How did it become a New Year's custom in January?, Taboos of the Dragon Boat Festival: "Do not shave your head" Shaving your head | Uncle | Dragon Boat Festival
There is a legend in many places that goes, "If you don't shave your head in the first lunar month, your uncle will die by shaving his head.". From a scientific perspective, this is certainly a superstition. "Not shaving one's head" has become a taboo in the first lunar month, accompanied by various explanations. For example, in the original text of the Qing Dynasty, it was not "dead uncle", but "nostalgia" - "not shaving one's head" was a longing for the old Ming Dynasty, which came from the resistance of the Qing people to the shaving order.
In fact, the earliest recorded time for "shaving my uncle" was not in January, but in May, and only on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. What's going on here?
In the Han Dynasty, there was a taboo to build houses in May, which made people bald
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on May 5th. End, beginning, first. The Qin Dynasty avoided the name taboo of Emperor Ying Zheng and called the first month of the year Duan Yue; Wu refers to five, and five sounds the same as Wu. According to the calendar, the month of Jianyin is counted until May, which is the month of Jianwu. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Zhongwu or Zhongwu. In addition, it is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival - this "yang" should be derived from the "noon" of the Double Ninth Festival: ancient people discussed the Yin and Yang based on the twelve earthly branches, and "noon is the anode". The Double Noon Festival overlaps, coinciding with the summer solstice month, and is regarded as the day with the highest Yang energy of the year. Traditional philosophy emphasizes the balance of yin and yang, and imbalance is not good. The Double Noon Festival is a sign of fire prosperity, while excessive prosperity is a sign of poison. The saying "Poison Month" and "Poison Day" comes from this.
As recorded in the Book of Later Han, "On the fifth day of the fifth month, Zhu Suo's five colors were used as door decorations to prevent evil spirits." This indicates the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival; In the "Record of Yang Xian's Fengtu" by the Zhou Dynasty official during the Jin Dynasty, it was recorded that during the midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, the name of the festival was also included in the book. The representative foods of the festival, such as "one zongzi, one jiao shu," "wrapped in sticky rice with wild leaves," and "covering the image of yin and yang wrapping around the unbroken," also mentioned the seasonal meaning given to the festival by the theory of yin and yang and the five elements.
As for Zongzi, which symbolizes "yin-yang package", leaves and rice, which is yin and which is yang? Zhou Chu's "Fengtu Ji" tells the story of another Dragon Boat Festival food - cooked fat turtles. "The bones of the turtles have a flesh like appearance, with yin inside and yang outside, so they are praised.". This also provides a reference for explaining that Zongzi "takes the yin and yang to wrap the image that has not been scattered", that is, leaves are yang and rice is yin - a symbol of the exuberant yang and the sprouting yin in the summer solstice. The phrase "So praise time" reflects the ancient people's desire to adapt to nature and express their desire to interact with nature in the form of folk customs during the season of "pure yang using things".
This important document in the history of ancient customs records the general content of the Dragon Boat Festival customs in later generations: "Creating a hundred ropes to tie the arms, one long life rope, one continuation life rope, one Bi Bing rope, one five color rope, one five color silk, one Zhu rope, and other woven miscellaneous items to be gifted to each other. Picking mugwort and hanging it on households, stepping on a hundred grasses, and competing. It is a lunar custom that is often prohibited, and it is forbidden to build houses or recommend seats." Silk, silk, and rope are a type of ribbon object, and various names represent the diverse expectations that ancient people gave to the Dragon Boat Festival; Pu Jian Ai Hu, Dou Cao Cai Yao, competed in dragon boat races, and many of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in later generations were also generally mastered at this time.
As for "many customs are prohibited", such as "avoiding building houses", the Han Dynasty's "Customs and Customs Tongyi" recorded a popular belief: "Building houses in May makes one bald." Building houses does not refer to building houses, but to covering roofs with thatch. Is there a space for analogical imagination between the thatched roof and the hair on top of the head? Since this imaginative space is constantly related to the "evil moon" and "evil day", then the saying that "those born in May, who grow up in harmony with their families, will be detrimental to their parents" can be derived from the saying that "building a house in May will make one bald", and then the saying that "not shaving one's head may harm one's uncle". There is no insurmountable gap.
The sharing or migration of folk customs without shaving is not an isolated case
In the book "Jiexu Tongfeng Lu" by Kong Shangren, a literary figure in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the title of "Dragon Boat Festival" includes these three aspects: firstly, "Those who give birth on a day are unlucky. Tie a tree or a thorn, cut off about five or six feet in the hall, and wish to say, 'If this is the case, do not disturb the household.' Then the child will be easy to raise and may as well be parents." This involves the avoidance of "unlucky.". 2、 Avoid building houses, offenders will have bald heads. 3、 Not shaving one's head may harm one's uncle. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Pan Rong wrote in his "Annals of the Imperial Capital" that "in May, one does not move or burn windows, and is named 'Evil May'. Using mugwort leaves to cover the windows is called 'Jie Ai'. In May, if one does not shave their head, it may harm their uncle's family.". The two books all contain the taboo of "not shaving the head", and Emperor Pan Rong pointed out these taboos based on the theory of "evil May".
Why did the phrase "in May, if you don't shave your head, it might harm your uncle's family" become "in January, if you don't shave your head, your uncle will die"?
To make a comparison of three quotations——
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty in 1., "Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jing" was quoted before: "If you don't move in May, you don't paste the window, it's called 'Evil May. '... If you don't shave your head in May, you may harm my uncle."
The 2. is also "Ji Sheng at the age of Emperor Jing": "The first month does not move, does not paste the window, is a' good first month '."
3. the customs of Luanchuan, Lushan and other places in Henan, such as "The History of Lushan": "The first month does not shave its head, does not move, does not paste windows, does not quarer, and is called" Good first month '."
The summer solstice and the winter solstice are a pair of vital solar terms, shaped like a double wall. The composition of the framework at the age of the year shows the symmetrical characteristics of Chinese culture. The summer solstice made the Dragon Boat Festival, the winter solstice once gave the Spring Festival, and the cultural accumulation is still there. Looking at traditional festivals, those with abundant capacity and broad vision are the first to celebrate the Spring Festival and the second to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Since some of the contents of the two festivals coincide, it seems that there are not many ditches and ridges from the May of the Dragon Boat Festival to the taboo of the first month of the Spring Festival.
The sharing or migration of folk customs during holidays and festivals is not an isolated practice of not shaving one's head. It can be said that using the shape of a gourd as a folk symbol for the Dragon Boat Festival has been recorded in the Song Dynasty's "Suishi Guangji". During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, the auspicious gourds were pasted on red paper on the windows of the May New Year window. In Guangxu's "Miscellaneous Records of Jinmen", during the Dragon Boat Festival in May, there was a dragon boat play with gourd door talismans pasted on households. Sticking gourds is also a custom of welcoming spring. In Qianlong's "Annals of Zunhua Prefecture in Zhili", on New Year's Eve, red paper gourds were cut and pasted on the windows of households, calling it "rejecting plague". In the "Fengrun County Annals" of the Republic of China, Spring Festival couplets and gourds were pasted on the windows and doors on New Year's Eve. In spring, I once traveled to Tongkou Town and the ancient city of Maozhou by the Baiyangdian Lake, and saw spring gourds cut from red paper pasted on my doorstep. Summer pasted gourds and spring pasted gourds, whether spring gourds followed summer gourds or summer gourds borrowed spring gourds, need to be clarified with some effort.
In this Guimao year, the summer solstice happened on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to the ancient customs, Zongzi was eaten for two consecutive days. May readers have a good mood and appetite.
Wen/Wu Yucheng
