Rich and colorful moon culture?

Talk about moon culture

Since ancient times, people have given the moon various cultural meanings. Many ethnic groups have myths and legends, articles, poems, couplets, riddles, music, and paintings about the moon. There are also folk customs and scenic spots related to the moon.

Nowadays, there are many myths and legends related to the moon. These legends were first recorded in ancient books such as "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", "Chu Ci" and "Huainanzi". This provides a lot of reference for China to study the moon in the future. value. Stories such as Chang'e flying to the moon and Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising against the Yuan Dynasty have been circulated among the people. There is a very representative legend, and the content is as follows: It is said that there is a laurel tree five hundred feet high in the moon. During the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Wu Gang who was obsessed with immortality and did not concentrate on his studies. He was demoted to the moon to chop laurels.

The moon can be said to be the representative of art. Qu Yuan said this in "Chu Ci? Tianwen": What is the virtue of night light, and death brings nourishment? What's the point of being extremely profitable, but taking care of the rabbit in your belly? Translated into modern terms, the question is: What are the characteristics of the moon that dies and grows again? What's the benefit of raising a rabbit in your arms? Du Fu once said: "If you look at the laurel in the moon, there should be more clear light." From this, we can see that this beautiful thing of the moon has attracted many literati to praise it!

People's yearning for the moon is endless. People have used countless wonderful couplets to praise and appreciate it. The flowers all over the ground are making shadows in the wind; a pavilion of mountains is full of moonlight peeking at people. This is a masterpiece of admiring the moon and is thought-provoking.

"When will the bright moon come? Ask the sky for wine." This popular poem has made many people intoxicated! In our modern times, the moon is also a mystery in our hearts. Many people want to uncover its face. However, due to limited technology, only two astronauts have landed on the moon so far, first: Armstrong and Aldrin.

For now, the moon remains a mystery we want to understand.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a major contribution of the Chinese people to world culture. This contribution is not only about eating moon cakes, admiring the moon, and having reunions, but also constitutes a moon culture with extremely rich cultural connotations.

Generally speaking, the knowledge about the moon involves two parts: lunarology and lunarology. The focus of lunar science is the study of the moon's composition, structure, movement (including moonquakes), lunar appearance, and the formation process of the moon. The focus of lunology is to study the relationship between the moon and the earth, especially the role and influence of the moon on earth's creatures and human culture.

Specifically, lunar science can be divided into lunar geomorphology, lunar biology, and lunar culture.

The so-called lunar geomorphology mainly studies the existence of the moon and its influence and effect on the earth's topography (including meteorology and climate). The most prominent effect is the ocean tide phenomenon on the earth. In addition, there are also crustal tides. phenomena, atmospheric tidal phenomena, etc.

The so-called lunar biology mainly studies the role and influence of the moon on earth creatures. The prominent phenomenon is that the life cycle (including physiological cycle) of many earth creatures is obviously affected by the moon's gravity and its effects (including The role of tidal phenomena), for example, marine organisms, especially offshore organisms, are very sensitive to tides, the menstrual cycle of human women (further proof is needed), and some birds navigate according to the moon.

The so-called moon culture studies mainly studies the relationship between human culture and the moon. This is a very interesting question and involves many aspects of human cultural life.

1. The existence of the moon should be regarded as nature’s special attachment to human beings. This is because it is unique in the solar system for a planet as big as the Earth to have a satellite as big as the moon, and it may also be very rare in the Milky Way. What's more coincidental is that from the earth, the angle of view of the moon is almost exactly the same as that of the sun, that is, the moon is as big as the sun, and the moon, sun and earth are basically on the same plane of motion, so there will be solar eclipses, Lunar eclipses and the moon's waxing and waning cycles. In view of this, we have reason to believe that the existence of the moon is an important factor in promoting the development of human brain thinking; it can even be said that half of human wisdom enlightenment comes from the moon.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, this should become one of the important contents of admiring the moon and asking about the moon.

2. The periodic movement of the moon around the earth and the periodic changes in light and darkness on the moon's surface directly promote the formation and application of human calendars and the corresponding star culture (see "Mysterious Star Culture and Games") Book, People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House). The calendar based on the movement and periodic changes of the moon is called the lunar calendar (the moon represents yin in the Chinese lunar culture), and the calendar based on the cyclical movements of the sun is called the solar calendar (the sun represents the yang in the Chinese lunar culture). A combination of the lunar calendar and the solar calendar The Chinese calendar is called the lunisolar calendar, and the Chinese lunar calendar is the lunisolar calendar (for example, leap months belong to the lunar calendar, and the 24 solar terms belong to the solar calendar).

The Chinese formulated or used the lunar calendar. At least during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there were already written records such as "Ji Sheng Ba" in oracle bone inscriptions, which described in detail the periodic changes of the moon's waxing and waning. At the same time, the geographical document "Shan Hai Jing·Da Huang Si Jing" in the Yin and Shang Dynasties also clearly recorded: "There was a woman who was bathing in the moon, and the emperor Jun's wife Chang Xi was born in the second month of the month, so she began to bathe." As the ancestor of the Yin and Shang people, the so-called Chang Xi bathed in the moon actually means that Chang Xi invented or formulated a calendar of twelve months a year, and "bathing in it" is a demonstration of this calendar (it is of the nature of astronomical witchcraft) , for details, please refer to the full-color book "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas with Classic Pictures" (Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House).

3. Myths and legends about the moon, the most famous of which is the story of Chang'e flying to the moon. For scientific information interpretation of this story (including related ancient myths and legends), please refer to the author's "Chang'e: The Victim of the Disaster Witchcraft" and "The Great Collision between Heaven and Earth Experienced by Our Ancient Ancestors Left an Immortal Mark on the Folk" Wait for the text. In addition, there are the moon palace, laurel, moon essence, laurel seeds, moon tree, moon rabbit and toad, the story of Wu Gang, etc.

4. Folk festivals and folk activities related to the moon, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, eating moon cakes, family reunions, and the custom of "a thousand-mile marriage tied by a thread" by the old man under the moon (Yue Lao). In addition, it also includes cultural content such as naming with the word "month". In ancient times, some people's farming and harvesting activities were often carried out at night when there was a moon; in contrast, many military activities were often carried out at night when there was no moon.

5. There are countless literary works about the moon. What is more prominent among them is the description of the moon in ancient poetry, as well as the association and emotional catharsis of seeing the moon and thinking about it.

6. Scenic spots related to the moon: Beijing has the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Moon, and the Xiannong Altar, and the Summer Resort has the Moonlight River Sound Hall (Kangxi based on the meaning of the words in Su Shi's "Red Cliff Ode" title), as well as Yueyan in Daoxian County, Hunan, Crescent Mountain in Guilin, Guangxi, Crescent Spring in Dunhuang, Gansu, etc.