What does it mean that the dragon looks up in early February? What does it mean that the dragon looks up on February 2?

Dragon Head Raising (February 2nd), also known as Spring Farming Festival, Farming Festival and Spring Dragon Festival, is a traditional folk festival of Han nationality. The dragon heads up on the second day of the second lunar month every year, commonly known as the Qinglong Festival. Legend has it that this is the day when dragons look up. It is a traditional festival in urban and rural areas of China. People celebrate the "Dragon Head Festival" to show respect for the dragon, pray for rain and let God bless the harvest.

history

The second day of the second lunar month, commonly known as the Qinglong Festival. ? The origin of the Qinglong Festival is related to the "fright" in the 24 solar terms. After the shock, the earth recovered and the yang rose. There is a saying in Shanxi folk proverb that "on February 2nd, the dragon looks up".

Jinnan area thinks that this day is the day of Qinglong activities, so it is forbidden to go to the river and the well to fetch water, so as not to bring back dragon eggs. When walking and working by the river and the well, pay great attention to silence and try not to make any noise, so as not to disturb Qinglong and ruin the good weather.

On this day in the north of Shanxi, "Qianlong" prevailed. Before the sun rises in the morning, every family carries a teapot and goes to the river or the well to fetch water. According to the calculation of several dragons controlling water this year, put a few copper coins or coins in the teapot. After pumping water, he spilled water all the way home as he walked, poured the rest of the water and money into the water tank, and Qianlong was taken home, meaning to make a fortune in one year. Don't talk when attracting Qianlong, so as not to scare Qianlong away.

In the southeast of Shanxi province, Yao Qianlong used kitchen ash and sprinkled a winding gray line from the door to the kitchen and around the water tank.

As the saying goes: "After a fright, all insects die." During the Dragon Festival, many activities to drive away drugs are very popular among the people. "Yangcheng County Records" records: "A hundred stings are shocked at the beginning, and the Tianshi curse hangs, preventing insects and poisons." When people get up in the morning, avoid saying the word "get up" for fear that all poisonous insects will react. Folklores in southern Shanxi like to cook Man Jing soup, which is spread all over the cracks in the walls, corners, the bottom of the kang mat and under the bed. It is called "no insects". Others gathered villagers, carried idols, went to the heads of families and sprinkled rice soup in the yard, which meant to dispel the plague. People's doors are surrounded by lime. Folk in southeastern Shanxi painted a medicine gourd, which contained poisonous insects such as snakes, scorpions, centipedes, dragonflies and spiders. , and posted on the wall, called "stop the insects". Others twist beans and wheat flour into lights and bury them in the soil, which is called "smoked dragonfly".

In Jinzhong area, every folk family pats a dustpan, and the nursery rhyme says, "On February 2nd, clap a dustpan, fleas and ticks dare not go to the kang". Put a line around the toilet and the door with lime, which is called eliminating the plague. Luliang area is used to cleaning every house. The northern part of Shanxi pays attention to "paste the wolf's mouth", and paste the dough with sesame sugar or millet on Erlang God's wheezing dog's mouth.

Qinglong Festival is called "Flower Tide" in some places in southern Shanxi. People take wine and food to the suburbs, sit around in selected places, sing and dance, and enjoy drinking, which is also called "spring outing" and "outing". Southeast Shanxi is used to making pancakes with glutinous rice flour, expressing condolences to women. Children in Jinzhong area are used to flying kites. Some counties pay attention to this day to play ash pits and worship the land god. People in northern Shanxi like to eat noodles and vermicelli, which is called picking dragon flavor. There are also cakes to paste the wolf's mouth and pears to fight fire and get dirty. Luliang area likes to eat pancakes, which is called "uncovering dragon skin". Jinnan must eat twist and prickly heat that day, which is called "biting the keel". Northwest Shanxi pays attention to the Qinglong Festival, causing a lot of social fires and yangko, and the grand occasion resembles the Lantern Festival in other places. ?

On the Qinglong Festival, people in northern Shaanxi pay attention to eating jujube hill before the kitchen god. A few people in a family cut jujube hill into several pieces, one for each person, and gave the parents three tips.

Festival source

Dragon heads up [2] The second day of the second lunar month [2], commonly known as the Qinglong Festival, is said to be the day when dragons look up. It is a traditional festival in rural China, called "Dragon Head Festival". As the saying goes: "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up and everyone became a farmer." At this time, the sun's spirit rises, the earth thaws, and spring ploughing will begin. This is the time to transport manure and plow the fields. According to legend, this festival originated in the period of leader Fu. Fu "attaches importance to farming and farming". On February 2nd every year, "The Queen Mother delivers meals and plows the fields with her own horses" to take care of herself. Later, the Yellow Emperor, Tang Yao, Yu Shun and Yu Xia all followed the example of their predecessors. For Zhou Wuwang, we have not only followed this traditional practice, but also implemented it as an important national policy. On the second day of February, a ceremony was held, and all civil and military officials could personally plow an acre of land. This is the historical legend of the Dragon Head Festival. On the other hand, Wu Zetian abolished Tang Lizhou as emperor, which provoked the jade emperor to be furious and ordered the Dragon King not to rain for three years. The dragon king could not bear to lose his life, and it rained heavily secretly. When the Jade Emperor learned of this, he shot the Dragon King out of the Heavenly Palace and pinned him down at the foot of the mountain. Lebanese people feel that the Dragon King is deeply grateful to Rain God and prays to heaven every day. Finally, he moved the jade emperor and released the dragon king on the second day of February, so there was a saying that "the dragon looked up on the second day of February" In fact, in the past, rural water conservancy conditions were poor, and farmers attached great importance to the spring rain and celebrated the "Dragon Head Festival" to show respect for dragons, pray for rain and let God bless the harvest. From their wishes, it is good, so the "Dragon Head Festival" has been passed down to this day!

On the second day of the second lunar month, the reason why it is called Dragon Head-raising Festival is actually related to ancient astronomical phenomena. In the old days, people divided the astrology near the ecliptic into 28 groups, which respectively indicated the positions of the sun, the moon and the stars in the sky, commonly known as "Twenty-eight Hostels", as a reference for astronomical observation. The "Twenty-eight Hostels" are divided into four groups according to the four directions of east, west, north and south, resulting in "four elephants": black dragon in the east, white tiger in the west, suzaku in the south and Xuanwu in the north. In Twenty-eight Nights, the horn, kang, ground, room, heart, tail and dustpan form a dragon-shaped star, which is called the Black Dragon in the East. The horn represents the horn of the dragon, the kang represents the throat of the dragon, the old represents the claw of the dragon, the heart represents the heart of the dragon, and the tail and jump represent the tail of the dragon. In Shuowen, it is recorded that the dragon "can be quiet and bright, detailed and huge, short and long, reaching the sky at the vernal equinox and diving in the autumn equinox", which actually refers to the changes in the astrology of the eastern black dragon!

In ancient times, people observed that the stars in the black dragon rose in the eastern night sky in spring and set in the west in autumn, and their cycles and orientations coincided with the agricultural cycle in a year. When farming began in spring, the stars in the black dragon began to rise in the eastern night sky, revealing bright bibcock, crops grew in summer, and the stars in the black dragon hung in the southern night sky; In autumn, the crops are harvested, and the stars in the black dragon begin to fall in the west; Everything lurks in winter, and the stars in the black dragon are hidden under the northern horizon. Every year on the night of the second day of the second lunar month, the stars in the black dragon begin to emerge from the east, and the horns representing the dragon horns begin to appear on the eastern horizon. About an hour later, the dragon's throat rose above the horizon, and near midnight, the Pleiades star appeared. This is the process of "the dragon looks up". Every day after that, the date of "the dragon looks up" is about a little earlier. After more than a month, the whole "faucet" was "lifted". Later, this day was also endowed with multiple meanings and sustenance, and evolved into "Dragon Head-raising Festival" and "Spring Dragon Festival"!

The formation of Erlong Mountain's rise in early February is also related to the natural geographical environment. On February 2nd, the Dragon Head-lifting Festival is mainly popular in the north (there is little water in the south, so it is more popular to offer sacrifices to the land gods). Due to the perennial drought and lack of rain, surface water resources are scarce in the northern region, and the agricultural production that depends on it cannot be separated from water. The invasion of pests and diseases is also a major disaster for crops. Therefore, people's psychology of praying for rain and removing pests and diseases is reflected in their daily beliefs, and the Dragon Head-lifting Festival on February 2 is particularly important for people: relying on the worship of dragons to exorcise evil spirits and win happiness has entrusted people's yearning for a better life-the dragon god protects the world, people and animals are safe, and the grain is abundant. On the day when the dragon looked up, all the clothes belonging to the snake and the dragon were washed and all the bad luck was washed away. ? Another way of saying it: On February 2nd, the dragon looked up. According to legend, the second day of February is the day when the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan was born. On the second day of February in the solar calendar, it is said that the Dragon King in charge of rainfall in the sky looked up. It means that there will be more rain in the future, which is beneficial to farming. There is a saying that the Dragon King always looks up from the bottom of the sea on the second day of the second lunar month because he misses his lost daughter.

The legend of Dragon Boat Festival is a folk myth in northern China. It is said that Wu Zetian became emperor, which annoyed the jade emperor and told the four dragon kings that it was forbidden to rain on earth for three years. Soon, the Dragon King, who was in charge of Tianhe, heard the cries of the people, saw the tragic sight of people starving to death, and worried that life on the earth would be cut off, so he violated the jade emperor's will and rained for the world. When the Jade Emperor learned that the Dragon King had been knocked down to earth and was crushed under a big mountain to suffer, a monument was erected on the mountain: "The Dragon King's rain violated heaven and should be punished for eternal life; If you want to re-enter the Lingxiao Pavilion, unless the golden beans bloom. " In order to save the Dragon King, people searched everywhere for golden beans in full bloom. On the second day of the second lunar month, when people are drying corn seeds, they think this corn looks like golden beans. Don't golden beans bloom when they are fried? So every household popped popcorn and put a case in the yard to burn incense for the blooming "Golden Bean". (The legend is wrong. Wu Zetian was a figure in the Tang Dynasty, and corn was introduced to China only in the Ming Dynasty. Where did the corn seeds come from? ) The Dragon King looked up and knew that the people had saved him. He shouted to the Jade Emperor, "The golden beans are blooming, let me out quickly!" As soon as the Jade Emperor saw that the golden beans in the yard of every household in the world were in full bloom, he would send a message to the Dragon King, asking him to return to heaven and continue to give sex to the world. Since then, people have formed a habit of eating popcorn on the second day of February. This folk story of "the integration of heaven and earth" is the crystallization of the wisdom of ancient working people; From another angle, it also reflects the reality that ancient agriculture was restricted by the weather and the farmers' good wishes for good weather and abundant crops. However, according to records, "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up" was related to the understanding of star movement and agricultural solar terms in ancient astronomy. In the ancient astronomical observation model, 28 constellations were determined on the ecliptic on Sunday, which was called 28 nights. The ancients divided these 28 stars into four palaces according to the southeast and northwest, with 7 nights in each palace, and attached these four palaces to four kinds of animals according to their images. Among them, Seven Nights in the East Palace is imagined as a dragon stretching from north to south, consisting of 30 stars. Stars are relatively static. When the position of the earth's revolution makes the dragon constellation and the sun in the same direction, the sunlight will drown the starlight, and people will not see the dragon in the sky. After a while, the position of the earth moved and the dragon constellation appeared again. Time and again, the ancients discovered this law and used it to judge the seasons. The first night of the Seven Nights East Palace, known as the "Dragon Horn", appeared on the horizon, which was the time when spring came, so the ancients took its appearance as a sign of the arrival of spring. At this time, it coincides with the rainy solar term in February of the China lunar calendar, resulting in the saying that "on February 2nd, the dragon rises". Bai Juyi, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in a poem: "On February 2, it was sunny and rainy, and the grass buds were born for a while; The light shirt is thin and the horse is young, and the cross is full of words. "

According to legend, the Dragon Head Festival originated in Fuxi era, and Fuxi "emphasized agriculture and mulberry, plowed the fields and worked". On the second day of February every year, "the emperor delivers meals and the royal family cultivates the fields". When I arrive in Zhou Wuwang, every year on the second day of February, a grand ceremony will be held to call on all civil and military officials to work together.

On February 2nd, the Dragon Head Festival, according to legend, was the "Flower Festival" in the Song Dynasty, and this day was designated as the birthday of Baihua. In the Yuan Dynasty, this day was called "Youth Day", and people went out for an outing on this day. Some people go home for an outing, pick some leaves along the way (a kind of flowers and leaves that grow on the ground) and bring them back to their homes to worship. This custom is a metaphor for "welcoming the rich".

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was called the day when the dragon looked up, because the second day of the second lunar month coincided with the "shocking" solar term. Many animals, such as snakes, earthworms and frogs. In winter, if you don't eat or drink, you will go into hibernation, which is called "entering the sting". By February 2nd, the weather was getting warmer, and some insects and animals seemed to be awakened from their sleep by the sunshine and thunder in spring, so this festival was named "Jing Zhe". In fact, there is no legendary dragon. That kind of dragon was created by our ancestors on the basis of snakes and earthworms. Around the second day of February, spring returns to the earth, and people expect dragons to kill all harmful poisonous insects and expect a bumper harvest. This is the saying "On February 2nd, the dragon looks up".

In Beijing, there are many customs on February 2, such as "On February 2, look at the house beams, scorpions and centipedes have nowhere to hide"! On this day, people will drive away pests, light candles and drive away scorpions and centipedes according to the beams and walls. These insects will fall down and be destroyed at the sight of light. On this day, folk food is usually named dragon for good luck. For example, eating jiaozi is called eating "Dragon Ear", eating rice is called eating "Dragon Son", eating wonton is called eating "Dragon Tooth", and the surface of steamed cake is also shaped like a dragon forest, called "Dragon Forest Cake". On this day, women avoid needlework so as not to hurt the dragon's eyes. Even shaving a child's head is called "shaving tap".

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