Published on 2024.03.05

 

Awakening of Insects: Spring Melody Co-chanted by Thunderstorm, Birds & Insects

 

Awakening of Insects in Jia Chen year of the lunar calendar starts from March 5, 2024 and ends on March 19, 2024. According to the observation of the ancients, when Big Dipper points east, Yin fades down gradually and sunshine warms the world, which enables various plants to germinate and grow. It’s spring, the beginning of the four seasons. The word Chun (spring) created by ancient Chinese embodies this. In its original form (萅), the upper part stands for plants, the lower part means sunshine, and the middle part Zhun (屯) symbolizes the germination and growth of plants. In The Book of Changes, Zhun (屯) means the beginning of creatures. Spring Begins and Rain Water belong to Meng Chun, i.e. the first month of spring. Awakening of Insects marks the start of Zhong Chun, i.e. the second month of spring when the land becomes all the more colorful. If the beginning of spring is like a peaceful prelude, then the later part since Awakening of Insects is a spring symphony with a fast changing tempo.

Like other solar terms, Awakening of Insects consists of three Hous. Hou is an ancient timing unit. A Hou equals five days, also a cycle of seasonal changes of plants and animals. Awakening of Insects contains 15 days, of which every five days are dominated by a periodic phenomenon, successively peach blossoms, the chanting of orioles and the warble of cuckoos. For farmers, Rain Water is the time to compost, and Awakening of Insects marks the plowing and sowing, a busy scene in the fields. Thus, a popular proverb goes that “The hoe works nonstop during Wakening of Insects.” Cai Xiang, a prominent official in Song dynasty, also described how cuckoos warble to urge people to cultivate the land, in his line that “It’s never too early to sow in spring. Time for herding oxen in cape.” During the period, rainfall increases gradually with continuous pitter-patter. On sunny days, peach blossoms brightly, birds warble while farmers herd oxen with a whip. What a multi-voice sonata! No wonder it’s said that there is great beauty in nature.

Of course, from Awakening of Insects on, the spring symphony consists of not only the chansons of birds, but also the croons of various insects and drum-like thunder.

It’s believed by the ancients that spring relates to the movement of various insects. So, a saying goes that “Spring means the crawling of insects.” The original meaning of Chun (spring) in Chinese is crawling insects. According to The Book of Rites, warm breezes have come in early spring, and insects begin to crawl after a motionless winter; after Awakening of Insects, they move around to seek food due to thunder. This makes a farmer’s proverb that “In Awakening of Insects, snakes and insects crawl to seek food.” The widely accepted explanation of Awakening of Insects as “the waking of various insects” is not accurate. To be exact, it refers to the phenomenon when insects are shocked by thunder and crawl out of their caves to move around. With the growing sound of insects, the ponds are gradually filled with croak. As Liu Fangping, a poet in Tang dynasty, described in Moonlit Night, the warm spring is felt from the crystal moonlight at night, when “hearing the sound of insects through the green window gauze.” The insect sound outside heralds a coming spring.

In Awakening of Insects, the most significant sound of spring is undoubtedly the drum-like thunder. In the ancient myths, when a deity beats drums in the heaven, we hear thunder in the world. The deity governing the thunder drums is called Lord of Thunder, aka Thunder God, Thunder Goddess, Thunder Lady, etc. In The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Lord of Thunder is described as “a dragon-bodied and human-headed creature who beats his belly”. Lord of Thunder is also described as human-bodied with a beak and wings. He carries a drumstick, with which he beats numerous heaven drums around him to make thunder and wake the world. A spring thunder wakes up all creatures to come back to life. As depicted precisely and vividly in Tao Yuanming’s two lines, the alarming thunder in the second month of spring “wakes creatures from hibernation and unfolds plants.”

The customs of Awakening of Insects are mainly related to the power of Lord of Thunder. Zheng Xuan in Han dynasty annotated The Rites of Zhou: Crafts as “Insects move when hearing thunder, on which day drum-makers cover the drums with leather in the world.” It’s kept from dynasty to dynasty as a custom of Awakening of Insects. It contains three major implications. First, to thank deities. Second, to enhance the sound effect of drums by virtue of the natural power. Third, the ancients believed that Lord of Thunder encourages virtues and punishes evil, thus they followed the natural power to suppress and exorcise evil.

When all creatures are awakened by thunder, villains and White Tiger (one of the four mythical creatures in Chinese legends) start to act as well. Naturally, the public are concerned about how to avoid misfortune and seek fortune. Hence relevant customs were formed to “Hit villains” and “Offer sacrifice to White Tiger”.

In the traditional Chinese culture, White Tiger, Green Dragon, Vermilion Sparrow and Black Tortoise are the four mythical creatures, each guarding one of the four orientations. When spring approaches, Green Dragon raises its head in the east, while White Tiger lowers its head in the west. During Awakening of Insects, White Tiger is worshiped. Some explain the custom as a way to comfort White Tiger and pray for luck. Others think people draw a tiger on paper, “feed” it with pig blood and smear its mouth with pork to pray for peace, solve oral disasters and avoid trouble, as troublesome White Tiger is a demon god who goes out for food after Awakening of Insects and often hurts other creatures.

“Hit villains” is popular in South China. Usually, paper is cut into the shapes of villains, dropped onto the ground and trod forcefully, or whipped with a sole, before being burnt off. In the traditional Chinese culture, villains are contemptible guys who backstab faithful and upright people. As aforementioned, Lord of Thunder represents justice. And the custom to hit villains during Awakening of Insects displays the mainstream values since ancient times.

 

Reference

 

Book

1. 申赋渔:《光阴:中国人的节气》(南京:江苏凤凰美术出版社,2015年)。
2. 徐山:《雷神崇拜:中国文化源头探索》(北京:生活·读书·新知三联书店,1992年)。

 

Journal Article

1. 白杨、胡新生:〈「启蛰」「惊蛰」考〉,《文化遗产》,第3期(2022年)。

 

Prof. Chen Yun Feng

A professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. He is the vice president of the Association of " The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons" and has long been teaching and researching ancient Chinese literature. Professor Chen’s main research interests are the history of Chinese literary criticism, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, and Tang poetics. He has published over 60 research papers and 6 academic monographs.


All articles/videos are prohibited from reproducing without the permission of the copyright holder.

Welcome to leave a message:
Please Sign In/Sign Up as a member and leave a message

甲辰歲驚蟄日放晴詠歌以讚

昨夜條風滌霧霏
茲晨氣震燕歡飛
桃華與共春暉裡
雲影無聲去復歸

#1

yunfeng chen

05-03-2024 14:41:24

浪淘沙令《春: 有志於民》


簾外綻桃姿,
躍囀黄鸝,
報穀鳥語始耕宜,
北斗移時陰轉弱,
物始繁滋。

蟲動聽春雷,
雨潤肥堆,
斥牛翻動土開來,
槌鑿轟隆驚蟄至,
志在民哉!

#2

Chi Seng Pun

13-03-2023 15:20:42

細聽驚蟄之聲,原來有雷聲、雨點聲、人聲、牛聲、鳥聲、蟲聲、青蛙聲 .....!

#3

Chi Seng Pun

03-03-2023 09:12:20

乾道故周行,節序自相推。東風來海上,南雁起歸思。一蓑煙草綠,兩耳雨聲遲。南土吹律早,興發謝春池。懷想驚蟄近,迅雷或可期。

#4

yunfeng chen

03-03-2023 07:06:13