1. Harmony between Heaven and Man: Closeness to Nature

So, which days were designated by our ancestors as the "festivals" on the "bamboo" of our daily lives?

The Eastern and Western festivals are very different in terms of which days are designated as holidays. Western festivals are always related to historical events, whether it is Christmas, Halloween or Valentine's Day; but this is not the case in China. It seems that Western festivals are decided upon by human beings, but Chinese festivals are decided upon by discussions between man and heaven.

China's annual festivals have three sources: one is arranged according to seasonal climate, that is, the twenty-four solar terms, such as Qingming and Winter Solstice; the other is based on the new moon as the festival, so a certain month's festival There are many festivals on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, especially the full-moon Lantern Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, which are loved and valued by people; the third day is when the month and day overlap in an odd number, which are: New Year's Day on the first day of the first lunar month and New Year's Day on the third day of the third lunar month. , the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May, the Chinese Valentine's Day on the seventh day of July, and the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of September. These are the "big festivals", and there are also some "small festivals", such as "February 2nd when the dragon raises its head", February 12th "Hundred Flowers Festival", and June 6th "Clothing Festival", which are not passable, so they are called " No formalities." The Hungry Ghost Festival on July 15th later became a Buddhist festival, which is another matter.

There are four seasons and twelve months in a year. There are festivals in each season and festivals in every month. The festival is distributed evenly throughout the four seasons, fully reflecting the Chinese people's closeness to nature, care for life and call for human kindness. Chinese people conform to nature, but they are not passively dependent, and they can make a difference. They believe that people can make things happen, and God can make things happen. This is the so-called "active adaptation". We live, work, love, and give birth according to natural rhythms, sowing in spring and hoeing in summer, harvesting in autumn and storing in winter. The setting of traditional festivals takes into account the relationship between the sun, moon and stars, the changes in seasons, the earth and human beings. Chinese traditional festivals are the product of the time consciousness of our ancestors and a concrete manifestation of the Chinese people's worldview of "harmony between man and nature".

What I call "heaven" here generally refers to nature. Judging from the arrangement of festivals, we can see how much the Chinese people attach great importance to heaven, celestial phenomena, and providence! January 1st is "New Year's Day", the first rising sun of the year; March 3rd is already, snakes become active, let us get close to the spring water; May 5th is Dragon Boat Festival, poisonous insects and hundreds of feet need to be dealt with carefully to spend the summer safely. ; July 7th is the festival of the stars, Mid-Autumn Festival is the festival of the moon, September 9th, go hiking, the beautiful autumn mountains are the most beautiful of the year. It turns out that Chinese festivals are all about the sun, moon, stars, mountains, water, spring, summer, autumn and winter. The Yuanxiao Festival seems to be more about "human affairs". It is a festival of lanterns and is noisy enough. But in essence, "making Yuanxiao" means "making spring plowing". It is a festival about the earth, farming and harvest. It is also related to nature. Close relationship.

Our country’s annual festivals also place great emphasis on “festival objects”. For example, plum blossoms are the festival object for the New Year, peach blossoms are the festival object for March 3rd (later merged with Qingming Festival), and pomegranate flowers are the festival object for the Dragon Boat Festival. Things, osmanthus belongs to the Mid-Autumn Festival, and chrysanthemum belongs to the Double Ninth Festival. The festival poems of ancient Chinese poets all describe and praise festival objects.

Another kind of "frugality" is reflected in people's food tables. New Year’s dumplings (northern wheat farming culture), rice cakes (southern rice farming culture), Yuanxiao glutinous rice balls, Qingming dumplings, Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings, Chinese Valentine’s Day Qiaoguo, Mid-Autumn Festival moon cakes, September 9th Double Ninth Cake, including the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month Laba porridge, etc., are all related to the daily dining table.

"Saving things" always refers to seasonal things, seasonal flowers, and seasonal food. In fact, they are feasts dedicated by Mother Nature to her children - for the eyes, for the children. For the mouth, for both body and mind. Therefore, festival objects have a more emotional name: festival charm objects.

One year in late spring, by the Xuesi Lake in our school, it was the scene of "Sunny silk blowing into the leisure courtyard". A group of boys passed by, and one of them pointed to the catkins flying in the sky and asked: "What is this catkin called?" ?" No one answered; another couple passed by, and the man said, "Oh, dandelions!" The woman said, "Yes, dandelions!" They all responded in unison.

Recently, I saw in the newspaper that a middle school student wrote in his composition: "It's autumn, and people are busy picking rapeseed flowers in the fields." Rapeseed flowers bloom in spring, and they are not "picked". Our young people's ignorance of nature has reached a staggering level.

In the past, we were so close to nature and we respected nature so much. When we are surprised, we shout either "Oh my god" or "Oh my God!" (now called "Wow"), equating heaven with mother. We call the sky "God" and "God". When we prepare to go out for a trip, we call the good weather "God makes it beautiful". We call a well-matched couple "a match made in heaven". The most vicious curse is "God damn it" and the smartest one. It's called "genius". Laozi said: "Man follows the earth, the earth follows the sky, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature." How much have we learned from nature!

Today, a key word for all mankind is "environmental protection". "Environmental protection" is not just a matter of who pollutes and who will be punished. There are more basic and important things to do, such as protecting our healthy traditional culture, learning from nature and living in harmony with nature while restoring and carrying forward our traditions. various mentalities and lifestyles