Bearded Grain and Sown Seed: The Farming-Time Philosophy of Mangzhong and the First Stirring of Yin
Drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist thought, etymology, astronomy, and phenology, this article offers an in-depth reading of Mangzhong (Grain in Ear), the ninth of the twenty-four solar terms. It reveals the farming-time philosophy behind the folk saying "Mangzhong is busy sowing," examines the phenomena of the praying mantis emerging and the shrike beginning to cry at solar longitude seventy-five degrees, and unfolds how the Gou hexagram's "first stirring of yin" marks a cosmic turning point at the very height of yang—inviting readers into the ancient wisdom of racing against time and revering the seasons as one reveres the divine.
Chapter 13: Ritual and Ceremony: Seeing Off the Flower Spirits, Blessing the Seedlings, and the Folk Customs of Mangzhong
I. Seeing Off the Flower Spirits: A Poetic Farewell to Spring
The most poetic folk custom of Mangzhong is "seeing off the flower spirits" (送花神).
Why does Mangzhong call for "seeing off the flower spirits"$12 Because by the time of Mangzhong, most flowers have already withered, their blooming season nearly at its end—the world of spring, once ablaze with a hundred flowers, has by Mangzhong nearly drawn to its close. The ancients believed that flowers had their own spirits, who presided over the blooming of the hundred flowers. When spring arrived, the flower spirits descended to the human world bearing the hundred blossoms (corresponding to the "Flower Dawn Festival," Huachao Jie, on the twelfth or fifteenth day of the second lunar month, the day of "welcoming the flower spirits"); and by Mangzhong, the blooming season having passed, a ceremony was held to reverently see the flower spirits off, back to their place—this is "seeing off the flower spirits," also called "jian hua shen" (饯花神, "bidding farewell to the flower spirits").
Seeing off the flower spirits forms a natural pair with the Flower Dawn Festival (welcoming the flower spirits)—one welcoming, one seeing off, together marking the complete course of the hundred flowers from full bloom to withering. The Flower Dawn Festival falls in mid-spring, the "birthday" of the hundred flowers, when people welcome the flower spirits and celebrate the blossoming; seeing off the flower spirits falls at Mangzhong, the "time of return" for the hundred flowers, when people reverently see the flower spirits off and give thanks for the grace of the blossoms. Between this welcoming and this seeing-off lies precisely the seasonal transition from "birth" to "withering," from "spring" to "summer." Seeing off the flower spirits is, in essence, a ceremony of "bidding farewell to spring"—a solemn and poetic way of taking leave of the spring that is about to depart.
Chapter 27 of the novel Hongloumeng (紅樓夢, Dream of the Red Chamber) vividly depicts the grand scene of the young women of the Grand View Garden "bidding farewell to the flower spirits" on the day of Mangzhong: "Those girls, some weaving petals and willow twigs into the form of sedan-chairs and horses, others folding damask and gauze into the form of banners and pennants, all bound them with colored thread. On every tree, on every spray of blossom, these things were tied" (那些女孩子们，或用花瓣柳枝编成轿马的，或用绫锦纱罗叠成干旄旌幢的，都用彩线系了。每一棵树上，每一枝花上，都系了这些物事). Though this is a later novel, the custom of "bidding farewell to the flower spirits at Mangzhong" it records is precisely a continuation of this ancient tradition. The girls decorate the flowering trees with petals, willow twigs, and colored thread, seeing the flower spirits off in the most beautiful way possible. What a poetic, deeply affectionate ceremony this is! It transmutes the sorrow of spring's passing into a beautiful farewell.
II. The Philosophy of Seeing Off the Flower Spirits: Accepting Withering Within Fullness
The folk custom of seeing off the flower spirits contains a profound philosophy—accepting withering within fullness, preserving deep feeling within farewell.
At Mangzhong, the myriad things are at their fullest (yang qi at its height, farm labor at its busiest), and yet the hundred flowers have already withered. To bid farewell to the withering flower spirits at this very moment of the myriad things' fullness is itself a profound dialectical experience—it reminds people that even at the moment of greatest fullness, some things are withering, are departing; fullness and decline, birth and death, have always coexisted at once. This accords entirely with the philosophy of the Gou hexagram, "yang at its fullest, with the first yin born"—the withering of the flowers is precisely the "first stirring of yin" within the world of the hundred flowers; seeing off the flower spirits is precisely a poetic response to this "first stirring of yin."
At a deeper level, seeing off the flower spirits teaches people an emotional cultivation of "sorrow without injury" (哀而不伤). When the flowers wither, one does not numbly ignore it, nor collapse in grief, but instead, through a beautiful ceremony, sees them off with deep feeling and composure. The "Ba Yi" (八佾) chapter of the Analects records the Master's judgment of the "Guanju" (關雎) ode in the Book of Songs: "Joyful without excess, sorrowful without injury" (乐而不淫，哀而不伤). Joyful without becoming unrestrained, sorrowful without becoming self-harming. Seeing off the flower spirits is precisely a perfect embodiment of "sorrow without injury"—there is sorrow at the flowers' withering (a deeply felt farewell), but this sorrow does not become indulgent or self-injuring; instead it is transmuted into a poetic, restrained, beautiful ceremony. This is precisely the essence of pre-Qin ritual-and-music culture's principle of "moderating feeling through ritual"—using ceremony to settle and moderate human emotion, so that both sorrow and joy return to a state of balance and harmony.
III. Blessing the Seedlings: An Agricultural Rite Praying for a Bountiful Harvest
Another important folk custom of Mangzhong is "anmiao" (安苗, "blessing the seedlings").
"Anmiao" is an agricultural rite practiced in certain rice-growing regions. After the rice transplanting of Mangzhong is complete, farmers hold an "anmiao" ceremony, praying that the seedlings take root smoothly, grow vigorously, and yield a bountiful harvest in autumn. In the ceremony, farmers shape new wheat flour into the forms of the five grains, the six domestic animals, and various fruits and vegetables, steam them, dye them with vegetable juice, and offer them as sacrifices to the spirits of Heaven and Earth and to their ancestors, praying for favorable weather and an abundant harvest of the five grains.
Why hold "anmiao" after transplanting is complete$13 Because transplanting only plants the hope; whether the seedlings take root and whether the harvest is bountiful still depends on the timing of Heaven that follows (rain, sunlight). The farmer knows well that human effort has been exhausted (diligent transplanting), but Heaven's intent is difficult to fathom (the harvest lies with Heaven). The "anmiao" ceremony is precisely, after "exhausting human effort," a devout way of "awaiting Heaven's mandate"—through sacrifice, expressing to the spirits of Heaven and Earth one's prayer for a bountiful harvest, and also expressing gratitude for the grace of Heaven and Earth's nurturing.
The character "an" (安, "peace," "settle") in "anmiao" is laden with meaning. It means both "settling" the seedlings (praying that the seedlings take root securely) and "settling" the human heart (attaining psychological settledness after having exerted one's utmost effort). Farming is filled with uncertainty—though the farmer has already given his utmost effort, the weather is unpredictable, and the harvest remains ultimately in Heaven's hands. Through devout sacrifice, the "anmiao" ceremony transforms this anxiety over uncertainty into trust in Heaven and Earth and a prayer for a bountiful harvest, thereby granting the farmer's heart "settledness." This is precisely the deeper function of ritual—it is not merely a sacrifice to the spirits, but a settling of the human heart.
IV. Why Does Mangzhong Call for These Ceremonies$14 The Function of Ritual Between Heaven and Humanity
We must press the question: why does Mangzhong, the busiest, most practical of all solar terms, call instead for ceremonies like seeing off the flower spirits and blessing the seedlings, which seem, on the surface, so impractical$15
The answer lies in the function of pre-Qin "ritual" (礼) between Heaven and humanity.
The "Li Yun" (禮運, "The Conveyance of Rites") chapter of the Liji says: "Ritual must be rooted in Heaven, patterned on Earth, and arrayed among the spirits" (夫礼，必本于天，殽于地，列于鬼神). Ritual must necessarily be rooted in Heaven, take Earth as its model, and extend throughout the realm of the spirits. To the ancients, ritual was not artificial, elaborate formality, but a bridge of communication between Heaven and humanity. Seeing off the flower spirits and blessing the seedlings at Mangzhong are precisely such "ritual"—they are solemn communications between humanity and the spirits of Heaven and Earth, undertaken at this critical moment of seasonal transition and agricultural urgency. Seeing off the flower spirits is a farewell and an expression of gratitude to the spirit who presides over the flowers; blessing the seedlings is a prayer and an expression of thanks to the spirits of Heaven and Earth. Through these ceremonies, humanity offers up its own labor (harvesting and sowing), its emotion (cherishing the passing spring), and its prayer (for a bountiful harvest) to Heaven and Earth, thereby preserving that ancient, sacred bond between Heaven and humanity.
More importantly, these ceremonies infuse the "busyness" of Mangzhong with "reverence" and "beauty." If the busyness of Mangzhong were merely mechanical toil, it would degenerate into pure hardship; but with the poetry of seeing off the flower spirits and the devotion of blessing the seedlings, this "busyness" is invested with a spiritual, aesthetic, sacred significance. Amid their most exhausting labor, farmers hold a beautiful ceremony to see off the flower spirits, and a devout rite to pray for a bountiful harvest—this transforms the "busyness" of Mangzhong from a wearying scramble into a solemn life, full of reverence and poetry, in communion with the spirits of Heaven and Earth. This is precisely the greatness of ritual—it elevates ordinary labor into sacred ceremony, transmutes worldly busyness into the devotion of Heaven and humanity intermingled.