Allusions to the July Fire

Introduction: Which allusion does the historical origin of the idiom "Flowing Fire in July" come from? The following is the allusion of the July Fire that I will share with you. Welcome to learn from it!

July Flowing Fire is a Chinese idiom whose pinyin is qī yuè liú huǒ. It comes from "The Book of Songs" and refers to the westward movement of Mars and the cooler weather. The weather starts to cool down from the hottest month in the lunar calendar, but it is the second hottest month of the year. So July is still unbearably hot.

Idiom information

"Flowing fire in July" means: the weather is gradually getting cooler.

"July" refers to the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which is today's seventh month of the lunar calendar, which is roughly equivalent to August of the Gregorian calendar. "Flow" means moving and falling. "Fire", the name of the star, refers to the big Mars, Antares, which is located in the mid-heaven at dusk in the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year. After June, it gradually moves to the west. The summer heat begins to subside. Therefore, it is called "Flowing Fire". The ancients discovered that the great Mars gradually moved to the west, and when it fell, the weather began to get cooler.

The "fire" referred to here is not the fire-like weather, but the name of a star, namely Alpha Scorpio. It is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio, emitting fiery red light, so ancient Chinese astronomy called it the "big fire" star, also called Antares.

In ancient times when weather forecasts were not perfect, people often determined the farming season and guided production by observing changes in the movements of the sun, moon and stars. Gu Yanwu, a great scholar in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, once wrote in the book "Rizhilu": "For more than three generations, everyone knows astronomy. 'Fire flowing in July' is a farmer's term." Even the imperial court at that time even set up a special He assumed the position of "Huozheng" and was responsible for observing the position of the "Huozheng" star to determine the farming season.

Through year-round observation, the ancients discovered that during the "July Fire", that is, when the "Fire" star gradually moves to the west and falls, the weather will gradually start to get cooler.

In addition, due to the slow movement of the vernal equinox, the scene of "flowing fire in July" described in the "Book of Songs" more than 2,000 years ago can now only be observed at the end of the eighth lunar month.

In ancient China, a calendar was established based on the pattern of large Mars appearing in different places in the sky at different times, which was called the Fire Calendar.

At the same time, it also means that things have passed their peak period and are gradually declining.

Origin of the idiom

"The Book of Songs·Guofeng·Binfeng·July" Fire flows in July, and clothes are given in September. On the first day, my hair is dry, and on the second day, my hair is strong; I have no clothes and no brown hair, so how can I die at this age? On the third day, he was in Shu, and on the fourth day, he raised his toes. My wife and I are at odds with our mother in the south. Tian Ji is very happy.

The general meaning is: in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the "Fire" star moves downwards, and in September, the work of making cold clothes is left to women. In the first month of the week, strong winds hit things and made noise, while in February it was freezing. How can we get through the year without clothes? In March, we repair grass-type tools, and in April, we step on grass and cultivate the fields. Together with my wife and children, I deliver food to the farmland. Tian Ji was very happy to see farmers working in the fields.

It means that in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, when the weather turns cooler, when it gets dark, you can see big Mars falling from the west.

The previous sentence is an introduction. The weather is getting colder. The last sentence is the final step, it’s time to sew the winter clothes. If you want to observe it now, you have to wait until the eighth or ninth month of the Gregorian calendar.

Another "Zuo Zhuan: The Third Year of Zhaogong": "The cold and heat in the fire will recede." That is to say, when the big Mars (Antares) appears in the south in the morning, the cold will recede, and the big Mars will appear in the evening. When we are due south, the summer heat subsides.

This explanation can be found in "Biography of Mao's Poems" written by Zheng Xuan of the Han Dynasty and "Mao's Poems of Justice" written by Kong Yingda of the Tang Dynasty. Based on this, some contemporary people translated "Fire flows in July, and clothes are given in September" as "Mars flies to the west in July, and women make cold clothes in September."

Historical Allusions

Three thousand years ago, there was a Bin (bīn) country under King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty, located in Bin County, Shaanxi Province today. Bin State was the birthplace of Zhou nationality's agricultural culture long ago. At that time, the calendar was not yet perfect, and farming activities relied on stargazing. Every year at the end of summer, a red star named Fire, Alpha Scorpius, appears in the southern sky. Based on ancestral observation experience, farmers know that summer is over, autumn is here, and the busiest autumn harvest season of the year has arrived.

A few days passed quickly, and at the same time on Qiu Xi, the farmer looked at the southern sky again and found that the big fire had moved westward and dropped compared with a few days ago. A few days later, it moved westward and fell even more. At the same moment a month later, looking at the southern sky, the fire had moved to the western horizon. It was too low, obscured by clouds and mist, covered by the mountains, and could not be seen. Dear readers, this process is called "Flowing Fire in July". There is only one solution, not two. The water bows its head and is said to flow. The fire is also flowing westward. Fire has a unique connotation here, and its meaning is special. It refers specifically to the star Alpha in Scorpio, which is called Antares in ancient Chinese astronomy. It is definitely not the fire of "the red sun is burning like a fire". Just as the name implies, it will make a joke.

Idiom misunderstanding

In summer, the sun is like fire, the heat is scorching, and a ball of fire seems to be flowing in the air. Whenever people talk about the heat, they often use the term "July Fire". As a result, sentences such as "July is hot, the heat is unbearable", "July is hot, the weather continues to be hot" and so on. As everyone knows, the fire in July does not mean that the weather is extremely hot, but that the heat has subsided and the weather has become cooler.

Although some people have questioned the original meaning of "Flowing Fire in July" in "The Book of Songs", ancient people have long understood "Flowing Fire in July" as a sign of cooler weather. After the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in modern China, people gradually used the term "flowing fire in July" to describe hot weather. Although some people continue to point out that this usage is wrong, more and more people use the term "hot weather".

There are probably two reasons why "July Fire" is misused by the public.

First, "fire" can easily make people think of fire in a general sense, but they don't know that "fire" in the poem was the name of a star in ancient times, referring to the brightest star Alpha in Scorpio.

The second is the difference in calendars. The Gregorian calendar is commonly used, and July in the Gregorian calendar is the season of unbearable heat. No wonder people associate "July Fire" with the heat. You know, people in ancient times used the lunar calendar (lunar calendar). In the lunar calendar, January, February, and March represent spring, April, May, and June are summer, July, August, and September are autumn, and October to December are winter. Therefore, July in the lunar calendar is equivalent to August and September in the Gregorian calendar, and it is exactly when summer enters. Autumn is the time when the heat turns to coolness.

Another thing to note is that three thousand years ago, the lunar calendar was used, and July at that time was now August. If you want to observe it now, you have to wait until September in the Gregorian calendar.

Typical examples of misuse

On July 12, 2005, Yu Muming gave a speech at Renmin University of China. Ji Baocheng, President of Renmin University of China, said in his welcome speech: "July is a month of fire, but full of enthusiasm. It’s not just the weather.” This incident triggered a broader discussion on the correct usage of "July Fire" and even on the revival of Chinese studies. Some people argue that this is a misuse and inconsistent with Renmin University's commitment to promoting the revitalization of Chinese studies, and therefore should be corrected. Another school of thought believes that this kind of evolution of word meanings occurs everywhere, such as in words such as tomorrow's yellow flowers (yesterday's yellow flowers are not officially recognized words), so it is not surprising. On the contrary, this is a normal change of words. July in the contemporary Gregorian calendar is Equivalent to the sixth month of the lunar calendar, it is the hottest time of the year. It is very appropriate to use July flowing fire to describe the hot weather. It is a "borrowing word" and is in line with the law of vocabulary development. In contemporary times, "July flowing fire" is also commonly used to describe the heat. It means that the weather is hot, so this meaning should be accepted as the correct usage, otherwise we will make the mistake of "using the past to make reference to the present".

After this incident, China's official media still often use "July Fire" to indicate hot weather (not recognized by the authoritative Chinese Research Institute and "Modern Chinese Dictionary"), such as:

1. Yang Man’s “Is the Summer Market Stirred by the World Cup? Trouble? " ("Market News", July 10, 2006) mentioned in an article: "July is hot, and the high temperature has detonated the economy this summer."

2. The article "The Refreshing and Holy Land of Manjusri" ("Beijing Times" July 18, 2006) mentioned: "Even if the outside world is full of fire in July, the mountain is still like 'There is no Jiazi in the mountain, and the cold and heat are unknown. Year's Cool World".

The first opinion

The original meaning in "The Book of Songs" may indeed refer to the hot weather, which means "it is still very hot in July, but it is already cool in autumn in September".

Because "The Book of Songs" was written in the Zhou Dynasty, the poems included in it may have been created earlier than the Yin and Shang Dynasties. From the Yin and Shang Dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period, except for a brief cold period in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, most of the time was relatively warm. , the seventh month of the lunar calendar may be very hot [12] ?, and the poems in the "Book of Songs" were collected from the folk, and it is unknown whether their creators knew about the "Big Mars", so "July Fire" is mentioned in the "Book of Songs" The original meaning may not be "the weather is getting cooler", but may be "the weather is hot".

The second opinion

The phrase "fire flows in July" comes from "The Book of Songs·Guo Feng·Bin Feng" "Fire flows in July, and clothes are given in September".

Its true meaning does not mean the scorching heat in July, but is closely related to an astronomical phenomenon, that is, the weather turns cooler in July of the Xia calendar (lunar calendar).

"July" refers to the seventh month of the lunar calendar; "flow" refers to movement and falling; "fire" refers to the star name "Big Mars" (not Mars orbiting the sun), which is the heart.

"Big Mars" is a famous red giant star that emits fiery red light. It is located due south at dusk in May every year and is at its highest position. In the evening of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the position of the big Mars gradually drops from the mid-heaven to the west, "knowing that the summer heat is gradually receding and autumn is approaching." People call this phenomenon "July Fire".

Therefore, the real meaning of "Flowing Fire in July" is that in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the weather gradually turns cooler, and at dusk, large sparks can be seen falling from the west.