What are the 24 solar terms full of?

The ancients in China summed up 24 solar terms, representing four seasons, including beginning of spring, beginning of autumn, Changchun and beginning of winter. The four seasons are clear at a glance. There are also reactions between solar terms in different seasons, such as the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox, and the summer solstice corresponds to the winter solstice.

Specific to the solar terms named after "small" and "big", the adjacent correspondence is more direct-there must be "big" when there is "small", which is called "from small to big" in the Book of Changes. For example, there is a big summer in Xia Hou, and there is a big cold after a slight cold, but after a small full, it is not a big full, but a mango seed.

In fact, among the 24 solar terms, "Xiaoman" and "Mangzhong" not only do not correspond literally, but also have the least direct meaning among all solar terms. Most of the 24 solar terms are named after the characteristics of climate and environment, and only "Xiaoman" and "Mangzhong" are special and the most difficult to understand.

The ancients also realized this. Ma Song Yongqing's Lazy True Son records people's doubts: "Twenty-four strange names can be solved, and those who speak alone are different." Ming Langying's article "Little Full Grain" in "Seven Revisions of Heaven and Earth" puts forward a question more directly in the tone of the times: "There are light summer heat, heavy summer heat, slight cold, severe cold, light snow and heavy snow in the twenty-four qi, why is there a little full but not a big full?"

From the actual correspondence, "Mangzhong" is the imaginary "Big Man", which forms a corresponding relationship with the "Little Man" in the solar terms. So, why do you want to take "Mang Zi" instead of "Big Man"? The ancients had different explanations.

The ancient almanac said: "the nail bucket is small and full, and everything is longer than this, so it is full." The wheat is so small and not fully ripe, hence the name. " For the "awn seed", the explanation given in "The Seventy-two Seasons of the Moon Order" is: "The May Festival means that there are awn seeds in the valley."

This explanation is well understood from the word meaning, that is, in Xiaoman season, wheat is about to mature, but it is not yet fully mature; When the awn seeds arrive, the sharp-edged grain should be planted. But digging deeper is a problem. From small to large, wheat has grown well, rice has been planted, and other crops have entered a rapid growth period, and there is no "planting" phenomenon.

In this regard, the ancients have been hoping for a reasonable explanation. Ming Hegu's Talk on the eaves holds that when Xiaoman and Mang are two solar terms, "both refer to the word wheat", which means that they are all aimed at the maturity and harvest of wheat.

In fact, the saying "talking on the eaves" is the view of Song people. The book Lazy True Son says, "They are all called wheat. Xiaoman, in mid-April, means that the gas of wheat has reached this point, and Fang Xiaoman is not ripe; On the May Festival, the word' kind' is pronounced' kind', which means that there is a kind of awn and the wheat is ripe. "