Why do we celebrate the winter solstice?

The winter solstice is one of the traditional twenty-four solar terms in China, which lasts from 22nd to 23rd in the solar calendar. According to the interpretation of astronomy, in winter solstice, the sun reaches 270 degrees latitude and longitude, and the sun shines directly on the tropic of Capricorn, and the daytime in the northern hemisphere is the shortest; After that, the direct sunlight position moved northward, and the days became longer. The traditional concept of yin and yang in our country holds that the cathode will be positive this day, the south will be positive, and it will last forever. These natural phenomena become the support of colorful winter solstice activities.

Another name for the winter solstice is as long as. Also known as the Dragon Festival. This is another name based on natural phenomena. Since the summer solstice, the days are getting shorter and shorter, reaching the peak in the winter solstice, and then the days are getting longer and longer, so the winter solstice is also called "long to the sun", which means that the days will (have) become longer. Bai Juyi's poem "Yangmeiguan Winter Solstice Day" says: "From November to night, people walk three thousand miles." If the winter solstice is regarded as a festival, it will have another name. "The winter solstice is a' long solstice'. Pupils wear new clothes, bring wine and go to work. "

As short as ... Also known as short as a knot. This is another name based on natural phenomena, but it is explained from different angles.

As long as the explanation focuses on "the future", although it is short, the winter solstice is explained from the perspective of "the present tense".

Winter solstice is short, so it is called "short". Judging from the present tense, it should be the solstice in summer, not the solstice in winter.

Fat winter. This is an understanding of the winter solstice from the perspective of custom. The solstice in winter is earlier than New Year's Day, and there is a custom of sending wine and meat to relatives and friends, so it is called. "The solstice of winter, worshipping festivals, or feeding heritage with sheep and wine are called' fat winter'"

Love winter. The emphasis and intention are the same as those of Fat Winter. Relatives and friends celebrate the winter solstice festival, which is full of joy, so it is called.

"The solstice winter is called' Happy Winter'. The official rate is close to that of families. The day before, the master of ceremonies watched the five drums pay tribute, and the husband's family paid tribute. The villagers only sacrificed noodles and jiaozi to the sky and served their parents. "

A long festival. This is to understand the winter solstice from the perspective of nature and custom, because there are two explanations for the meaning of "walking long" From a natural point of view, it is the winter solstice, the sun is the South Pole, the shadow is the shortest, and the method is the yellow bell, which has the longest tube, hence its name because of its congratulations. From the perspective of custom, it is said that the solstice in winter is a sunny day, and the days are getting longer and longer. On this day, women present socks to their uncles and aunts to show the beginning of the needlework. "The winter solstice is a long festival, and it is also a day for him to worship his ancestors. Do not worship the customs. "

Tofu Festival. This is another name from the perspective of custom, which is only popular in some areas. Shanxi's "New Records of Yuxiang County": "The learning of each village will worship its teachers every day. Students prepare tofu offerings and offer Biqun drinks, commonly known as' Tofu Festival'. "

Subage. This is another name compared with Chinese New Year. It means the winter solstice Asian Games festival, as the saying goes, "winter solstice is a big year". There is a saying in Wei Zhi's "Ode to Socks in Winter": "See the old instrument, the country is in winter, ... welcome happiness at the age of two, and celebrate for a long time." Chronology of China ethnic customs in Hupu 'an. Lin 'an, Zhejiang: "The winter solstice is commonly known as the Chinese New Year, and people celebrate each other, just like the Chinese New Year. Wuzhong is the most prosperous, so it is called' fat winter and thin year'. "

Judging from the custom that winter solstice is called sub-year-old, when discussing the name of winter solstice, we should pay attention to the comparison between winter solstice and New Year holidays.

In the folk, there are many proverbs comparing the two, which comprehensively reflect the public psychology and social life foundation of the winter solstice holiday custom.

Winter solstice proverb: fat in winter, thin in winter. This is a comparison between New Year's Day and winter solstice from the perspective of social life. It is said that this custom is most popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, but it is also popular in the north. It is called "Winter Solstice Festival" when it is quoted from the annals of Huailai County, Hebei Province, or "Fat Winter" when sheep wine is used as a gift. "In most parts of northern China, ordinary people work hard for a year and rarely taste wine and meat. After the autumn harvest, the cultivation was finished, and the new grain was put into storage, and the rotten workshops (wine workshops) in rural areas began their annual work. It's burning red, and the wine is leaking. After the light snow and heavy snow, the preparations for the New Year began, killing pigs and sheep, and the meat overflowed in the kitchen. The solstice in winter is before New Year's Day, which is the time when everything is rich. It goes without saying that every family has food and drink, and the gifts brought by relatives and friends on holidays are also quite expensive. On that year's festival, everything was more or less consumed. On longevity and fat (in the old society, villagers talked about the quality of dishes, mostly with fat, that is, the amount of meat; By extension, the amount of meat also means the quality of life), of course, it is fat in winter and thin in years-an old saying that illustrates a certain aspect of rural winter life.

The solstice in winter is as big as a year. Also known as the winter solstice, it is like a year, and winter is like a year. This contrast is basically the same as being fat in winter and thin in years. Therefore, some people say, "On the November Winter Solstice Festival, there must be a fire, and the family temple, ancestral temple and kitchen god are honored by their parents, and a family banquet is held to congratulate their relatives. This is an example of New Year's Day. As the saying goes, the winter is like the New Year, which is Wuzhong's' fat winter and thin year'. " However, the comparison between these two proverbs is slightly different. "Winter solstice is as big as a year" pays more attention to the customs of festivals, which means that the customs of winter solstice are almost the same as those of New Year's festivals. The so-called "(winter solstice festival)

Various essays are added to regular festivals, so there are rumors that the winter solstice is like a new year. "

When winter comes, loving and wise mothers will sing such songs to their children: 1929 is uncomfortable, 3949 walks on the ice, 5969 watches the willows by the river, 799 opens, 899 geese come, 999 adds 19, and the cattle walk everywhere.

This song is the Jiujiu song that has spread almost all over China.

99 songs are also called 99 words, and the full name should be "99 songs to eliminate the cold". According to the traditional calendar of our country, every nine days is a period starting from the second day of the winter solstice, which is the opposite of the "V" in summer. * * * There are nine time periods. The first nine days are called September 19, followed by September 29th, March 9th and ... September 9th, collectively referred to as "September 9th", as opposed to "dog days". In the whole winter, the weather is cold for 998 1 day. After this time, the weather will get warmer and the earth will be spring. In this cold "hardest time to rest" season, people count nine, so it is called "counting nine"; The weather in this section is also called "several nine days" accordingly. Only a few days people are more leisure, so through the observation of cold and warm weather, phenology and personnel things, they have composed 99 songs, which are widely circulated to dispel the cold. According to Liang's Chronicle of Jingchu in the Southern Dynasties, there was a custom of nine at that time: "The number of days in the winter solstice, 9981 is the end of the cold." Here, the number of days from winter solstice is different from the current calendar, but it may be true. Later chronicles also said that the number of days from winter to solstice was nine days.

Jiujiu Song appeared later than Jiujiu, but it was very popular in Tang and Song Dynasties. The author of Guangxu's "Dongguang County Records of Hebei Province" 14 in the Qing Dynasty said: "The lyrics of Zhi Shu Jiu have been recorded since the Tang Dynasty. For example, Lu Yong's Adding Family Records in Wuxia, Zhou Zundao's Yin Bao Ji Talking about People in Yangyang Town, Wang Shizhen's Wan Wei, Feng Yingjing's Yue Ling Generalized, Tian Rucheng's A Journey to the West Lake, and two Solstices about Summer and Winter are all similar. " Chen, a poet in the Song Dynasty, provided some evidence for this assertion: "The custom of Miscellaneous Notes at the Age of Years, counting from the second day after winter, is 9981. In the alley, there are many works called "Jiujiu Ci", and there is another sentence: "Nine cold and nine hot. "..." Su Zhe, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, also wrote the poem Winter Solstice, "It seems that money is more important than firewood, and it is not difficult to count in 1999".

99-99 song of dispelling cold has been circulated in most parts of the country, especially in the north. The winter in the north is very cold, so the 99-year-old Song Chuhan is not only worthy of the name, but also has practical significance. Because the climate is different in different places, people's views are different when creating, so there are some differences in Jiujiu songs in different places. The following two songs were given by the north and the south: Hebei: 1929 no gun; 3,949 yuan to take away; Five or nine and a half points, slag scattered; Hit six or nine heads in spring, take off your coat and change to a cow; In 7963, pedestrians relaxed their clothes; Nine times out of ten, don't plow, just stay for three or five days; Yang Hua blooms in September and doesn't come in September.

Zhejiang: 1929, which cannot be called each other; In 3927, chestnuts were blown at the hedge head; 4936, staying overnight is like sleeping; 5945, poor China street dance; Don't dance, don't dance, there will be a cold spring; 6954, flies hide in the layer; In 7963, cloth was laid on both shoulders; In 8972, pigs and dogs were lying in Haiti; 998 1 year, the poor suffered; Just about to stretch, mosquitoes and fleas came out.

1999 The custom of removing cold corresponding to the song of removing cold is 1999 map of removing cold. Compared with 1999, the picture of eliminating cold appeared later. It has three functions: first, it records the weather after nine o'clock, such as rain, snow and so on; Accordingly, divining the rich and the poor in the coming year.

There are many forms of cooling diagram. The simple method is to draw nine vertical and horizontal grids, and then draw a money shape in the middle of each grid. * * * You take eighty-one yuan and draw one yuan every day. The painting method is "full of rain and shine, left wind and right rain and snow" There is a folk song that says, "It's sunny and sunny, and it's raining on the left, and the spring grass is green." Or choose nine words and nine pictures to form a sentence and put it in the grid, which is also a daily stroke. The commonly used conjunctions of nine pictures are "weeping willows (pavilions) in front of the court to cherish the spring breeze" Tsui Hark and "clearing money". Seasonal category "contains:" Xuanzong imperial words, there is a sentence' weeping willows in front of the pavilion cherish the spring breeze', each sentence is nine words, saying nine paintings, and then double-hook it and decorate it into a painting to eliminate the cold in September ... from the solstice of winter, fill in a row every day, and finish everything at 8 1. "In addition to the above two kinds, there is also an' Yatu', which is a branch of painting plum. The petals of plum have 8 1 piece, and one petal is dyed every day. When the dyes are all dyed, it will be 99, and spring is coming. " "A Brief History of Landscape" said: "On the solstice of winter, draw a plum blossom, one petal in eighty miles, and dye one petal every day. In 1999, the petals came out and the spring was deep, and the day was' 99 to eliminate the cold'. "What's more fascinating is that women make up and dye plums. Yang Yunfu, an Amin poet, recited this custom in "One Hundred Poems on Luanjing Miscellaneous Poems". He noted: "After the winter, put a plum flower in the window, and a beautiful woman will make up. Rouge will make a circle every day, 8 1 circle is enough, and it will become apricot blossom and warm. "This design is unique. From plums to apricots, from winter to spring, the changes of the four seasons are linked with the rouge of Jiaren Xiaozhuang. It's amazing. No wonder there is a chant in Yang's poem: Try to count the nine or nine pictures between windows, and the remaining cold will be as warm as possible.

The first time.

Plum blossoms are everywhere. I think they are apricot trees at present.

Some maps have other "attachments". First, there are conjunctions, that is, related conjunctions are marked next to the map; For example, "Look at Mei in the picture. The grass outside the natural gate is green "; Some are printed on the map to eliminate the cold in 1999; In addition, there are pictures and wisecracks, such as "Tiger Ramming" and "Tiger Ramming-Don't listen to that".