What are the customs in Grain Rain?

The custom of solar terms in Grain Rain

Grain Rain is the last solar term in spring, and there are many folk customs related to Grain Rain.

"Go to Grain Rain": There was a custom of "going to Grain Rain" in ancient times. On this day, young women in Grain Rain go to visit relatives in the village, or go for a walk in the outdoor fields.

Grain Rain tea picking: It is said that drinking tea in Grain Rain on this day will clear fire, ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight. Therefore, the solar terms in Grain Rain, regardless of the weather, are the customs of southern tea areas. People will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

Peony flower viewing: Grain Rain is the time when peony blooms, so peony flower is also called Grain Rain flower and Fugui flower. "Three generations of Grain Rain visited peony", and the custom of enjoying peony in rainy season has been followed for thousands of years. In ancient customs, where there are flowers, there are literati who come to visit, and at night, there are curtains and lanterns, which are called "Flower Festival". 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. " Today, there are more peony flowers in Heze, Shandong, Luoyang, Henan and Pengzhou, Sichuan than in Grain Rain, for people to play and get together.

Eating Toona sinensis: Before and after Grain Rain, Toona sinensis trees germinated. At this time, Toona sinensis is mellow and refreshing, with high nutritional value. It is said that Toona sinensis is tender as silk before the rain. Toona sinensis has the functions of improving immunity, invigorating stomach, regulating qi, relieving diarrhea, moistening skin, resisting bacteria, diminishing inflammation and killing insects, so it is also the custom of eating Toona sinensis in northern Grain Rain. Tofu mixed with tofu, scrambled eggs with Toona sinensis, or even boiled with boiling water and seasoned with salt are also delicious.

Grain Rain Sacrifices to the Sea: Grain Rain season is just when the sea is warm in spring, and it is a good day for hundreds of fish to go to the shallow sea. As the saying goes, "Ride Grain Rain to surf the Internet". In order to go to sea safely and return home with a full load, fishermen in Grain Rain will hold a sea sacrifice on this day to pray for Poseidon's blessing. Therefore, the Grain Rain Festival is also called the "strong festival" for fishermen to go fishing. This custom is still popular in Rongcheng, Jiaodong.

Banning Five Poisons: Since Grain Rain, the temperature has risen, and diseases and insect pests have entered a high breeding period. In order to reduce the damage of pests and diseases to crops and people, farmers put up a "scorpion-free curse" when they entered the fields, killing pests and praying for good luck. This custom is very popular in Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi.

The "Forbidden Scorpion Curse", also known as Grain Rain Sticker, belongs to a kind of folk painting, which is engraved with the image of a hen catching scorpions, a heavenly teacher removing five poisons or a magical spell. Some of them are accompanied by words such as "The old gentleman in Grain Rain is like the law, and the snake and scorpion will never be born in mid-March" and "In mid-March in Grain Rain, the old gentleman came to earth, and his hand was late, and he cut the scorpion essence alone", which pinned people's hopes of killing pests.

During the period of Grain Rain, the Miao people in Kaili area in southeastern Guizhou will hold a "Mountaineering Festival". Mountaineering Festival, called "Jibo" in Miao language, is an annual unique gathering for mate selection and love among young Miao men and women. Whenever the mountaineering season comes, young men and women take the opportunity of meeting in the market, or at the request of the man or the invitation of the woman, decide to hold mountaineering activities somewhere in the woman's stockade one day. On the Mountain Climbing Festival, thousands of people gathered on the hillside. On the hillside, groups of young men and women are singing, playing sheng and drumming. They use this as a medium to find friends and companions and pursue bosom friends, which is full of festive atmosphere. The girls of the host prepared rich fish and glutinous rice, took them up the mountain, entertained young students and sang songs to each other. Among them, young men and women look for each other and form a husband and wife in the future to form a happy family. Now, many recreational and sports activities have been added to the Miao Mountaineering Festival, such as bullfighting, bird shooting, duet, basketball and running.

Tea drinking custom

Grain Rain tea, that is, tea before rain, is spring tea picked in Grain Rain season, also called spring catechu. The moderate temperature and abundant rainfall in spring, coupled with the recuperation of tea trees in winter for half a year, make the buds and leaves of spring shoots plump, green in color, soft in leaves, rich in vitamins and amino acids, and make spring tea taste fresh and fragrant. Grain Rain tea has a bud and a leaf or a bud and two leaves. Tea leaves with buds are soaked in water like ancient guns with labels, called flag guns; A bud and two tender leaves are like sparrow's tongue, called sparrow's tongue; With Qingming tea, it is a good product in a year. Generally, the price of tea before rain is relatively economical, the shape in water is good, and the taste is not inferior to that of tea before Ming Dynasty. Most people who drink tea usually prefer Grain Rain tea. Grain Rain [5] The Chinese Tea Society and other relevant departments proposed that the annual lunar calendar "Grain Rain" should be regarded as the "National Tea Day" to hold various tea-related activities. Tea farmers said that the real Grain Rain tea is dry tea made of new tea picked in Grain Rain that day, and it is real Grain Rain tea, and it should be picked in the morning. People also say that real Grain Rain tea can bring back the dead. Many people have heard of it, but it's just a legend. Think about the weight of this real grain rain tea in people's hearts. Tea farmers who pick and prepare on that day are all reserved for themselves to drink or entertain guests. When they make tea for you, they will tell the guests quite ostentatiously that this is the tea made by Grain Rain that day. The implication is that only distinguished guests will serve you.

Local custom

April 20th every year is the Fisherman's Day in Rongcheng City, Shandong Province. This festival originated from Grain Rain Festival. Fishermen in the northern coastal areas of China have celebrated Grain Rain Festival for more than 2,000 years, and it was renamed Fisherman's Day in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty (182 1). On this day in Grain Rain, fishermen in Shandong coastal areas prayed for the blessing of Poseidon, smooth sailing and a bumper harvest of fish and shrimp. Therefore, today's wealthy Rongcheng fishermen held a grand "sea festival" in the Grain Rain, offering Grain Rain custom [7] wine to Poseidon, and then set sail for fishing.

In the old days, a Japanese Grain Rain painting, Zhang Tianshi, was posted on the door in Linfen, Shanxi, named "Forbidden Scorpion". Shaanxi Fengxiang Scorpion Curse is woodcut, which shows that there is a great demand. It was printed with the words: "In Grain Rain, in mid-March, scorpions showed off their bravado. God chicken bites, poisonous insects turn into water ... "In the center of the picture, the rooster holds the insect with a big scorpion under his paw. This painting is printed with a spell. The saying that the rooster cures the scorpion has been circulating among the people for a long time. Back to the fifty-fifth ghost story novel of Journey to the West, the Monkey King Pig Bajie is no match for Scorpion Essence, and Guanyin knows that he can't get close to him. So we had to ask the Monkey King to invite Pleiadian officials, and it succeeded. Pleiadian officials were originally a rooster with two crowns. It is described in the book that the Pleiadian star official showed his prototype-the rooster, and the rooster called out to the scorpion essence, and the scorpion essence immediately showed its prototype, which was a scorpion the size of a pipa. The cock crowed again, and the scorpion died delicate on the hillside. Scorpions are also forbidden in Shandong folk customs. Xiajin county annals in the sixth year of Qing Qianlong: "Grain Rain, cinnabar forbids scorpions." The folk custom of "banning scorpions" reflects people's feelings of expelling pests and longing for harvest and peace.

There was a custom of "going to Grain Rain" in ancient times. On this day, young women in Grain Rain visited relatives in the village, and some people came back after walking in the wild.

According to the custom of picking tea in southern Grain Rain, it is said that drinking tea on this day in Grain Rain will clear fire and ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight. Therefore, no matter what the weather is in Grain Rain, people will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

Toona sinensis is eaten in northern Grain Rain, and it is the season for Toona sinensis to go on the market around Grain Rain. At this time, Toona sinensis is mellow and refreshing, with high nutritional value. It is said that Toona sinensis is tender as silk before the rain. Toona sinensis has the functions of improving immunity, invigorating stomach, regulating qi, relieving diarrhea, moistening skin, resisting bacteria, diminishing inflammation and killing insects. [6]

Grain Rain's custom of offering sacrifices to Cang Xie, Wen Zu, and Grain Rain's offering sacrifices to Cang Xie, Baishui County, Shaanxi Province, is a folk tradition that has spread for thousands of years since the Han Dynasty.