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How did the two dragons look up in February?
There was such a mystery at this year’s Chinese Lantern Riddle Conference. The mystery was: China held its head high (playing traditional Chinese folk festivals), and the answer really stumped most people.
What is the answer? The answer is that the dragon raises its head, and This dragon raising its head is also our traditional festival, but for some reason, this festival is not as popular as other festivals, so gradually fewer people know about it. Next, I will introduce to you the origin of this festival.
According to records, the origin of the dragon’s rise on the second day of the second month is related to ancient astronomy’s understanding of the movement of stars and agricultural solar terms. In the north, the second day of the second lunar month is also called the Dragon Heading Day, also known as the Spring Dragon Festival. In the south, it is called the Outing Festival, and it was called the Vegetable Picking Festival in ancient times. Since about the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese have had the custom of “the second day of the second month”.
On the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, there is a folk saying in our country that “on the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head”, which means that when spring comes, everything recovers, and the stinging dragon begins to move, indicating that the agricultural activities of the year are about to start.
According to legend, when Wu Zetian became emperor, the Jade Emperor ordered that no rain befall the world for three years. However, Yulong, who was in charge of Tianhe, couldn’t bear the people to suffer and starve, and secretly rained a heavy rain. After the Jade Emperor found out, he knocked Yulong, who was in charge of Tianhe, down from the Heavenly Palace and pressed him under a mountain. A monument was also erected at the foot of the mountain, on which it was written: “Dragon King’s rainfall violates the heaven’s rules and should be punished by the human world.”
If you want to climb Lingxiao Pavilion again, unless the golden beans are blooming. In order to save the Dragon King, people searched everywhere for golden beans in bloom. On the second day of the second month of the second month of the second year, people were dipping the golden corn seeds and suddenly remembered that the corn is like golden beans. So every household popped popcorn and set up a table in the courtyard to burn incense, offering “blooming golden beans” for the Dragon King and the Jade Emperor to see.
Knowing that it was the people who were saving it, the Dragon King shouted loudly to the Jade Emperor: “The golden beans are blooming, let me out!” The Jade Emperor saw that the golden beans were blooming in the courtyards of every household in the world, so he had to send an edict that the Dragon King returned to the heavenly court, Continue to bring rain to the world. Since then, folks have formed a habit. Every February 2nd, people will pop corn and stir-fry beans.
Adults and children still recite: “On the second day of the second month, the dragon rises, the big warehouse is full, and the small warehouse is flowing.” Stock up” or “fill up”.
Chinese folk believe that the dragon is an auspicious thing, in charge of clouds and rain, and the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is the day when the dragon wants to ascend to the sky. In terms of solar terms, at the beginning of the second month of the lunar calendar, it is between “rain”, “shocks” and “spring equinox”, and many parts of our country have begun to enter the rainy season. This is the law of nature, but the ancients believed that it was due to the “dragon”.
Moreover, the dragon has a very high status in the hearts of the Chinese people. It is not only an auspicious thing, but also the master of the weather and rain. Therefore, there is a saying that “on the second day of February, the dragon raises its head”.
In fact, the so-called “dragon head up” refers to the fact that after hibernation, all insects begin to wake up. There is a folk saying that “on the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head, and the scorpion and centipede show its head”.
There are also ancient astronomical explanations for “the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head”, but it is often ignored by people. In ancient China, twenty-eight constellations were used to represent the position of the sun, moon and stars in the sky and to judge the seasons. The seven constellations Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji in the twenty-eight constellations form a complete dragon-shaped constellation, among which the spica resembles the horns of the dragon.
After the spring breeze in February, the “Dragon Horn (that is, Spica and Spica)” appears from the eastern horizon at dusk. At this time, the entire body of Canglong is still hidden below the horizon, but Spica is just beginning to show. Hence the name “Dragon Heads Up”.
At the same time that the “dragon looks up” in the sky, spring is slowly coming to the world. At this time, the earth turns green, and spring ploughing begins one after another from south to north. Therefore, February 2 is also known as “Spring Ploughing Festival”, “Farming Festival” and “Spring Dragon Festival”, which is a traditional Han folk festival.
As an auspicious and festive day, in order to obtain auspiciousness, the folk food on February 2 is mostly named after “dragon”. Longan”, eating noodles is called “Fulongxu”, and steamed cakes are also made of dragon scales on the surface, called “dragon scale cakes”. These customs entrust people’s good wishes to pray for the blessing of the dragon, to bless the weather and the harvest.
So why not “February 1” or “February 3”?
This has something to do with our fondness for even numbers in folklore. In ancient China, especially in the Qin and Han Dynasties and before, all “heavy days” such as January 1, February 2, and March 3 were mostly considered to be days when heaven and earth communicated, and heaven and man communicated. Therefore, on such days, people need to do more prayers, sacrifices or commemorative activities in order to obtain happiness, well-being and auspiciousness.
We are always in pursuit of fashion and are excited about Christmas, Halloween, or April Fool’s Day abroad. In fact, we also have many traditional festivals. Each of them represents a blessing to life from the ancients, a kind of Faith, we may not be able to celebrate every festival with great fanfare like in the past, but they can’t be forgotten by us, can they?
