There is a folk saying that dragons rise on February 2. How did his people get here?

On the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, there is a proverb in China, "On the second day of February, the dragon looks up", which means that spring comes, everything recovers, and the dragon begins to sting people, which indicates that a year's farming activities are about to begin. In the north, February 2 is also called Dragon Head-Up Day, also known as Spring Festival. It was called the picnic festival in the south and the vegetable picking festival in ancient times. China people have had the custom of "February 2nd" since the Tang Dynasty. According to records, the origin of this sentence is related to the understanding of star movement in ancient astronomy and agricultural solar terms.

People in China think that dragons are auspicious things, in charge of sex and rain, and the second day of the second lunar month is the day when dragons will ascend to heaven. In terms of solar terms, the first day of the second lunar month is between "rain", "fright" and "vernal equinox", and many places in China have begun to enter the rainy season. This is a natural law, but the ancients thought it was the contribution of the "dragon". In addition, the dragon has a very high status in the minds of China people, and it is not only regarded as an auspicious thing, but also regarded as the master of wind and rain. Therefore, there is a saying that "on February 2, the dragon looks up."

In fact, the so-called "dragon heads up" means that after hibernation, all insects begin to wake up. There is a folk saying that "on February 2nd, dragons look up and scorpions and centipedes all come out".

"On February 2nd, the dragon looked up" was also explained in ancient astronomy, but it was often ignored. In ancient China, twenty-eight nights were used to indicate the positions of the sun, moon and stars in the sky and to judge the seasons. In the twenty-eight lodging houses, the horn, sound, rafter, room, heart, tail and dustpan constitute a complete dragon constellation, among which the horn is like the dragon's horn. After the spring breeze in February every year, "Dragon Horn Star" will appear from the eastern horizon at dusk. At this time, the whole body of the black dragon is still hidden below the horizon, and only the horns are exposed, so it is called "the dragon looks up".

While the dragon looks up at the sky, spring slowly comes to the world. On this festival, the earth turns green and spring ploughing begins from south to north. Therefore, February 2, also known as "Spring Farming Festival", "Farming Festival" and "Spring Dragon Festival", is a traditional folk festival of Han nationality.

As an auspicious and festive day, in order to get lucky, on February 2nd, most folk foods are named after dragons. For example, eating jiaozi is called "eating dragon ears", eating rice is called "eating dragon seeds", eating wonton is called "eating longan", eating noodles is called "holding Longxu Noodles", and steamed cakes are also made in the shape of Long Lin on the surface, called "Longlin cake". These customs have placed people's good wishes for dragon blessing, good weather and good harvests.

So, why not "February 1st" or "February 3rd"? This is related to our love of even numbers in folk customs.

In ancient China, especially before the Qin and Han Dynasties, all the "heavy days" such as January 1st, February 2nd and March 3rd were regarded as the days when heaven and earth were connected with each other. Therefore, on such days, people need to do more prayers, sacrifices or commemorative activities to achieve happiness, well-being and good luck.

Astronomical experts analyze "February 2, the dragon looks up"

"On February 2nd, the dragon looks up" symbolizes the return of spring to the earth and the revival of everything. So, where is the dragon? How does it "look up"? Astronomical experts explained this.

Zhao Zhi Heng, director of Tianjin Astronomical Society, said that unlike ancient western astronomy, China divided the stars into seven star zones: Three Walls and Four Elephants.

The so-called "wall" is the "city wall". "Three Walls" is the "Wei Zi Wall", symbolizing the palace; "Taiweiyuan" symbolizes the administrative organization; The "sky wall" symbolizes the bustling market. These three walls are arranged in a triangle around Polaris. There are four elephants around the "Three Walls": East Black Dragon, West White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu. That is to say, the stars in the east are like dragons, the stars in the west are like tigers, the stars in the south are like big birds, and the stars in the north are like turtles and snakes. As the earth revolves around the sun, the stars in the sky change with the seasons. Every evening at the turn of winter and spring, the black dragon appears; At the turn of spring and summer, Xuanwu rose; At the turn of summer and autumn, white tigers emerge; At the turn of autumn and winter, Suzaku rises.

There are two stars on the "arcturus" of the black faucet: arcturus I and arcturus II, which respectively represent the two horns on the pale faucet. The four stars behind Jiao Su are Kang Su, which is the throat of the dragon. There are four stars under the throat arranged in the dustpan, showing the shape of "Jue Su", representing the dragon's paw. The room, heart, tail and skip behind the dragon's paw represent the dragon's heart and tail respectively.

"Blow the tap on February 2"

As the saying goes, "the dragon doesn't look up, it doesn't rain." The dragon is auspicious and the master of weathering rain. On the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, people pray for dragons to raise their heads to make rain and moisten everything, which is called "shaving the faucet on February 2" in history. It is generally believed in China that shaving one's head on this day will bring good luck. Therefore, the folk proverb says, "Blowing the tap on February 2nd will make you feel refreshed all year round". On February 2, every barber shop was full of customers and the business was booming.

In addition, there is a folk saying in our country that "my uncle died in the first month", so many people don't go to the barber shop for a month after cutting their hair in the twelfth lunar month until February 2. However, this folk taboo has gradually faded in recent years.

February 2 is the day when the dragon was stung to heaven. People in China always regard dragons as their totems. This day "shaving the dragon's head" reflects people's good wish to pray for the dragon's blessing.

The custom of "shaving your head in the first month" is actually a myth.

Folk customs on February 2 nd

On the Spring Festival, ancient people in China burned incense and sacrificed to the dragon god, with the purpose of praying for rain, eliminating pests and harvesting.

During the Spring Festival in Shandong and other parts of China, smoke from stoves is used to draw a dragon on the ground, commonly known as lucky dragon. Folk beliefs attract dragons for two purposes: one is to invite them back, spread sex and rain, and pray for a bumper harvest in agriculture; The other is that the dragon is the god of all kinds of insects. When the dragon comes, all kinds of insects hide, which is beneficial to human health and crop growth. People in Nantong, Jiangsu Province make birthday peaches and livestock out of flour, steam them and insert them on bamboo sticks, and then insert them in the fields at night. They think this is food for the insect god and ancestors, and pray that the ancestors will drive away the pests and hope that the insect god will not hurt the crops.

On that day, the name of "dragon" was generally added to the names of foods in various places. Eating jiaozi is called eating dragon ears, eating spring cakes is called eating dragon forest, eating noodles is called eating dragon beard meat, eating rice is called eating dragon seeds, eating wonton is called eating longan and so on.

Women can't do needlework on this day, because the black dragon will look up at the world on this day, and using a needle will hurt the dragon's eyes. Before getting up, the woman said, "On February 2nd, the dragon looks up, and if the dragon doesn't look up, I will look up.". After getting up, I will light the beams with lanterns and read "February 2nd, light the beams, scorpions and centipedes have nowhere to hide". In some places, women stop washing clothes because they are afraid of hurting Longpi, and so on.

The third day of February is Wenchang's birthday. Japanese scholars worship Wenchang and seek the first place in the imperial examination. According to the old custom, children began to study formally on February 2. In the past, scholars had to perform four ceremonies, namely the opening ceremony, the advanced ceremony, the gratitude ceremony and the champion ceremony, among which the opening ceremony was the first gift of life. When you start writing, you start writing articles. The ceremony mainly includes the worship of Confucius, the teaching of the most basic principles of life, and the presentation of Four Treasures of the Study.