At the "Chinese Poetry Conference", Teacher Mengman said: Among the twenty-four solar terms, there are two most beautiful solar terms, one is Qingming and the other is Bailu. Bailu not only has a beautiful name, but is even more beautiful during the Bailu season. Let’s get to know this beautiful Bailu together!

1. The origin of the Bailu solar term:

The origin of the Bailu solar term comes from the ancients’ understanding of the movement of the sun.

The ancients discovered the law of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west through observing celestial phenomena. They realized that the sun's path is a circle, and called the sun's yearly path the ecliptic. According to the changing angle, the position of the sun in a year is divided into twenty-four equal parts, each part is fifteen degrees, which is the twenty-four ecliptic.

In the long-term process of verifying the laws of the 24 zodiacs, the ancients also discovered that climate change seemed to be related to the 24 zodiacs. In this way, the distribution of the 24 solar terms appeared, and then through the analysis The expressions of the seasons in which each solar term is located were named, and finally the twenty-four solar terms we see now appeared.

The origin of the name of the Bailu solar term is described in ancient books. According to the interpretation of "Bailu" in Wu Cheng's book "The Collection of Seventy-two Hours of the Moon Order" written by Wu Cheng of the Yuan Dynasty - "water, soil and moisture" When it condenses, it becomes dew. Autumn belongs to gold, and gold is white. White is the color of dew, and the air begins to get cold."

The meaning of this sentence is that the water vapor generated on the ground condenses into dewdrops. Autumn belongs to gold, and gold is white, so white is the color of autumn dew. The appearance of white dew also means that the weather is gradually getting cooler. .

The "whiteness" of Bailu is determined based on the five elements of yin and yang in ancient times. The ancients believed that spring belongs to wood, summer belongs to fire, winter belongs to water, and autumn belongs to gold. Gold is white, wood is cyan, and water is Black, fire is red, earth is yellow. Therefore, the color of autumn is white, so the solar term that was originally supposed to be called Qiu Lu was finally named "Bai Lu" with more cultural heritage.

2. Three phases of white dew:

In ancient my country, the spring equinox was divided into three phases: the first phase is when swan geese come; the second phase is when black birds return; the third phase is when flocks of birds are showing off their shyness. The content of the three seasons of solar terms is that in order to better carry out farming activities, ancient people divided a climate into three equal parts, that is, three seasons, each of which lasts five days. Then it is determined based on the most unique weather conditions, animal and plant behaviors, and environmental changes every five days. For example, the three seasons of Bailu are determined based on the habits of animals during the Bailu period. Here is a detailed introduction to these Three seasons:

One season: Wild geese are coming

This season means that the wild geese are coming. When I saw this meaning, I started to wonder. Autumn is obviously the time when the wild geese migrate south. It should be It means "swan geese are leaving" and why it is "swan geese are coming". In fact, this is related to the habits of wild geese during their migration southward and the misunderstanding of the ancients.

The wild geese will begin to migrate from the breeding grounds to the wintering grounds in large numbers around September every year. During the migration, they often gather in large groups of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands, and then leave in batches. They do not fly directly to their destination without rest, but rest in the middle. They often move one group away and then another, so it gave the ancients the illusion of "swan geese coming". In fact, they just passed by to rest and come back. It is not what the ancients called "coming".

Second period: Blackbird returns

This period means that swallows fly south to avoid the cold. Ancient people believed that swallows are birds of the south, so they used the word "gui", which means It's home.

In the ancient book "Collection of the Seventy-Two Hours of the Moon Order", "Xuanniao" is explained in this way: "Xuanniao explains the vernal equinox (at the beginning of the spring equinox, the black bird arrives; the swallow comes), and at this time it comes from Swallows move from north to south, so swallows are birds of the south, so the word "gui" means that swallows fly from the north to the south during the white dew season. Because swallows are birds of the south, the word "gui" is used to explain swallows. Migrating south.

Three seasons: Birds raising shame

The word "shame" in "birds raising shame" is the same as "馐", which means food. Therefore, "raising shame" means storing food. This period means that the birds begin to store food for the winter.

This is how it is described in ancient books, "Yi Zhou Shu·Shi Xun". "On the day of white dew, the wild geese come, and on the fifth day the wild geese return, and on the fifth day the birds are shy." "Zhu You once commented: "Those who nourish shame store food for winter, just like hiding treasures.

"In addition to the birds that migrate south, there are still many birds that stay here to spend the winter, such as sparrows and magpies. However, because there is not much food to eat in winter, these birds will start to store food to survive the winter after the white dew arrives.

3. Farming activities during the Bailu solar term:

All parts of the country are busy during the Bailu solar term, but the crops harvested in different places are different. For example, in North China and Northeast China, millet and sorghum are mainly harvested. Soybeans, new cotton are picked; yellow rice, millet, corn, sweet potato and other autumn harvest crops are everywhere in the southwest and northwest, just like the proverb says, "the dew is white and the fields are full of yellow millet."

At the same time, various regions must prepare land in time to plant spring wheat or winter wheat, and provide timely fertilizers, otherwise the wheat will not grow well next year, as the proverb says, "white dew wheat, heavy stubble dung"