The Great Heat in the middle of June

Yuan Zhen? Tang Dynasty

The Great Heat and the third autumn are approaching, and the forest bells and nine summers have moved.

The cinnamon wheel blooms in the middle of the night, and the fireflies illuminate the sky.

Melons and fruits invite Confucian guests, and wild rice grows in the ink pond.

The gauze is rolled up, waiting for the wind to blow.

Translation:

The hot summer is coming, and autumn is not far away. Fireflies are flying in the forest. Prepare fruits and melons, invite friends, and enjoy the good sleep time of summer.

Writing background:

The Great Summer solar term coincides with the "three volts", which is the twelfth solar term among the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. "The Collection of Seventy-Two Hours of the Moon Order" says: "Summer means heat, and heat is divided into large and small. The first month is small, the middle month is large, and now the heat is still strong." Its climate characteristics are: "Dou" Refers to B as the Great Heat, when the weather is much more severe than the Little Heat, so it is called the Great Heat. The Great Heat solar term coincides with the "middle volts" in the "Dog Days" and is the hottest period of the year, with the highest temperatures and the fastest growth of crops. At the same time, droughts, floods, wind disasters and other meteorological disasters are also the most frequent in many areas. Most of the poems and songs of the Great Heat are related to farming.

Based on whether the Great Heat is hot or not, the ancient working people summarized many agricultural proverbs to predict future weather. For example, for short-term predictions, it is like "the fields are resting in the heat of summer; when it is cool during summer, the ponds are full of water."; for mid-term predictions, "it is hot during summer, but cool after autumn"; and for long-term predictions, "it is very hot during summer, and there will be no frost for four months." wait.

At the same time, the Great Heat is also divided into three periods: the first period is when the rotten grass becomes firefly; the second period is when the soil is moist and the heat is hot; and the third period is when it rains heavily. The first period means that there are two types of fireflies in the world: aquatic and terrestrial. Terrestrial fireflies lay their eggs on dry grass. During the heat, fireflies hatch out of their eggs, so the ancients believed that fireflies were transformed from rotten grass; the second period, It means that the weather begins to become sultry and the land is very humid; in the third period, heavy thunderstorms often occur. The heavy rain weakens the summer humidity and the weather begins to transition to the beginning of autumn. Folk customs include drinking fu tea, drying fu ginger, and burning fu incense. On November 30, 2016, China’s “Twenty-Four Solar Terms” were officially included in the United Nations Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Appreciation:

The "Sanqiu" in the poem refers to the three months of autumn. "Nine Summers" refers to the summer months of April, May and June, three months to 90 days. "Lin Zhong" is the rhythm of June. "Guilun" refers to the moon. "Fireflies", "calamus" and "melon fruits" are all things that grow or are enjoyed in hot weather. The last two sentences are a bit like "Spring is not a day for reading, and the heat of summer is a good time to sleep."

Yuan Zhen (779-831, or the 14th year of Dali of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty to the fifth year of Dali of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty), also known as Wei Zhi, also known as Wei Ming, was born in Luoyang, Tang Dynasty (now Luoyang, Henan Province). His father is Yuan Kuan and his mother is Zheng. He is a descendant of the Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei clan in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the fourteenth generation grandson of Shi Yijian. In his early years, he and Bai Juyi jointly advocated "New Yuefu". People often call him "Yuan Bai" together with Bai Juyi.