This topic has three levels of content: one is the "Great Cold" in the 24 solar terms; The second is the "Laba Festival" in ancient traditional festivals; The third is the "Festival of Sacrificing Tail Teeth" in the twelfth lunar month. Then let's talk about it one by one and find out the source.

Figure 1. Severe cold

The solar terms of severe cold generally coincide with the year-end time of the lunar calendar, so the severe cold period is mostly the time for ancient ancestors to celebrate the New Year. Agricultural proverbs include: "A slight cold and severe cold will kill pigs for the New Year" and "After the severe cold, it will be another year". Phenology of severe cold: when chickens begin to milk; Second, the symptoms of bird disease; Three times, the water is moist and the abdomen is firm. That is to say, hens can lay eggs in the severe cold solar terms; Migratory birds, such as eagles, are in a state of strong predation ability at this time, hovering around in the air looking for food to supplement their energy to resist the cold; In the last days of the year, the ice in the water has been frozen to the center of the water, and it is the thickest and strongest.

the change of severe cold climate is also an important sign to predict the rain and food shortage in the coming year, so farmers can arrange their farming as early as possible. For example, if it rains in a cold day, it rains a lot in February and March, the people are well fed and clothed in the cold, the people are uneasy in the cold, and the snow in the cold will set a good year, and there is no wind and drought in the cold. Second, Laba

According to the lunar calendar, the "Laba Festival" usually comes after the "Great Cold", that is, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In 221, it happened that "Great Cold" and "Laba" were the same day.

Figure

Since the pre-Qin period, Laba has been an ancient festival used to worship ancestors and gods and pray for a good harvest. Laba drinking "Laba porridge" has gradually evolved into a folk custom in China, which means celebrating a bumper harvest and hoping for a better life in the coming year. Despite the freezing weather, the ancestors of China made this time and space extremely festive and joyful, just like the area that has been frozen for a long time suddenly became lively: everyone was moving, walking, working, making noises, catching up with New Year's collections, buying new year's goods, writing Spring Festival couplets, preparing all kinds of sacrificial offerings, sweeping away dust and cleaning things, removing old cloth, pickling all kinds of preserved vegetables and bacon, frying and cooking chicken, duck, fish and other New Year's dishes. Laba Festival has also become a platform for showing the aesthetics of human feelings and humanity. Third, Tail Teeth

The 16th day of the twelfth lunar month is the "Tail Teeth Festival". In ancient times, this tooth meant "having a rare sumptuous meal".

Ancient merchants "shopkeepers" often offered sacrifices to the landowner on the second and sixteenth days of each month, in order to ensure that everything would be smooth and the wealth would be plentiful in their own land. And often after the sacrifice is completed, those tributes will be distributed to the guys to make a rare tooth sacrifice. Especially at the end of the twelfth lunar month, the last sacrifice is the most grand. At the same time, after the sacrifice is completed, the shops and merchants will close down for the New Year, and the guys will have a holiday. Therefore, this habit has gradually become a folk custom and passed down. Just like today's "annual meeting of enterprises", it was called "Tail Teeth" in ancient times, and it was also called "Festival of Sacrificing Tail Teeth"

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