The beginning of the vernal equinox spring egg
It is a traditional festival for China people to divide eggs in spring. According to historical records, the tradition of laying eggs at the vernal equinox originated in China 4000 years ago to celebrate the arrival of spring. On the day of the vernal equinox, people choose a smooth and symmetrical fresh egg, which is just four or five days old and gently stands on the table. Although there are many losers, there are also many winners. The vernal equinox has become the best time for vertical egg games, so there is a saying that when the vernal equinox arrives, the eggs will be beautiful. The eggs that stand up are very beautiful. The reason is that, first of all, the vernal equinox is a day with the same length of day and night in the northern and southern hemispheres, and the earth's axis is tilted by 66.5 degrees, which is in relative balance with the earth's orbital plane around the sun, which is beneficial to vertical eggs. Secondly, the vernal equinox is in the middle of spring, which is lukewarm, colorful, comfortable, quick-thinking, agile and easy to succeed in laying eggs. Peng Feng bridge
Eat spring vegetables at the vernal equinox
Kaipingcang Town used to have a custom of "eating spring vegetables at the vernal equinox", with one city and four cities (plus Heshan as five cities). "Spring vegetable" is a kind of wild amaranth, which villagers call "Artemisia chun". On the vernal equinox, the whole village went to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the wild, it is often green and thin, about the length of a palm. Picked spring vegetables are usually boiled with fish fillets at home, which is called "spring soup". There is a jingle that says, "Spring soup is dirty, and it washes the liver and intestines. The whole family is safe and healthy. " Since the spring of the year, people still pray for peace and health at home.
The vernal equinox sticks to the sparrow's mouth
According to custom, farmers have a holiday on the vernal equinox. Every family should eat dumplings, cook a dozen or twenty or thirty dumplings without wrapping them, and put them on the outdoor ridge beside the field with thin bamboo forks, which is called sticking sparrows' mouths, so as not to destroy crops.
Send spring cattle at the vernal equinox and reward them with ploughing.
The vernal equinox is coming soon, and there will be a picture of spring cattle delivered door to door. That is, the annual lunar solar terms are printed on red paper or yellow paper, and farmers' ploughing patterns are also printed, which is called "Spring Cattle Map". The people who send pictures are folk singers, who mainly say things like spring ploughing and auspiciousness that are not against the farming season. Every time they go to a house, they become more emotional and say whatever they see until the host is happy and gives money. Although the words spoken are casual, every sentence rhymes beautifully. Commonly known as "spring", spring people are called "spring officials". In Jiangnan, the custom of watching cattle and offering sacrifices to birds is very popular. When the vernal equinox arrives, the cows will begin to work for a year, and feeding them dumplings is a reward; Sacrificing hundreds of birds, one is to thank them for reminding farmers that it is getting late, and the other is to hope that birds will not peck at grains and pray for a bumper harvest.
Eat snowballing and sun cakes at the vernal equinox.
There is a custom in old Beijing. Eating snowballs at the vernal equinox can ward off evil spirits and pray. There is no doubt that taking soybean as the main raw material, supplemented by red bean paste, sugar, sesame oil, osmanthus fragrans, green shredded pork and melon seeds as fillings, not only has rich taste, but also has diversified ingredients. Sun cakes, step by step. Eating sun cakes at the vernal equinox is also the vernal equinox custom in old Beijing. On the vernal equinox, you should worship the sun god and "please" eat sun cakes. Sun cake is not only a tribute of the vernal equinox, but also a seasonal food, which means "the sun is high". Sun cakes are made of glutinous rice and stuffing. Glutinous rice has the function of warming the body, and the stuffing of sweet jujube paste also conforms to the health concept of saving acid and sweetening in spring. Eating sun cakes in moderation during the spring equinox and solar terms is conducive to regulating the balance of body functions and adapting to the changes of solar terms.
Eat fried dough sticks and garlic tofu soup at the vernal equinox
Hubei attaches great importance to the vernal equinox. On the vernal equinox, adults at home will get up early to fry the oil field, then cook garlic and tofu together and put them into the oil field. Adults and children in the family should eat a big bowl. It is said that eating this head won't make buns. According to the older generation, people used to have buns on their heads because of unhealthy diet, and they could never grow them. Later, some people ate fried dough sticks and garlic bean curd soup, and there were no long buns the next year, so they began to spread the vernal equinox to eat this. This custom has been passed down from generation to generation, and the specific reasons have not been verified.
Vernal equinox and Spring Festival
At the vernal equinox in February, people began to pay homage to their ancestors, also known as the Spring Festival. Before sweeping the grave, a grand ancestor worship ceremony should be held in the ancestral hall, pigs and sheep should be slaughtered, drummers should be invited to play, and the ritual students should read the eulogy and quote three praises. At the beginning of the spring equinox grave sweeping, the first thing is to sweep the graves of ancestors and distant ancestors. The whole family and the whole village have to be dispatched on a large scale, and the team often reaches hundreds or even thousands. After the ancestral graves of Kaiji and Yuanzu were swept, they were divided into rooms to sweep the graves of ancestors in each room, and finally each family swept the graves privately. In most Hakka areas, ancestor worship and grave sweeping in spring begin at the vernal equinox or earlier, and must end in Tomb-Sweeping Day at the latest. There is a saying everywhere that after the Qingming Festival, the tomb door is closed, and the ancestors' spirits are not needed. ?
Worship god at the vernal equinox
The folk festivals around the vernal equinox are February 15, Zhang Kai's birthday: Wang Sheng, also known as "Chen", was a warrior of the Tang Dynasty, Chen Yuanguang, who made great contributions to Zhangzhou and became the patron saint of Zhangzhou after his death. February 19 is the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Every birthday, many believers will go to Guanyin Temple to worship. On February 25th, Sanshan King Sacrifice Day: Sanshan King refers to Dushan, Mingshan, Jinshan and other mountain gods in Jieyang County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. In the early years, Chaozhou Hakka immigrants were the patron saint, so the believers were mainly Hakkas.