The May month of the lunar calendar is very special, this month is not only called the "evil month" and "poison month", but also has nine "poison days", among which the Dragon Boat Festival is the poison month and poison day.
In addition, there are also the sixth, seventh, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth days of the first lunar month, as well as the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh days, which are also "poisonous days", and they are called "nine poisonous days". As for why they are called "Poison Day", I have introduced them to you before, so I won't be too verbose here.
Tomorrow is June 20, and the lunar calendar is May 15. According to the older generation, this day is very special, not only a "poison day", but also a "departure day". Do you know what a "departure day" is? What are the sayings? You might as well understand that this is also part of the traditional culture of the mainland, especially in the past, when choosing a day, these days are very important.
What is Departure? A special moment when yin and yang intertwin!
In traditional Chinese culture, time is endowed with profound cultural connotations and symbolic meanings. In ancient folk, every day had a different meaning, and every day was different, just because at that time it was commonly used as the "Ganzhi calendar chronology method". It is a complex calendar that uses the 10 heavenly stems and the 12 earthly branches in order.
As for the "departure of the sun", it is not a well-known term today, only some elderly people know it, but it has its own unique position in the ancient calendar.
Among them, the departure day refers to the day before the spring equinox, autumn equinox, summer solstice and winter solstice of the 24 solar terms in a year. Therefore, they are also called the "four departure days".
In fact, in layman's terms, the "departure" of "leaving the sun" refers to the meaning of leaving and separating. And the reason why the ancients called the day before these four solar terms the day of departure is because these days are very special, they are special moments of separation and transformation of yin and yang.
The explanation of the departure of the sun is also recorded in the ancient book "Jade Gate Sutra": "Those who leave, yin and yang are divided to the previous morning." This means that the day before the separation of yin and yang is the day before the separation of yin and yang.
I believe that many people have heard of the saying that "the summer solstice is a yang birth, and the winter solstice is a yin birth", that is, the summer solstice and the winter solstice solar terms are the dividing points of yin and yang transformation.
It is also because the departure day is a very special time point in the year, and the departure of the "departure day" sounds bad and unlucky.
For example, in the past, there was a saying that "the day is worth four departures, and major events should not be used", which means that these four departures are "not suitable for everything". In the past, it was taboo to get married, move, start a business, travel, etc. on this day.
The traditional day-to-day study believes that it is not good to get married, move into a house, start a business, build a house, travel to take office, etc.
The reason is also because the ancients believed that on the day of the "Four Departures", the yin and yang aura between heaven and earth was in an unstable state, which was easy to cause various unfavorable factors, so in order to be auspicious, so they avoided it.
There are also "four unique days" and "four waste days".
In ancient times, in addition to the four departure days, there were also "four absolute days" and "four waste days", which were also taboos for choosing the day.
The so-called "Four Absolute Days" are also related to the 24 solar terms, which refer to the day before the beginning of spring, the beginning of summer, the beginning of autumn and the beginning of winter. Because in ancient times, these four solar terms marked the beginning of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and the word "absolute" meant the disappearance or interruption of a certain power.
Therefore, the "Four Absolute Suns" represent the tipping point where the Qi of the Five Elements of the previous season is gradually weakening and is about to be replaced by the Qi of the Five Elements of the next season.
There is another folk explanation for the Four Absolute Suns. That is the theory that combines the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Among them, the beginning of spring represents the extinction of water in winter, and the beginning of summer represents the extinction of wood in spring. By analogy, the beginning of autumn represents the fire of summer, and the beginning of winter represents the gold of autumn.
In ancient times, the four seasons were also divided according to the theory of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, among which spring belonged to wood, while summer belonged to fire, autumn belonged to gold, and winter belonged to water. And these "four stands" are the beginning and end of the four seasons, so the day before these "four stands" is called the "four unique days".
On the day of the "Four Absolute Days", the ancients also believed that the aura between heaven and earth was relatively special and not suitable for important activities. They believe that the activities carried out on this day are susceptible to bad aura, which can lead to unfavorable results. As a result, people try to avoid making important decisions or actions on this day.
As for the "Four Waste Days", it is more complicated, it not only combines the 24 solar terms, but also is related to the ancient Ganzhi calendar. The ancients believed that in the spring, summer, autumn and winter of the year, the energy of each season is the weakest day, and such a day is the "waste day".
Specifically, the "Four Waste Days" refer to the Gengshen Day and Xinyou Day in spring; Renzi Day and Guihai Day in summer; Jiayin Day and Yimao Day in autumn; In winter, Bingwu Day and Ding Si Day. These days are believed to be due to the combination of the heavenly and terrestrial branches, which makes the energy of the five elements of the day particularly weak, which is not conducive to the development of various activities.
The ancients believed that activities carried out on this day were prone to failure or frustration due to lack of energy. Therefore, the four wastes are also taboo in choosing a day.
As special days in the ancient calendar, the "Four Departure Days", "Four Absolute Days" and "Four Waste Days" not only reflect the ancient people's deep understanding of natural phenomena and the laws of the universe, but also reflect their awe and cherishment of time and life.
Although these special days are no longer decisive in modern society, the folk culture and life wisdom contained in them are still worth excavating and inheriting. For example, if you choose a day for a major event, these days have a high reference value.