Whenever the Spring Festival comes, in most parts of northern China, every family carries lanterns to fetch water from wells or rivers in the morning, and when they get home, they light a fire, burn incense and offer offerings. In ancient times, people called this ceremony "attracting dragons". On this day, every household will eat noodles, fried oil cakes and popcorn, which are compared with "picking the dragon's head", "eating gentian", "golden beans bloom, the dragon king ascends to heaven, the clouds are raining, and the grains are abundant" to show good luck.
This custom dates back to the Ming Dynasty. Shen Bang's "Miscellaneous Notes on Ten Thousand Parts" records: "Ten thousand people call the dragon to look up on February 2. The villagers used a euphemistic cloth to enter the kitchen from the outside and circled around the water tank, calling it Longgui. " Yu Yizheng and Dong Liu, Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital", recorded during the Spring Festival: "On February 2, the dragon looked up, and on the first day of the New Year's Day, the leftover cakes were fried, and the bed kang was smoked, which was called attracting dragons, and the insects could not come out." The dragon has an extremely lofty position in the minds of China people. In ancient times, people thought that the dragon was a symbol of the son of heaven, an auspicious thing, and the master of weathering rain. So the proverb "On February 2nd, the dragon looks up" means that spring has come and everything is revived. The beginning of the dragon activity indicates that a year's farming activities are about to begin.
On February 2, the dragon looked up. According to the agricultural proverb "On February 2nd, the dragon looks up", it is said that it didn't rain for a long time in Guanzhong area in ancient times, and the Jade Emperor ordered the East China Sea dragon to sow rain. Xiaolong is playful and dives into the river and never comes out again. A young man went to the cliff to collect "dragon water" to muddy the river. Xiaolong emerged from the river to compete with the young man. Xiaolong was defeated and had to sow rain. In fact, the so-called "dragon heads up" means that after hibernation, all insects begin to wake up. So as the saying goes, "On February 2nd, dragons looked up and scorpions and centipedes appeared."
There is also a saying "February 2nd" called Spring Dragon Festival. Xu Shen's "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" records: "The dragon, the length in the scale, can be quiet and bright, thin and huge, long and short, reaching the sky in the vernal equinox and diving in the autumn equinox." This may be the earliest record of the custom of the Spring Festival.
According to legend, when Wu Zetian was emperor, the Jade Emperor ordered that it should not rain on the ground for three years. However, Yulong, who is in charge of Tianhe, couldn't bear the people to suffer from disaster and starvation, and a heavy rain came secretly. When the Jade Emperor learned about it, he buried the Jade Dragon in charge of Tianhe under a mountain. At the foot of the mountain, a monument stands, which reads: The rain of the Dragon King violated heaven and should be punished by the world for generations. If you want to go back to Lingxiao Pavilion, unless the golden beans bloom.
In order to save the Dragon King, people searched everywhere for golden beans in full bloom. On the second day of February of the following year, people were drying golden corn seeds, and it suddenly occurred to them that this kind of corn was like golden beans, which had blossomed after being fried. Isn't it the golden bean that blooms? So every household exploded popcorn, put on record in the yard to burn incense, and offered "flowering golden beans" to the Dragon King and the Jade Emperor. Knowing that the people were saving it, the Dragon King shouted to the Jade Emperor, "Golden beans are blooming, let me out!" As soon as the Jade Emperor saw that the golden beans in the yard of every household in the world were in full bloom, he would send a message to the Dragon King, asking him to return to heaven and continue to give sex to the world.
Since then, people have formed a habit. On February 2nd every year, people pop popcorn and some fried beans. Adults and children still read: "On February 2, the dragon looked up, the big warehouse was full, and the small warehouse flowed." In some places, kitchen waste ash is scattered in the yard to form a big circle, and whole grains are put in the middle, which is called "hoarding" or "filling the warehouse". It means to wish the grain a bumper harvest and a full warehouse. During festivals, the names of foods in various places are generally labeled as "dragons". Eating jiaozi is called eating "dragon ears"; Eating spring cakes is called eating "Longlin"; Eating noodles is called eating "dragon beard meat"; Eating rice is called eating "dragon son"; Eating wonton is called eating "longan"
There are many other customs on this day. Read "February 2nd, the dragon looks up, the dragon doesn't look up, I look up." After getting up, you should light a lantern on the beam, and read "Scorpion and centipede have nowhere to hide" according to the beam on February 2. In some places, women don't move a needle and thread for fear of hurting dzi; Some places don't wash clothes for fear of hurting the dragon skin, and so on.
From a scientific point of view, around the second day of the second lunar month, the earth began to thaw, and the weather gradually warmed up. Farmers bid farewell to leisure and began to work in the fields. Therefore, in ancient times, "February 2" was also called "the last two days". Therefore, the Spring Festival, which was popular among the people in China, was also called "Spring Farming Festival" in ancient times. It is said that if you don't wake up this day, the rumble of thunder will call it.
As for cutting hair, it is because it is unlucky to cut hair in the first month, and it is very uncomfortable not to cut hair for a month, so everyone cuts their hair in early February after the first month.
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