisphere being the autumnal equinox.

The vernal equinox is the New Year of Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other countries, with a history of 3,000 years.

2. Introduction to the autumnal equinox.

The autumn equinox, the sixteenth of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar, is generally on September 22 and 24 of the Gregorian calendar every year. The climate in the south begins with this solar term before autumn. The first is that the sun reaches 180° of ecliptic longitude (autumnal equinox) on this day, and the sun shines almost directly on the earth's equator, and the day and night are equal in length around the world (not considering the refraction of sunlight by the atmosphere and the shadow of morning and dusk).

After the autumnal equinox, the direct point of the sun continues to move from the equator to the southern hemisphere, and the days and nights begin to be shorter and longer in various parts of the northern hemisphere, that is, the days are shorter than the nights in the day. Throughout the Southern Hemisphere, the days began to be longer and the nights were shorter, i.e., the days were longer than the nights in a day. Therefore, the autumn equinox is also called the descending equinox.

3. Introduction to the summer solstice.

It is one of the 24 solar terms, which is held on June 20, 21, or 22 of the Gregorian calendar every year. On the day of the summer solstice, the sun travels to 90 degrees of ecliptic longitude (the summer solstice, currently in the constellation Gemini), and the position of the sun directly on the ground reaches the northernmost point of the year, almost directly hitting the Tropic of Capricorn, at this time, the daylight hours in the northern hemisphere reach the longest of the year. For the Tropic of Cancer and the regions north of it, the summer solstice is also the day of the year when the sun is at its highest at noon.

In the Beijing area, the summer solstice can be spent up to 15 hours during the day, and the noon sun height is as high as 73°32. On this day, the Northern Hemisphere receives the most solar radiation, nearly twice as much as the Southern Hemisphere.

Fourth, the introduction of the winter solstice.

The winter solstice, commonly known as the "Winter Festival", "Long Solstice Festival" or "Ya Sui" and so on. The winter solstice is an important solar term in the Chinese lunar calendar and a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, there was a saying that "the winter solstice is a yang birth", that is, from the day of the winter solstice, the yang energy slowly began to rise.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago, China has used Tugui to observe the sun and determine the winter solstice, which is the earliest one of the 24 solar terms, and the time is on December 21 and 23 of the Gregorian calendar every year.

The 24 solar terms are an important part of China's ancient calendar, which reflects the changes in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter on the earth when the earth revolves around the sun. According to the changes in the position of the sun in a year and the evolution order of the ground climate caused by it, the ancients divided the number of days of 365 and a quarter of a year into 24 segments, which were divided into 12 months to reflect the four seasons, temperature, phenology, etc., which is the 24 solar terms.

In the Western calendar, there are only four solar terms: the spring equinox, the summer solstice, the autumn equinox, and the winter solstice, which correspond to the sun clearing on the ecliptic, crossing the equator twice and the four times of the northernmost and southernmost times, as the center of the four seasons. The Chinese lunar calendar has set 24 solar terms. Most of the names of solar terms reflect the phenology, the starting point of the agricultural season or season, and the midpoint of the season, which is obviously for the convenience of farming.

The 24 solar terms reflect the seasonal phenological characteristics of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin. As far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, the four solar terms of mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn and mid-winter were determined, and then they were continuously improved, and by the Qin and Han dynasties, the twenty-four solar terms had been fully established. In 132 B.C., the book "Huainanzi" recorded the names of the 24 solar terms, which is the earliest and most complete record seen so far.

The ancients called the 24 solar terms distributed at the beginning of the summer calendar month "solar terms", and the middle of the month called "zhongqi", which means meteorology and climate.