Folk Activities in Grain Rain and Their Implication

Grain Rain's moral is "Rain gives birth to a hundred valleys", and the custom activities include drinking Grain Rain tea, enjoying peony, offering sacrifices to Cang Xie, eating spring water and offering sacrifices to the sea.

1, drink five grains and rain tea.

There is a custom of drinking tea in Grain Rain. Grain Rain tea, that is, tea before rain, is spring tea picked in Grain Rain season, also called spring catechu. Grain Rain tea is made of new tea picked in Grain Rain on this day, and it should be picked in the morning.

Grain Rain tea has green color, soft leaves and pleasant aroma. Therefore, no matter what the weather is in Grain Rain, people will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

Step 2 enjoy peony

"Grain Rain visited the peony in the Middle Three Dynasties". Peony flowers are called Grain Rain flowers and rich flowers, and Grain Rain has enjoyed peony for thousands of years. Jia Qinglu, an ancient land in the Qing Dynasty, said: "The temple was built together with the merchants, and the Grain Rain Flower Bureau was brand-new. If you don't believe that there is no national color when you meet, the brocade shed only protects Yulouchun. " Up to now, Heze, Shandong Province and Luoyang, Henan Province will hold peony flowers in Grain Rain season for people to watch and play.

3. Dedicated to Cang Xie

Tomb-Sweeping Day, who offered sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor, and Grain Rain, who offered sacrifices to Cang Xie, are folk traditions that have spread for thousands of years since the Han Dynasty. According to Huainanzi, in late spring and early summer, the Yellow Emperor issued a letter to announce the success of Cangjie's word-making, and millet began to appear in the world.

After Cang Xie's death, people buried him in his hometown-north of Shiguan Town, Baishui County. There is a couplet engraved on the door of the tomb: "Su Yu felt the emperor of heaven in those days, and the same text was forever matched with the tomb of the bridge." Every year in Grain Rain, Baishui County, Shaanxi Province will hold the "Cangjie Temple Fair" as scheduled.

4. Eat spring

Before and after Grain Rain, Toona sinensis was mellow and refreshing with high nutritional value, so it was said that Toona sinensis was tender as silk before the rain. People say that picking and eating Toona sinensis in spring is "eating spring". Toona sinensis is generally divided into purple Toona sinensis buds and green Toona sinensis buds, especially purple Toona sinensis buds.

Step 5 offer sacrifices to the sea

Grain Rain Festival is also known as the "strong festival" for fishermen to go fishing. In the northern coastal areas of China, fishermen have celebrated Grain Rain Festival for more than two thousand years. As soon as the sea festival arrives, fishermen will go to the Sea Temple and Niangniang Temple with offerings, and others will go to the seaside with offerings, beating gongs and drums, setting off firecrackers and offering sacrifices to the sea. The scene is very grand, and this custom is still popular in Rongcheng, Jiaodong.

Meteorological change

Continuous spring rain is the most important feature of solar terms in Grain Rain. After the solar term in Grain Rain, the rainfall increases and the humidity in the air gradually increases, which is beneficial to the growth of crops. After entering the Grain Rain solar term, the precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River increased obviously, especially in South China. Once cold air meets warm and humid air, it will often form rainy weather for a long time.

The Huaihe River Basin in Qinling Mountains is basically the dividing line between the spring rain in the south of the Yangtze River and the spring drought in the north. From the Qinling-Huaihe River to the north, the spring rain decreased sharply. In the north, Grain Rain is a symbol of the "final frost". There are few cases of large-scale invasion of cold air into the south, but the cold air activities affecting the north have not stopped, and early thunder will appear in many places.

In some ancient works of China, Grain Rain is divided into three stages: "The first stage is when Ping was born; The second time, pigeons blow feathers; The third is that Dai Sheng fell to Sang. " After Grain Rain, rainfall increased, duckweed began to grow, then cuckoo began to remind people to sow, and then Dai Sheng birds began to be seen on mulberry trees.