What is the custom of raising the dragon's head on February 2?

February 2nd introduces February 2nd, a traditional festival of Han nationality. Popular in most parts of the country, Miao, Zhuang, Manchu, Dong, Li, She, Buyi, Hezhe, Ewenki and other ethnic minorities also celebrate this festival. There are many customs and activities in this festival, which are also called Flower Festival, Youth Walking Festival, Lai Picking Festival, Spring Dragon Festival, Qinglong Festival and Dragon Head-up Day. Because the time is on the second day of the second lunar month, it is called. This custom was recorded in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi's poem "February 2" said: "On February 2, the new rain is dark, and the grass-toothed vegetables are born for a while. The light shirt is ok, Ma Qing is young, and the cross is full of words. " At that time and later, people asked each other about their heritage with knives and rulers, and 100 grains, melon seeds and fruits were welcomed to the rich, and there were activities such as picking vegetables, hiking and welcoming the rich. Yuan Fei wrote A Year's Life in China: "On February 2nd, people from Renjun County visited and enjoyed the scattered suburbs. ..... ",and wang hao," widely fragrant? 6? 1 introduction to Shi Tianpu: "Luoyang custom takes February as the Flower Lang Festival, which is also a vegetable picking festival for scholars to play. "After the Ming Dynasty, on February 2nd, there were many customs about dragons looking up, such as scattering ashes to recruit dragons, helping dragons, smoking insects to avoid scorpions, shaving faucets and avoiding acupuncture longan, so it was called Dragon Looking Up Day. Qing Xianfeng's "Wuding County Records": ... February 2 is the Spring Dragon Festival, and kitchen ashes are used to surround the house like dragons and snakes, which is called lucky dragons, making money into treasures. "In addition, there are activities to save the customs, such as rushing to work, trial farming, frying scorpion beans, wearing grass, offering sacrifices to the dragon king, respecting the land, respecting food, marrying a woman to live in the spring, and writing by the boy. Buyi people will hold a three-day festival on February 2, mainly to worship the land god. On the day of the festival, every family kills chickens to worship their ancestors and eats two-color (black and white) glutinous rice to pray for the peace of the whole village. There are many activities about dragons on this day, so it is called Dragon Head-Up Day. The custom of holding the dragon head on February 2nd was first seen in Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng in Ming Dynasty. 6? Volume 1 Erchunchang: "On February 2, the dragon looked up, put the leftover cakes for New Year's Day sacrifice, and smoked the kang. It is said that bugs are attracted and can't get out. "The Qing dynasty still followed its customs. Fu Cha Dunchong's Chronicle of Yanjing: "On February 2nd, the ancient Chinese Peace Festival was also celebrated. Let people look up. During the eclipse, those who eat cakes are called Longlin cakes, and those who eat noodles are called Longxu Noodles. Don't sew in the boudoir, lest you hurt the dragon's eyes. "Dragon is a manifestation of ancient culture in China, an auspicious thing in the world, and the master of wind and rain. As the saying goes, "the dragon doesn't look up, it doesn't rain", and the dragon looks up to make rain, and heaven and earth make love clouds to make rain, which is the condition for all things to have children. In addition, in ancient times, it was believed that the dragon was the essence of scale insects, and all kinds of insects were long. When the dragon came out, all kinds of insects hid. At the beginning of February, it is the time when spring returns to the earth and farming begins, and it is also the time when hundreds of insects are stinging and ready to move. Therefore, there are folk actions to help the dragon head, recruit the dragon head and shave the dragon head, and there are customs to eat dragon skin, dragon beard, dragon son and dragon forest cake, as well as taboos such as stopping needles and avoiding grinding. The origin of February 2, the folk proverb says, "February 2, the dragon looks up." "The second day of the second lunar month is one of the twenty-four solar terms. It is said that the hibernating dragon was awakened by the rumbling spring thunder on this day and stood up. Therefore, the ancients called the second day of the second lunar month the Spring Festival, also known as the Dragon Head Festival or the Qinglong Festival. Therefore, on this day, people go to the river to worship the dragon god. " "China Folk Customs: Shouchunsui" says: "On the second day of February, incense is burned to sacrifice the dragon god. "As we all know, the dragon is a totem that the Chinese nation has believed in since ancient times. Therefore, we proudly declare that the descendants of the Chinese people are descendants of the dragon. For thousands of years, people have always regarded dragons as mysterious mascots. " February 2nd is the day when dragons raise their heads, so it naturally becomes an important folk festival, and many customs are related to dragons. In fact, the saying "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up" is related to ancient astronomy. In ancient China, twenty-eight nights were used to indicate the positions of the sun, moon and stars in the sky and to judge the seasons. In the twenty-eight lodgings, the horn, sound, fork, room, heart, tail and dustpan form a complete dragon constellation, and the horn is like the horn of the dragon. After the spring breeze in February, the dragon horn star appeared from the eastern horizon at dusk, so it was called "the dragon looked up". The Spring Festival on February 2nd has a long history. Leave many customs behind. In "Miscellaneous Notes of Ten Thousand Departments" written by Shen Bang in Ming Dynasty, it said: "February attracts dragons and smokes hundreds of insects. ..... The villagers use grey cloth to enter the kitchen from the outside and turn around the water tank, which is called "bringing the dragon back". Spread pancakes with noodles. Smoked bed kang prevents all insects from surviving. "The History of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty says:" On the second day of the second day ... every household uses millet noodles and jujube cakes to fry them, or spreads them into pancakes with fine noodles, which is called smoked insects. " Guo Chong, Fu Cha of A Qing Dynasty, also said in The First Year of Yan: "On February 2nd, ... people today called on the dragon to look up. During the eclipse, the person who eats bread is called Long Lin, and the person who eats noodles is called Longxu Noodles. Don't sew in the boudoir, lest you hurt the dragon's eyes. "One of them is that this custom has been passed down to this day. In the mid-1980s, northern Henan still maintained the custom of eating millet. On the morning of February 2, every household will fry millet rice cakes, which the masses call rice cakes. Another ballad goes like this: "February 2nd, stir-fry rice cakes, slow down, don't burn the beard of the old man. "Eat' old dragon cloth eggs' at noon. That is, corn molts, commonly known as corn and noodles. In fact, people pay attention to the various forms of "Dragon Rise" commemoration, and the fundamental reason is related to agricultural production. As this folk song says: "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up, the big warehouse was full, and the small warehouse flowed. "Because February is the season for planting crops. In the era of underdeveloped science, people have placed a strong desire to pray for the dragon's blessing, good weather and abundant crops through various commemorative activities. There is also a jingle among the people: "On February 2, the dragon looked up and the emperor plowed the fields and drove the cattle; "Gong Zheng queen to send meals, the current minister threw away the melon seeds. Spring ploughing Xia Geng leads the world, and the grain harvest is peaceful and autumn. " Lao Zi of the imperial court led Manchu ministers to participate in spring ploughing production, which shows the importance of spring ploughing in cooperation with farming season. In the north, February 2 is also called Dragon Head-Up Day, also known as Spring Festival. It was called the picnic festival in the south and the vegetable picking festival in ancient times. China people have had the custom of "February 2nd" since the Tang Dynasty. According to records, the origin of this sentence is related to the understanding of star movement in ancient astronomy and agricultural solar terms. Why did the dragon look up on February 2? Because February of the lunar calendar has entered the mid-spring season, at this time, the sun is in full swing, the earth is recovering, and plants are sprouting. It is very necessary for farmers to plow and sow in spring, so it is necessary to keep the soil moist and water-retaining. If it rains at this time, it is really precious, so there is a saying that "spring rain is as expensive as oil". In terms of solar terms, early February is between "rain", "fright" and "vernal equinox". This is a time when it needs to rain, and it may rain. How people hope to achieve the purpose of rainfall by praying for dragons. Why does the dragon "look up"? Because before and after the shock pad in early February, all kinds of animals that had been dormant for a winter recovered their vitality, so it's time to do something. The dragon looks up, indicating that the dragon is also moving and has to perform the duty of rainfall. However, this statement is the usual explanation of "the dragon rises on February 2", which is easy to understand. However, "the dragon looks up" has an ancient astronomical explanation and is often ignored. The ancients thought that the earth was motionless and the sun was moving. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period or even earlier, people regarded the annual orbit of the sun between stars as a circle, which is the so-called ecliptic. Then divide the circle into 28 equal parts with some stars to form 28 intervals, which are called 28 places. "Accommodation" means living. If you observe the movement of the moon, you basically stay for one night every day, 28 nights in turn, about one month, so it is called "lodging". Divide these 28 huts in four directions: southeast, northwest and northwest, and there will be 7 huts in each direction. For these 28 nights, they are all named. The seven hotels in the East are called Jiao, Kang, Bian, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji, which are combined into one group and called the Oriental Black Dragon. Among them, the horn is the symbol of the dragon's head, the kang is the dragon's neck, the night is the dragon's chest, the room is the dragon's stomach, the heart is the dragon's heart, and the tail and jump are the dragon's tail. In winter, these seven nights in the Black Dragon are hidden under the horizon and can't be seen after dusk. In early February, when dusk came, hornbills appeared from the eastern horizon. At this point, the whole body of the black dragon is still hidden below the horizon, and only a corner is exposed, so the black dragon looks up. Explaining the word "dragon", Shuo Wen Jie Zi said: "Dragon is the length of scale worm. It can be quiet and clear, detailed and huge, short and long. The vernal equinox ascends to the sky and the autumnal equinox dives deeply. " They all refer to the subtle changes of black dragon's seven nights, but there are not really beasts and dragons changing. "Ascending to the sky at the vernal equinox" means that at the vernal equinox, corner beams begin to appear in the sky, and the oriental black dragon appears, that is, the dragon looks up. [Edit this paragraph] On February 2nd, the worship of dragons in ancient China continued to develop, and it became more and more clear that dragons were regarded as animal gods to manage rainwater. Therefore, in the fifth year of Zuo Zhuan, Huan Gong said that "the dragon is now", which means that the dragon will appear after being frightened, and then hold a sacrifice to pray for rain. Shan Hai Jing, a geographical myth work during the Warring States Period, also said that Ying Long lived in the south, "so it was rainy in the south", while Candle dragon "didn't eat or sleep, and the wind and rain were a disaster", which often attracted wind and rain. Because imaginary dragons can fly in clouds and fog, superstitious dragons can bring good luck to people, and when they arrive on earth, they can become emperors, so the emperor is called the real dragon emperor. The earliest record of holding a rain-seeking activity directly with the help of the image of a dragon can be found in Dong Zhongshu's Spring and Autumn Stories in the Western Han Dynasty. The book mentions dancing dragons for rain. The stone reliefs of the Han Dynasty are also engraved with the dance scene of "playing with dragons". These can be regarded as the origin of playing dragon lanterns in later generations. People in the Tang Dynasty have regarded the second day of February as a special day, saying that it is a day to welcome wealth, and eating "fruit to welcome wealth" on this day means eating some snacks. The court of the Song Dynasty also had special activities on this day. When the Song people carefully recorded the Southern Song Dynasty in Old Wulin, there was a "picking vegetables" royal banquet in the palace on the second day of February. At the banquet, fresh vegetables such as lettuce are planted in some small hooves (measuring instruments with small mouths and big bottoms), and the names are written on silk and placed under the hooves for everyone to guess. According to the result of the guess, there are rewards and punishments. This activity is both an early adopter and an entertainment, so at that time, "the palace is also more effective." However, these "February 2" activities in the Tang and Song Dynasties have nothing to do with "Dragon Rising". February 2 of the Yuan Dynasty was clearly "the dragon looked up". Analysis of Tianjin Record mentioned that "February 2nd is the day when the dragon rises" when describing the customs of metropolis in Yuan Dynasty. On this day, people eat noodles, which is called "Longxu Noodles". There are pancakes called "Longlin"; If it includes jiaozi, it is called "dragon tooth". In short, it should be named after the dragon body. On February 2 nd, the legendary proverb "On February 2 nd, the dragon looked up" said that there was no rain in Guanzhong area for a long time in ancient times, and the Jade Emperor ordered the East China Sea Dragon to sow rain. Xiaolong is playful and dives into the river and never comes out again. A young man went to the cliff to collect "dragon water" to muddy the river. Xiaolong emerged from the river to compete with the young man. Xiaolong was defeated and had to sow rain. In fact, the so-called "dragon heads up" means that after hibernation, all insects begin to wake up. So as the saying goes, "On February 2nd, dragons looked up and scorpions and centipedes appeared." There is also a saying "February 2nd" called Spring Dragon Festival. Xu Shen's "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" records: "The dragon, the length in the scale, can be quiet and bright, thin and huge, long and short, reaching the sky in the vernal equinox and diving in the autumn equinox." This may be the earliest record of the custom of the Spring Festival. According to legend, when Wu Zetian was emperor, the Jade Emperor ordered that it should not rain on the ground for three years. However, Yulong, who is in charge of Tianhe, couldn't bear the people to suffer from disaster and starvation, and a heavy rain came secretly. When the Jade Emperor learned about it, he buried the Jade Dragon in charge of Tianhe under a mountain. At the foot of the mountain, a monument stands, which reads: The rain of the Dragon King violated heaven and should be punished by the world for generations. If you want to go back to Lingxiao Pavilion, unless the golden beans bloom. In order to save the Dragon King, people searched everywhere for golden beans in full bloom. On the second day of February of the following year, people were drying golden corn seeds, and it suddenly occurred to them that this kind of corn was like golden beans, which had blossomed after being fried. Isn't it the golden bean that blooms? So every household popped popcorn, put on record and burned incense in the yard, offering "flowering golden beans" to the Dragon King and the Jade Emperor. Knowing that the people were saving it, the Dragon King shouted to the Jade Emperor, "Golden beans are blooming, let me out!" As soon as the Jade Emperor saw that the golden beans in the yard of every household in the world were in full bloom, he would send a message to the Dragon King, asking him to return to heaven and continue to give sex to the world. Since then, people have formed a habit. On February 2nd every year, people pop popcorn and some fried beans. Adults and children still read: "On February 2, the dragon looked up, the big warehouse was full, and the small warehouse flowed." In some places, kitchen waste ash is scattered in the yard to form a big circle, and whole grains are put in the middle, which is called "hoarding" or "filling the warehouse". It means to wish the grain a bumper harvest and a full warehouse. During festivals, the names of foods in various places are generally labeled as "dragons". Eating jiaozi is called eating "dragon ears"; Eating spring cakes is called eating "Longlin"; Eating noodles is called eating "dragon beard meat"; Eating rice is called eating "dragon son"; Eating wonton is called eating "longan"