Allusions to the fire in July

Lead: What is the historical origin of the idiom "July fire"? The following is the story of July fire that I shared with you. Welcome to learn!

July filariasis is an idiom in China, and the pinyin is Q and yuè liú hu ǒ, which comes from the Book of Songs and refers to the westward movement of Mars and the cold weather. The weather in July of the lunar calendar begins to cool down in the hottest month, but it is the second hottest month in a year. Therefore, July is still extremely hot.

Idiom data

"July filariasis" means that the weather is getting cold.

"July" refers to July in the summer calendar, that is, July in the lunar calendar today, which is roughly equivalent to August in the Gregorian calendar. "Flow" means moving and falling. "Fire", the name of the star, refers to the great Mars, that is, Antares. Every year in the summer calendar, at dusk in May, the heart stays in the sky and gradually goes west after June. The heat in summer began to subside. So it is called "filariasis". The ancients found that Mars gradually moved westward and the weather began to get cold when it set.

The "fire" referred to here is not the weather like fire, but the name of a star, namely Scorpio α. It is the brightest star in Scorpio, emitting lux light, so ancient astronomy in China called it "fire" star, also called antares.

In ancient times when the weather forecast was not perfect, people often determined the farming season by observing the running changes of the sun, the moon and the stars to guide production. Gu, a great scholar in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, once wrote in the book Rizhilu: "Anyone who knows astronomy has more than three generations. July is a fire, and the words of farmers are also. " Even the imperial court at that time specially set up the post of "Huozheng", which was responsible for observing the position of "Huozheng" star to determine the farming season.

Through years of observation, the ancients found that when the "fire in July", that is, the "fire" star gradually drifted westward, the weather would gradually turn cold.

In addition, due to the slow motion of the vernal equinox, the scene of "July fire" described in the Book of Songs more than 2,000 years ago will not be observed until the end of August of the lunar calendar.

In ancient China, according to the law that Mars appeared in different places in the sky at different times, a calendar was made, which was called the fire calendar.

At the same time, it also means that things have passed their heyday and are gradually declining.

Origin of idioms

"The Book of Songs, National Style, Folk Customs, July" is a fire in July and clothes in September. On the first day, Li Lie was born the next day; No clothes, no brown, why did you die? On the third and fourth day, I stood on tiptoe. And my daughter-in-law. The Guardian said, "Very good".

In July of the summer calendar, the "fire" star went down the mountain, and the work of cutting cold clothes in September was handed over to women. In January, strong winds collide with objects, and in February, it is freezing. How can I finish this year without clothes? Repair tools in March and step on the fields in April. Take my wife and children to the farmland to deliver meals. Tian Tian was very happy to see the farmers working in the fields.

It means that the weather turns cold in July of the lunar calendar, and just after dark, you can see the big Mars falling from the west.

The first sentence is an introduction, and the weather is getting cold. It's time to sew cold clothes If you want to observe today, you have to wait until August and September in the solar calendar.

Another article, Zuo Zhao's Three Years in Office, says: "In the fire, the cold and heat recede", that is to say, when the big Mars (Antares) appears in the south in the morning, the cold and the heat recede when the big Mars appears in the south at night.

This explanation can be found in Zheng Xuan's Biography of Mao Poetry in Han Dynasty and Kong's Justice of Mao Poetry in Tang Dynasty. According to this, some contemporary people translate "fire starts in July and clothes are given in September" into "Mars is full in July and women make cold clothes in September".

Historical allusion

3,000 years ago, under the rule of Zhou Chengwang, there was a country of taping, in Bin County, Shaanxi Province. Long ago, Zhou was the birthplace of Zhou agricultural culture. At that time, the calendar was not perfect, and the guidance of farming activities depended entirely on stargazing. Every year at the end of summer, a red star named fire appears in the southern sky, Alpha Scorpio, with a scorpion heart. With ancestral observation experience, farmers know that summer is over, autumn is coming, and the busiest autumn harvest season of the year is here.

In a flash, it was a few days. At the same time in autumn and evening, the farmer looked at the southern sky again and found that the fire had moved westward and fell down compared with a few days ago. A few days later, it moved westward and fell even more. A month later, at the same time, looking at the southern sky, the fire has moved to the western horizon, too low, trapped in the clouds, covered in the mountains, out of sight. Dear readers, this process is called "July filariasis". There is only one solution, not two. The water is flowing downwards. The fire is moving to the west and falling. Fire has a unique connotation and special significance here. It refers to the alpha star of Scorpio, which is called Antares in ancient astronomy in China, and is by no means the fire of "scorching sun". When you read the text, you will make jokes.

Idiom misunderstanding

In summer, the sun is like fire, the heat is unbearable, and there seems to be a fire flowing in the air. Speaking of heat, people often use the word "July filariasis". As a result, newspapers and magazines have repeatedly appeared such sentences as "July filariasis, unbearable heat" and "July filariasis, continuous hot weather". As we all know, the wildfire in July does not mean that the weather is very hot, but that the summer heat subsides and the weather turns cold.

Although some people questioned the original intention of "July filariasis" in the Book of Songs, for a long time, the ancients did understand "July filariasis" as the weather turned cold. After the solar calendar was adopted in modern China, people gradually used the term "fire in July" to describe the hot weather. Although it is pointed out that this usage is wrong, more and more people still use the term "hot weather".

There are probably two reasons why "July filariasis" is misused by the public.

First, "fire" is easily reminiscent of fire in the general sense, but I don't know that the "fire" in the poem is the ancient star name, which refers to the brightest alpha star in Scorpio.

Second, the calendar is different. The solar calendar (Gregorian calendar) is widely used. July in the solar calendar is a season of unbearable heat. No wonder people associate "July filariasis" with heat. You know, ancient people used the lunar calendar (lunar calendar). In the lunar calendar, January, February and March represent spring, April, May and June are summer, July, August and September are autumn, and October and December are winter. Therefore, July in the lunar calendar is equivalent to August and September in the solar calendar, which is exactly the time when summer enters autumn and it turns from hot to cold.

What's more, the lunar calendar was used three thousand years ago, so July is this August. If you want to observe today, you have to wait until September in the solar calendar.

Misuse of examples

On July 2, 2005, Yu Muming gave a speech at Renmin University of China. Ji Baocheng, chairman of the National People's Congress, said in his welcome speech: "There is fire in July, but it is more enthusiastic than the weather." This incident triggered a wider discussion on the correct use of the "fire in July" and even the revival of Chinese studies. Some people think that this is a misuse, which is inconsistent with Renmin University's efforts to promote the revival of Chinese studies and should be corrected. Another school thinks that this semantic evolution can be seen everywhere, such as words like tomorrow's yellow flowers (yesterday's yellow flowers are not officially recognized words), so it is not surprising. On the contrary, this is a normal text change. July in the contemporary solar calendar is equivalent to June in the lunar calendar, which is the hottest time of the year. It is very appropriate to describe the hot weather in July, which belongs to "foreign words" and conforms to the law of vocabulary development. In contemporary times, "July" is also used more.

After this incident, the official media in China still often use "the fire in July" to indicate that the weather is hot (which is not recognized by authoritative Chinese research institutes and modern Chinese dictionaries), such as:

First, Yang Man's "summer market was disturbed by the World Cup? Messed up? " (Market News, July 2006 10) mentioned: "July fire, high temperature detonated this summer's economy".

2. The article Manjusri in a Cool Sacred Land (Jinghua Times 18, July 2006) mentioned: "Even if there is a fire in July, the mountain is still a cool world, and there are no children in the mountain.

The first view

The original meaning in the Book of Songs may indeed mean that the weather is hot, meaning "it is still hot in July, and it is already crisp in autumn in September". Because the Book of Songs was written in the Zhou Dynasty, the poems included in it may be earlier than the Yin Shang period, but from the Yin Shang to the Spring and Autumn Period, except for a short cold period in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, most of the time it was warm, and it may be very hot in July in the summer calendar [12]? Moreover, the poems in the Book of Songs were collected from the people, and it is not known whether its creators knew the word "big Mars". Therefore, the original intention of "July fire" in the Book of Songs may not be "cold weather", but "hot weather".

The second view

"July filariasis" means "Book of Songs, national style, folk customs", "July filariasis, September clothes".

Its real meaning does not mean that July is hot, but it is closely related to an astronomical phenomenon, that is, the summer calendar (lunar calendar) means that the weather turns cold in July.

"July" refers to July in the summer calendar; "Flow" refers to moving and falling; "Fire" refers to the star name "Big Mars" (not Mars orbiting the sun), that is, the heart.

"Big Mars" is a famous red giant star, which can emit lux light. It is located in the south, and it is the highest in the evening of May every year in the summer calendar. On the evening of July in the summer calendar, the position of Mars gradually descended from the sky to the west. "Go to Qiu Lai in the summer." People call this phenomenon "July filariasis".

Therefore, the real meaning of "July fire" means that in July of the summer calendar, the weather gradually turns cold, and at dusk, you can see big Mars falling from the west.