"The Horse and the Monk Crossing the River" and "Being shocked and smelling Remy like mud"

A folk proverb in Changwu area says, "On February 18th, a horse and a monk crossed the river." This is not only a proverb, but also a meteorological proverb. Facts have proved that there must be a last "cold letter" and "cold storm" after the spring warmth around February 18 of the lunar calendar every year. People in Changwu hope that the southeast wind will blow (the weather will be fine) and send "horses and monks across the river" on this day, so the harvest will be abundant and the population will be safe. If the northwest wind blows (the weather is cold and wet), the "Ma Monk" can't cross the river, and natural and man-made disasters will come to the south of the Yangtze River ... So, "Ma Monk" seems to be a "plague god"! However, the people in the north of the Yangtze River regard it as a "god of wealth", lighting incense and candles to welcome him across the Jiangbei River. When did this custom originate? Who is monk ma? Never looked up. However, it is worth noting that "Monk Ma" is the Buddha Master Dharma who came to China from the east of India in the Liang Dynasty of the Six Dynasties and "crossed the Yangtze River with one reed".

Sting is one of the 24 solar terms in a year, usually at the end of the lunar calendar or the beginning of February, and it is a key meteorological day. There is a folk saying in Changwu area: "You are shocked to hear that Remy is like mud." It is said that the day of fright thunders, and the main year is full. People expect a thunderstorm on this day. If it thunders before the sting, it will keep raining for a long time. As the meteorological proverb goes, "If you sting before you sting, it will be wet for 120 days". In the old folk customs, whenever the thunder rumbled for the first time before and after the shock, the mother would pat the pillow on the bed with her child in her arms and turn it over, indicating that everything was awake and no longer slept for a long time.

-From Changzhou Evening News, November 7th, 2001, the fifteenth edition was indifferent to Zhongquan.

2. Excerpt from "Twenty-four Solar Terms Nourishing Heart Sutra"