The calendars used in history are solar calendar, lunar calendar and combined calendar of yin and yang, and the "blind year" is the result of some "alignment" arrangement between yin and yang.
Gregorian calendar, perhaps the earliest calendar used by our ancestors, is based on the laws of the sun's movement. The ancients thought that the sun revolves around the earth, and one revolution is a year-today we know that it is the cycle of the earth revolving around the sun, but the ancients' understanding is the opposite. According to scholars' research, there was a solar calendar in the Warring States period, with ten months a year in the name of heavenly stems and 36 days a month divided into 30 days in the name of earthly branches. So, ten months and 360 days, plus five to six days of "death", a year is 365 days or 366 days. In this case, the arrangement of solar terms first includes summer solstice and winter solstice, followed by vernal equinox and autumn equinox. Seasonal tropical years are divided into spring and autumn, four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and even twenty-four solar terms. There are traces of this calendar in the ancient literature of Guanzi, and the torch festival of Yi people and southwest ethnic minorities is related to it. Up to now, there is still a folk saying in Lingnan that "the Chinese New Year is celebrated in winter", which is the remnant of the folk memory of this calendar. It is true that the ancients regarded the winter solstice of "one yang innovation" as New Year's Day. There will be no "double spring" and "blind year" in the tropic year of the solar calendar.
The lunar calendar is based on the change of the moon's profit and loss. The period of a lunar month is twenty-nine or thirty days, and the length of a year is only an integer multiple of the month, which has nothing to do with the tropic year. The month has nothing to do with the four seasons. Greek calendar and hijri calendar belong to this kind of calendar. There can be no "double spring" and "blind year" in a year.
The yin-yang calendar is formulated in combination with the sun-moon cycle. A year is divided into 24 solar terms according to the movement of the sun and several months according to the movement of the moon. There are only 354 or 355 days in twelve months. Compared with the two, the difference is about eleven days. In order to coordinate the two, the ancients adopted the method of "standing leap", and one year in a few years is 13 months. Now we can see the record of "13th month" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, which is the proof of leap. It was reported by scholars in the last century that the Yao nationality in the south still retained the name "March". The current "19 seven jumps" system originated quite early. The history of our country, from the year of Spring and Autumn, can be checked by calendar days, which is enough to prove it.
However, leap months do not necessarily lead to beginning of spring twice a year or no beginning of spring. Here comes the question of "alignment", which month is the first month. According to historical records, this "alignment" is complicated:
The Xia Dynasty took silver moon as the first month, which was called the Silver Sword.
In Shang dynasty, ugly was built in December as the first month;
In the Zhou Dynasty, November was the first month of Jianzi.
October is the first month of Qin dynasty, and Hai is the construction.
When the Han Dynasty was established, the early Qin Dynasty thought that water was virtuous and built Hai. Later, when I arrived at Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, I changed it to the calculation of sunset in the summer calendar, with silver moon as the first month.
Different "alignments" will have different starting points for the New Year. For example, in Silver Sword, the starting point of silver moon is New Year's Day. This method, which has been continuously improved since Hanwu, remained unchanged in 2000.
Among all kinds of "corrections", 10 month,1month or even1February can't be the first month of a year. The above-mentioned "double spring" or "blind year" will only occur in the first month of a year, that is, Yin Jian. T
In ancient times, agriculture was the foundation, and beginning of spring was the beginning of farming, which was also an important festival. The emperor and local officials held a ceremony to persuade farmers, and the folk custom of "jumping spring cattle" still exists. The weather on this day is related to the prosperity of the year. Henan folk songs say, "beginning of spring is clear and warm, and farmers' bellies swell;" "When the wind is dark, the grain is not disturbing." He also said, "Everything is fine on a sunny day, but everything is urgent on a cloudy day. "In the spring, there are still taboos in many places, which shows that we attach importance to them. Imagine that such an important day of the year is gone. Isn't that disturbing?
The ancients associated "beginning of spring" with fertility more directly. Spring is the season of breeding. If spring does not exist, reproduction will not flourish. However, this taboo is more likely to originate from Lingnan: Qu Dajun's Guangdong New Language records: "In Guangzhou, eggs are called spring, fish spring, shrimp spring, goose spring, chicken spring and duck spring." The "egg" in Lingnan is called "spring". Northerners call it "chicken" and Lingnan people call it "chicken spring". "Egg", "Spring" and "Zi" are synonyms here, and "Egg" has always been a symbol of reproduction. "No spring" means "no children", which is the biggest taboo of marriage. In the traditional agricultural society, the population often determines the survival of the clan, so population proliferation has the highest value. Traditionally, weddings are full of reproductive symbols, such as peanuts, red dates, lotus seeds, ginger, taro, olive seeds and jiaozi. They are all displayed on Huayuan News Online to pray for everyone to get lost. The most taboo is to get married and not have children. A "blind year" without "spring" is naturally considered unlucky. On the other hand, it is logical to say that "marriage is booming". However, this is indeed a by-law.
"Blind Year" is unlucky, but is double spring auspicious? There is a saying in Shandong and Hebei that "beans are as expensive as gold in the second spring", and there is a saying in Hubei, Henan and Lingnan that "ten cowsheds are empty in one winter in the second spring". "Double spring" is good for reproduction, but why not for growing beans and raising cattle? The reason here doesn't make sense either.
As for the "blind year", ordinary people also have a way to deal with it: this is an ancient custom in Wengyuan, northern Guangdong, that is, when a "blind year" woman gets married, she must take a bag of boiled eggs and scatter them in the crowd when she gets off the sedan chair. Everyone cheered, "The bride is born with spring!" So, everything goes well and everyone is happy!
From this perspective, the "blind year" is only a universal result of people's coordination of calendars, which is not determined by nature, but inevitable. There is still a way to deal with it. The core of the custom of "avoiding marriage in blind years" is people's pursuit of fertility. In fact, it is more "oral color" and meaningless. Science is as bright as it is today, and there are still many taboos. It's really unnecessary!
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The author introduces:
Zeng 1982 graduated from the Chinese Department of South China Normal University, 1995, 1996 studied at the Institute of Folk Culture of Beijing Normal University, and studied under the professor. 1985? In 2000, he taught at Shaoguan University in Guangdong, and in 2000, he was transferred to the Party School of Shenzhen Baoan District Committee in China as an associate professor. He has been engaged in the research of Lingnan national culture and folklore for a long time, and published more than 80 papers, monograph 1 department.