Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1842 October Calendar

In addition to decades and months, seasons also exist. However, the ten months in the Yi calendar are divided into five seasons. Each season is named after the Yi people's own five elements of earth, copper, water, wood, and fire, and the months are distinguished by male and female, that is, January is Earth Male, February is Earth Mother, March is Copper Male, April is Copper Mother... and so on.

In addition to representing the five elements, the five seasons also represent the five directions of the sun's movement: east, south, west, north, and center. This is somewhat similar to the Han people's concept of "five directions."

As with all calendars, the most important thing is to determine the New Year's Day in order to accurately grasp the laws of seasonal changes.

The Yi people's ten-month calendar is established by standing on the "Xiangtian Tomb" in the winter evening and observing the position of the "Shanie" star.

Xiangtianfen is a small pyramid-like mound of earth built by the Yi people in their settlements for the convenience of observation. Shanie is the Big Dipper.

When the Shanie's tail points downwards, it is the coldest time of winter; when the Shanie's tail points upwards, it is the hottest time of summer.

The Great Cold and the Great Heat are the New Year's Day. These two festivals correspond to two very important festivals, the Yi New Year and the Torch Festival respectively.

The Yi New Year is called "Ku Shi" in Yi language. Ku means turn, return or cycle.

In the Yi people's concept of time and space, the northernmost endpoint is generally regarded as the starting point. After the sun sets in winter, it moves south to the southernmost point and stops moving south. After staying there for a few days, it moves north again. This endpoint is called "Bugu", which means "the point where the sun turns back."

Then in summer, the sun's setting point moves to the northernmost end point, and no longer moves north but returns to the south. This end point is called "Bujiu", which means "the sun's return point". After that, it moves southwards to the southernmost end point.

A round trip from the northernmost point to the southernmost point is one year.

  In fact, these two days are the winter solstice and the summer solstice.

Winter Solstice - Summer Solstice - Winter Solstice, that's one year. The Yi New Year is usually celebrated at the time of "Bujiu", the winter solstice.

The reason why Zhou Zhi published this paper was that when he was working on the Yin calendar of the Shang Dynasty, also known as "Shang Zheng", he looked up the calendar and found that the calendar already existed in the Xia Dynasty. This calendar was called "Xia Xiaozheng".

After the Xia Dynasty was destroyed by the Shang Dynasty, Xia Xiaozheng was also lost. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius traveled to the ancient land of the Xia Dynasty and found that Xia Xiaozheng was circulating among the people. He collected and compiled it, and it was passed down to later generations.

Xia Xiaozheng consists of two parts, the Classic and the Commentary, with a total of more than 400 words. It records the phenology, weather, astrology and major political events of each month, especially major production events, according to the twelve months of the year.

The book reflects the agricultural production of that time, including the cultivation of cereals, fiber plants, dyes, horticultural crops, sericulture, animal husbandry, gathering, fishing and hunting; sericulture and horse breeding were given great importance; horse castration, indigo dyes and the cultivation of horticultural crops such as rape, peach and apricot were all recorded for the first time.

The sentences in Xia Xiaozheng are more concise than those in oracle bone script, and most of them are two, three or four words in a complete sentence. Its time indications are mainly based on the changes of plants and animals, and the standard constellations used to indicate time are relatively easy to see bright stars, such as Chenshen and Zhinu.

Strangely, Xia Xiaozheng lacks records of the astrological phenomena in November, December and February. The concepts of the four seasons and solar terms also appear.

In the past, historians of all dynasties believed that "Xia Xiaozheng" was a lunar calendar, but due to its long history, its content had become partially incomplete and confused, so these records were missing.

  However, after Zhou Zhi learned the Yi calendar from Lao Chi Ri, he suddenly discovered that the Yi calendar of October was very consistent with the calendar of Xia Xiaozheng!

The "Xia Xiaozheng" did not lose November and December during its circulation, but they were not there originally! The current version of "Xia Xiaozheng" divides a year into twelve months, which must have been added by later generations!

With this idea in mind, Zhou Zhi began to study Xia Xiaozheng carefully, and then found a lot of evidence.

According to the records about Shen in Xia Xiaozheng, from "the beginning of the first month when Shen is at dusk" in Wei, to "Shen is hidden" in Wei in March, to "Shen is visible" in Jing in May, the daily movement is 35 degrees every month.

From the "Shen Ze Jian" day in May at Jing to the "Chuhun Shen Zhong" day in the first month of the next year at Wei, the interval is more than 210 degrees.

If we assume that there are ten months in a year, with a six-month interval, the sun's orbit per month is also more than 35 degrees, and 360 degrees in a year, which exactly matches the 360 ​​degrees that the sun travels around the ecliptic once a year.

If we count based on twelve months in a year, then there are eight months between each other, and a reasonable diurnal motion of 26 degrees per month is reasonable. Thirty-five degrees is obviously excessive.

Secondly, "Xia Xiaozheng" records that the county is "below" in the first month and "up" in the sixth month; this record is exactly the same as the Yi nationality's tenth month.

Since the movement of the Big Dipper's handle is uniform throughout the year, it takes five months for the handle of the Big Dipper to move from bottom to top, and five months to move from top to bottom. This also shows that "Xia Xiaozheng" should also be a ten-month calendar.

There are also records about phenology in "Xia Xiaozheng". The phenology in May is consistent with that in June of the lunar calendar, and then a difference gradually appears. In mid-July, phenology that can only be seen in August and September of the lunar calendar appeared, such as "showy reeds" and "chilled cicadas"; in September, "the king begins to wear fur coats", which is equivalent to the end of October and the beginning of November in the lunar calendar, so October has entered the coldest season of the year.

  In addition, "Xia Xiaozheng" records that in May, there is "Yangri", which means the longest day, that is, the summer solstice, and in October, there is "Yangye", which means the longest night, that is, the winter solstice.

This record is also completely consistent with the Yi ten-month calendar. Since there are only five months from the summer solstice to the winter solstice, then there should also be five months from the winter solstice to the summer solstice. Together, the two make a year exactly ten months!

So much evidence can prove that "Xia Xiaozheng" and the Yi October Calendar are both an "October solar calendar".

Then, Zhou Zhi was suddenly shocked by another idea of ​​his own - since the Yi October Calendar and Xia Xiaozheng have so many similarities, is it possible that the two calendars were originally one? !

The Yi ethnic group's October calendar is actually "Xia Xiaozheng"? !

The formulation of the calendar is an important symbol in the history of human civilization.

Egypt is ranked first among the four ancient civilizations because it had a solar calendar more than 4,200 years BC.

The calendars of India and Babylon were both established in 3000 BC.

Counting from oracle bone inscriptions, Chinese civilization is only about 3,000 years old.

Therefore, when talking about the four ancient civilizations in the world, China is ranked last, namely Egypt, India, Babylon, and China.

But if the Erlitou site is regarded as the capital of the Xia Dynasty, then "Xia Xiaozheng" should have appeared in 3,800 BC; if we count from the Jiahu inscriptions that are closely related to the Yi language, it should be nearly 10,000 years ago.

In this case, the history of Chinese civilization would have to be pushed back to five thousand to nearly ten thousand years ago, far exceeding Egypt, the first of the four ancient civilizations currently defined.

  This proves that Chinese civilization deserves the status of "ancestor" in the history of world civilization!

Chinese civilization is the first of the four great civilizations!

The significance of this paper is extremely important.