the autumnal equinox

the autumnal equinox

Autumnal equinox is the 16th of the 24 solar terms and the fourth in autumn. Douzhiji; the sun reaches 180 ° of the Yellow longitude; it meets every year on September 22-24 of the Gregorian calendar. Equinox means equinox or semi equinox. On equinox, the sun is almost directly on the earth's equator, with the same length of day and night all over the world. After the autumnal equinox, the position of direct sunlight moves to the southern hemisphere, the northern hemisphere gets less and less solar radiation, but the ground loses more heat, and the speed of temperature reduction is obviously accelerated. By the autumnal equinox, the summer heat has disappeared, the weather has turned cool, and the summer and cool are separated. In ancient times, there were folk activities of "sacrificing the sun in spring and sacrificing the moon in autumn". The autumnal equinox used to be the traditional "festival of sacrificing the moon", and the Mid Autumn Festival evolved from the festival of sacrificing the moon on autumn Eve.

After the autumnal equinox, the direct point of the Sun continues to move from the equator to the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere, the day begins to be shorter than the night, that is, the day begins to be shorter than the night in a day; in the southern hemisphere, the opposite is true. So the autumnal equinox is also called falling equinox. At the north and south poles, on the autumnal equinox, the sun is on the horizon all day. Since then, with the continuous southward shift of the direct sunlight point, a six-month polar night began near the north pole, and the range gradually expanded and then narrowed; a six-month polar day began near the south pole, and the range gradually expanded and then narrowed.

On June 21, 2018, the State Council issued an official reply on Approving the establishment of the "Chinese farmers' harvest festival", which agreed to establish the annual autumnal equinox as the "Chinese farmers' harvest festival" from 2018. The festival activities mainly include literary and artistic performances and agricultural competitions.

Characteristics of solar terms

The meaning of solar terms

Among the 24 solar terms, there are two with the word "equinox", the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox. The equinox divides spring equally, the equinox divides autumn equally, day and night equally. In astronomical position, on the Equinox Day, the sun reaches the Yellow longitude of 0 ° and on the Autumnal Equinox Day, the sun reaches the Yellow longitude of 180 ° and the same length of day and night can be seen on both the Equinox Day and the Autumnal Equinox Day. After the autumnal equinox, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer in the northern hemisphere, and the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter in the southern hemisphere. From the winter solstice, the days in the northern hemisphere are longer and longer, but the days are longer and shorter after the spring equinox; from the summer solstice, the days are shorter and shorter, but the days are shorter and shorter after the autumn equinox.

"Autumnal equinox" has two meanings

First, the day and night are equal. On this day, the sun reaches 180 degrees of the Yellow longitude and goes straight to the earth's equator. Therefore, in most parts of the world, the 24-hour day and night of the day are evenly divided, with 12 hours each. After the autumnal equinox, the direct point of the sun begins to enter the Southern Hemisphere from the equator, the northern hemisphere begins to have shorter days and longer nights, and the days within a day begin to be shorter than the nights; near the Arctic, there will be six consecutive months of long nights and six consecutive months of starry sky.

Second, the climate has changed from hot to cool. According to the division of seasons in ancient China, which started with the beginning of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the autumnal equinox is divided equally among the 90 days of autumn.

Astronomical significance

The autumnal equinox is the same as the vernal equinox. On this day, the sun shines directly on the earth's equator, and the day and night are equal. Since then, the location of direct sunlight has moved southward, the northern hemisphere has become shorter day and longer night, and the temperature has decreased, which is of universal significance in the whole country.

On the day of the autumnal equinox (when the sun reaches 180 ° of the Yellow longitude), the sun is directly directed at the equator again. The morning and evening lines also pass through the north and south poles and coincide with the meridians of the earth. All latitude lines are equally divided into two parts, so it is said that "the spring equinox, the autumn equinox and the day and night equinox". The difference is that after the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, the direct point of the sun gradually moves northward, the solar radiation gradually increases, the weather gets warmer day by day, and the day gets longer and the night gets shorter; after the autumnal equinox, the direct point of the sun gradually moves southward, the solar radiation gradually decreases, the weather gets colder day by day, and the day gets shorter and the night gets longer. The southern hemisphere is just the opposite.

Autumnal equinox and equinox, summer solstice, winter solstice and other "two minutes and two solstices" solar terms reflect the deviation law of direct sunlight on the earth's surface. Autumnal equinox and spring equinox direct sunlight on the equator, summer solstice direct sunlight on the Tropic of cancer, winter solstice direct sunlight on the Tropic of cancer.

Equinox - 3 / 21

Summer solstice - 6 / 22

Autumnal equinox - 9 / 23

Winter solstice - 12 / 22

In the northern hemisphere, the day is longer than the night from the spring equinox, and the day is the longest on the day of the summer solstice; the day is shorter than the night from the autumn equinox, and the day is the shortest on the day of the winter solstice.

reason

: on the winter solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of cancer, and the day in the northern hemisphere is the shortest. Then the sun's direct point begins to move northward, and the day in the northern hemisphere becomes longer and longer. After the vernal equinox, the direct point of the sun moves to the northern hemisphere, where the day is longer than the night. On the summer solstice, the sun is directly on the Tropic of cancer, and the day is the longest in the northern hemisphere. Then the sun's direct point begins to move southward, and the days are getting shorter and shorter in the northern hemisphere. After the autumnal equinox, the direct point of the sun moves to the southern hemisphere, and the day is shorter than the night in the northern hemisphere.

Solar term custom

1. Autumn Festival to the moon

The autumnal equinox used to be a traditional festival of offering sacrifices to the moon. In ancient times, there were folk activities of "sacrificing the sun in spring and sacrificing the moon in autumn". The autumnal equinox used to be a traditional festival of offering sacrifices to the moon. Sacrificing the moon is a very old custom in China. In fact, it is a kind of worship activity of the ancients to the "moon god" in some places of ancient China. The Mid Autumn Festival was popular in the Han Dynasty, which was a period of economic and cultural exchanges between the north and the south of China. The word "Mid Autumn Festival" is recorded in Zhouli between the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. From Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, the Mid Autumn Festival was not very popular in northern China, but it was popular after Tang Dynasty in Central China.

Sacrificing the moon is a very old custom in China. In fact, it is a kind of worship activity of the ancients to the "moon god". In ancient times, there was the custom of "autumn evening and evening moon". Xiyue is the worship of the moon god. Set up a large incense table, put on the moon cake, watermelon, apple, jujube, plum, grape and other offerings. Under the moon, place the "God of the moon" tablet in the direction of the moon. The red candle is burning high. The whole family worships the moon in turn and prays for blessing. In ancient times, in some areas of the south, people had the custom of worshiping the God of the moon on the night of the Mid Autumn Festival. According to textual research, at first, the festival of offering sacrifices to the moon was set on the day of the autumnal equinox. However, since the day in August of the lunar calendar is different every year, there may not always be a full moon, so the festival of offering sacrifices to the moon was later adjusted from the autumnal equinox to the 15th day of August of the lunar calendar.

The custom of appreciating the moon comes from offering sacrifices to the moon, and the serious sacrifice becomes the light entertainment. It is said that the moon is the closest to the earth on this night, and the moon is the largest, roundest and brightest, so from ancient times to the present, there has been the custom of drinking and enjoying the moon. The daughter-in-law who returns to her mother's home must return to her husband's home every day to express the meaning of completeness and auspiciousness. Because Chang'e in the Moon Palace is a woman, there is a tradition that "when the moon is offered, most men do not worship the moon", that is, as the saying goes, "men do not worship the moon.".

2. Eat autumn vegetables

The autumnal equinox is the official beginning of autumn. In Lingnan area, the surname Xie of Cangcheng town in Kaiping, which used to be in Siyi (now with Heshan as Wuyi), has a non festival custom, which is called "eating autumn vegetables on the autumnal equinox". "Autumn vegetable" is a kind of wild amaranth, which is called "autumn green Artemisia". On the Autumnal Equinox Day, the whole village goes to pick autumn vegetables. When searching in the field, it is usually light green, thin trees, about the length of palm. The autumn vegetables collected are usually boiled with fish fillets at home, which is called autumn soup. There is a doggerel: "autumn soup irrigation viscera, wash the liver and intestines. The whole family, young and old, is safe and healthy. " Since the autumn of the year, what people pray for is the peace of their homes and strong bodies.

Amaranth contains a variety of nutrients. Rich in carotene and vitamin C, it is helpful to enhance human immune function and anti-cancer effect. Fried wild amaranth has the effects of clearing heat and detoxification, diuresis, pain relief and eyesight. Eating it can enhance the ability of disease resistance, disease prevention, health and beauty. It is suitable for dysentery, eye redness, bird blindness, mastitis, hemorrhoids and other diseases.

In fact, the so-called "autumn soup" in Lingnan customs is also consistent with the autumn tonic advocated by traditional Chinese medicine. It's just that Lingnan customs are more typical, with a bit of native flavor, which has not risen to the height of traditional Chinese medicine theory.

3. Send autumn cattle

Then the autumn equinox arrived, and at that time there was a picture of sending autumn cattle from house to house. The picture is printed on the red or yellow paper with the lunar solar terms of the whole year, and also with the pattern of farmers' farming, which is called "the picture of autumn cattle". The people who send pictures are all good folk singers. They mainly say that autumn ploughing and auspiciousness are not against the farming season. Every time they go to a family, they are even more improvised. They say what they see, until they give money to the owner. Although words come out casually, every sentence has its own rhyme. It is commonly known as "Shuo Qiu", and the people who say it are called "Qiuguan".

4. Sticky sparrow mouth

On the autumnal equinox, every farmer has a holiday according to the custom. Every family has to eat dumplings. Moreover, they have to cook more than ten or twenty or thirty dumplings that don't need to be wrapped in the heart. They use bamboo forks to place them on the side of the field outside, which is called sticky sparrow mouth, so as not to damage the crops.

It's just a good imagination and wish of farmers to stick the sparrow's mouth with Tangyuan, but it also shows a truth, that is, tangyuan is sticky, not easy to digest, and should not be eaten more. Glutinous rice is usually used as the main raw material and some other ingredients. Glutinous rice is warm in nature and sweet in taste. The ingredients are often high in sugar and heat. A small amount of glutinous rice in the cold spring season helps to supplement the body's heat energy, tonify deficiency and regulate blood circulation, raise Yang and strengthen the spleen. However, glutinous rice is sticky and difficult to digest, and eating too much can easily lead to food stagnation. With onion, garlic and other spicy food, can balance the tardy effect of tangyuan.

5. Fly a kite

It's also a good time for children to fly kites during the autumnal equinox. Especially on the autumnal equinox. Even adults are involved. There are three types of kites: Wang Zi kite, silver carp kite, MI moth kite, Lei Gong insect kite,

Chinese PinYin : Qiu Fen