What are the Spring Equinox customs? Learn about the traditional folk customs in one article

The Spring Equinox is one of the 24 solar terms. In terms of folk activities, it is generally regarded as the official beginning of spring outings. It is the New Year in countries such as Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, with a history of 3000 years. It is also a festival and sacrificial celebration. In ancient times, emperors had a ritual system of worshipping the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. Let us take a look below at what the Spring Equinox customs are!

Standing eggs

On the day of the Spring Equinox each year, tens of millions of people around the world carry out the "standing egg" experiment. Why this pastime, called a "Chinese custom", became a "world game" is still difficult to verify. However, the game is indeed simple, easy and full of fun. Choose a smooth, well-proportioned fresh egg that has just been laid for four or five days, and gently stand it up on the table. Although there are many failures, there are also many successes. The Spring Equinox has become the best time for the standing egg game, hence the saying, "When the Spring Equinox arrives, the eggs are pretty." The eggs that stand up are quite a sight.

Eating spring vegetables

In the past, among the Xie family of Cangcheng Town in Kaiping, one of the Siyi (with Heshan added, Wuyi), there was a custom not counted as a festival, called "eating spring vegetables at the Spring Equinox". "Spring vegetables" are a kind of wild amaranth, called "Chunbihao" by the villagers. On the day of the Spring Equinox, the whole village would go to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the fields, most were tender green, slender plants, about the length of a palm. The spring vegetables brought back were usually "boiled in soup" at home with fish slices, called "spring soup". There is a jingle: "Spring soup cleanses the organs, washing the liver and intestines. The whole family, old and young, safe and healthy." From spring onward for the whole year, what people still pray for is a peaceful household and a strong, healthy body.

Sending the Spring Ox

As the Spring Equinox approached, pictures of the Spring Ox were delivered from door to door. The picture was printed on red or yellow paper in folio size with the whole year's lunar solar terms, and also printed with a pattern of a farmer plowing the field, called the "Spring Ox picture". Those who delivered the pictures were folk singers skilled in words. They mainly spoke of spring plowing and auspicious words about not missing the farming season. At each household, they would improvise according to the scene, saying whatever they saw, until the host was delighted and gave money. Although the words came out casually, every line was rhythmic and pleasant to hear. It is commonly called "speaking spring", and the person who speaks spring is called the "spring official".

Sticking sparrow beaks

On the day of the Spring Equinox, farmers all took a holiday according to custom. Every household had to eat tangyuan, and also cook more than ten or twenty to thirty tangyuan without filling, skewer them with fine bamboo forks and place them at the field edges and ridges outdoors, called sticking sparrow beaks, to prevent sparrows from damaging the crops. During the Spring Equinox period, it was also a good time for children to fly kites. Especially on the day of the Spring Equinox itself. Even adults took part. Kite types included the king-character kite, silver carp kite, squinting moth kite, thunder god insect kite and moonlight kite. The large ones were two meters tall, and the small ones were two or three chi. Kites sold on the market were mostly relatively small, suitable for young children to play with, while most were still pasted at home, larger, and when flown people even competed with each other to see whose flew higher.

Spring sacrifice

In the second month at the Spring Equinox, tomb sweeping and ancestor worship began, also called the spring sacrifice. Before sweeping the tombs, a solemn ancestor worship ceremony had to be held in the ancestral hall, with pigs killed and sheep slaughtered, drummers invited to play, and a ritual officiant reading the sacrificial text and leading the three-offering ceremony. When the Spring Equinox tomb sweeping began, the first tombs swept and sacrificed to were those of the founding ancestor and distant ancestors. The whole clan and whole village had to turn out, and the scale was very large, with the procession often reaching several hundred or even a thousand people. After the tombs of the founding ancestor and distant ancestors were swept, the branches then swept and sacrificed to the ancestral tombs of each branch, and finally each household swept and sacrificed to its own private family tombs. In most Hakka areas, spring ancestor worship and tomb sweeping began at the Spring Equinox or a little earlier, and had to be completed by Qingming at the latest. There is a saying in various places that after Qingming the tomb gate closes, and the ancestral spirits can no longer receive offerings.

Worshipping gods

Around the Spring Equinox, folk festivals include the fifteenth day of the second month, the birthday of the Holy King of Kaizhang: the Holy King of Kaizhang is also called "Holy King Chen", namely Chen Yuanguang, a military jinshi of the Tang Dynasty. He rendered meritorious service to Zhangzhou and became the guardian deity of Zhangzhou after death. The nineteenth day of the second month is the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva. On each birthday, many believers ate vegetarian food and went to various Guanyin temples to worship. The twenty-fifth day of the second month is the memorial day of the Three Mountain Kings: the Three Mountain Kings refer to the mountain gods of Dushan, Mingshan and Jinshan in Jieyang County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. In early years, Hakka immigrants from Chaozhou adopted them as guardian deities, so believers were mainly of Hakka origin.

Sun sacrifice

In the Zhou Dynasty, there was a sun sacrifice ceremony at the Spring Equinox. The Book of Rites says: "Sacrifice to the sun at the altar." Kong Yingda's commentary says: "This refers to the Spring Equinox." The Temple of the Sun is located east of Ritan Road, southeast outside Chaoyangmen in Beijing. It is also called the Chaori Altar. It was the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties sacrificed to the Great Bright God (the sun) on the day of the Spring Equinox. The sun worship was set at the mao hour of the Spring Equinox. In years of jia, bing, wu, geng and ren, the emperor personally offered the sacrifice; in other years, officials offered the sacrifice on his behalf.