Hair, as an important part of the human body, carries many meanings in traditional Chinese culture. The old saying "if you don't cut your hair, you won't be able to cut your family" fully reflects the traditional custom of paying attention to the time to cut hair.
What are the five points when you can't cut your hair? In this article, we will delve into the traditional importance of cutting hair from five aspects: the first lunar month, the Qingming Festival, the fifth lunar month, the mid-year festival, and the evening.
It is not advisable to cut hair during the New Year
In traditional Chinese culture, the first lunar month, as the beginning of the year, is an important time to connect the past and the future, and to renew everything. At this time, all plants and trees begin to sprout, implying vitality and prosperity. As a part of the human body, hair also carries the spirit of people. Therefore, cutting off hair during the New Year is considered a bad luck to cut off life and incur bad luck.
Not only that, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, the head belongs to yang, and the hair belongs to the yang qi of the body. In the first lunar month, the weather warms up and everything grows, which is the time when the body's yang energy is vigorous. At this time, cutting yang energy at will may break the balance of yin and yang in the human body, causing yang energy to leak out and causing diseases. Therefore, there is also a medical reason why it is not suitable for cutting hair in the New Year.
Finally, in folk beliefs, there is also a saying that cutting hair on the New Year will invite disaster. The Chinese New Year period is the beginning of the year, when the gods appear, if you cut your hair easily, you may offend the gods and cause bad luck. Therefore, for peace, people usually avoid cutting their hair during the New Year.
To sum up, whether from the point of view of meaning, medicine or folk beliefs, it is not suitable to cut hair on the New Year, and this traditional custom contains the attitude and awe of the Chinese people towards vitality, yin and yang balance, and the manifestation of gods.
It is not advisable to cut hair during the Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, where people will pay tribute to their ancestors and express their nostalgia for the deceased. During this solemn festival, Chinese folk traditionally consider it inappropriate to cut hair.
First of all, before the Qingming Festival, people should carefully clean the cemetery and burn paper money to show respect and remembrance for their ancestors. If you cut your hair at random at this time, it is like breaking the connection with your ancestors, which is disrespectful. Secondly, from the perspective of the circulation of qi, during the Qingming Festival, heaven and earth are sympathetic, and all things are vigorous, and people's qi and blood will also be vigorous. If you cut your hair at this time, it will interfere with the normal flow of qi and blood, leading to illness.
Moreover, in folk beliefs, there is also a saying that "Qingming cut his head and killed his uncle". Cutting your hair on Qingming Festival will not feel the spirit of your ancestors and bring bad luck, so it is best not to cut your hair easily at this time. To sum up, the Qingming Festival should not cut hair has its profound cultural implications, and it is also related to the circulation of qi and folk beliefs, and this traditional custom is thought-provoking.
It is not advisable to cut hair in the fifth month of the lunar calendar
In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, especially the Dragon Boat Festival, it is traditionally considered inappropriate to cut hair. This is mainly related to several cultural factors.
First, during the month of May, the yin and yang breaths are harmonized, and everything grows vigorously. Hair is the accumulation of the body's essence, and cutting the hair at this time can easily cause the essence to dissipate, leading to illness. Second, May is the middle of summer, and the weather is getting hotter, which is easy to cause various viral and bacterial infections.
If the hair is cut at this time, the scalp will come into contact with external pathogens, which may cause skin diseases. Third, from the perspective of the cultural significance of the festival, the Dragon Boat Festival is a day of folk tomb sacrifice and epidemic repellent. Cutting hair means cutting off the inheritance from the ancestors, and it also goes against the original intention of driving away evil spirits and avoiding epidemics, so hair cutting is traditionally not recommended.
Finally, mathematically, May is the twenty-four solar terms. At this time, it is easy to encounter rainy weather, cut your hair short, and your head is more susceptible to cold, so cutting your hair in the fifth lunar month is not good for your health. On the whole, it is not suitable to cut hair in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which is scientific and related to traditional festival culture, which shows the wisdom of the ancients.
It is not advisable to cut hair during the midyear
The Midyear Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival, folklore has it that the ghosts of the underworld will come to visit the world on this day. Therefore, it is not suitable to cut hair during the midyear festival, and it has also become a traditional folk custom. The main meanings are as follows:
First, cutting off your hair means ruining your luck. Hair is the source of energy, and cutting off your hair is equivalent to ruining your blessings, especially in "ghost" days, which is more likely to cause bad luck. Second, during the Midyear Festival, the yin energy is vigorous, and at this time, cutting the hair where the yang energy is concentrated at will will affect the balance of yin and yang, which is not good for the body. Third, there are folklore legends of bad luck in cutting hair, such as cutting your hair and encountering ghosts, so people do not cut their hair at this festival for safety.
However, we also need to be rational about traditional ideas. There is no superstitious factor in hair growth, the key is to take reasonable care and maintain hygiene. Cutting your hair during the festive season doesn't have to be bad luck, as long as you pay attention to personal hygiene and prevent infection. Tradition and modernity are inclusive, and we respect traditional customs while adapting to the development of the times.
It is not advisable to cut hair at night
There's some truth to the traditional notion of not cutting your hair at night. During the day, when the yang energy is full, and at night, after sunset, the yin energy grows, and the human body begins to prepare for sleep. Cutting hair at this time will disrupt the balance of yin and yang in the human body. And the light is dim at night, it is not easy to grasp the proportion, and it is easy to cause problems in tailoring.
At the same time, from the perspective of health preservation theory, the qi and blood drop at night, and the hair cutting damages the essence and blood, which is not conducive to the mental state of the next day. In cosmetology, experts also point out that hair is stiff at night and should not be cut to avoid pulling injuries.
Of course, it may be difficult for modern people to choose a haircut time, but at least pay attention to maintaining scalp hygiene and follow-up maintenance. You can also choose to cut your hair during the day when the sun is shining, and ensure adequate sleep to reduce the damage to body functions caused by staying up late at night. Traditional customs show wisdom, and modern people should also pay attention to inheritance and development in the process of development.
"Five non-cutting hair" reflects the respect of traditional Chinese culture for the charm of life, and also contains the wisdom of health care. Although there are one-sided places in these traditions, they are also worthy of our serious understanding.
We must criticize its superstitious elements, but also be inspired by the wisdom contained in them; It is necessary not only to conform to the development of the times, but also to abandon the essence of tradition. Only in this way can we find a balance between tradition and modernity, and can we integrate the essence of traditional culture into modern life and pass it on from generation to generation.
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