24节气英文介绍——春分

春分 Vernal Equinox

vernal意为春天的；而equinox意为“一年中白昼和黑夜长度相同的日子”

"Vernal Equinox” arrives around March 21 every year and on this day, the sun is vertically above a point on the equator.

春分发生在每年3月21日前后，太阳刚好直射于赤道。

“Vernal Equinox” indicates two meanings.Firstly, on this day, the night and day are approximately equally long with 12 hours each. Secondly, it’s the mid-point for the spring season.

春分”有两层意思。第一，这天昼夜等长，都只有12个小时。第二，它是春季的中间点。

After this day, the sun continues to move to the north hemisphere and the temperature continues to rise. Daily average temperature in most areas in China reaches 0 degree Celsius above.

从春分以后，太阳继续向北半球移动，气温持续上升。在中国大部分区域，日均气温为0摄氏度以上。

传统习俗

竖蛋：Egg-standing games

It is a tradition in many places of China to erect eggs on vernal equinox, a term of Chinese lunar calendar. It is said that due to the sun"s equidistant position between the poles of the earth on the first day of the spring, special gravitational forces apply.

在立春日竖鸡蛋是中国的一个传统习俗。据说由于在春天的第一天，太阳位于地球两极的中央，由于特殊的重力作用，鸡蛋很容易被竖着放置。

吃春菜：Eating spring vegetables

Spring vegetables" refers to seasonal vegetables that differ from place to place. The ancient teachings in the Chinese classic,Huangdi Neijing, suggests that people eat seasonal foods to help preserve health and bring good luck.

“春菜”是指不同地方的时令蔬菜。中国古典名著《黄帝内经》中的古老教义建议人们吃时令食物来帮助保持健康和带来好运。

春分祭日：Sacrifice to the Sun god

During the Spring Equinox, an old traditional practiced by Beijing locals is offering sacrifices to the Sun god.

The "Sun Cake", a round cake made from wheat and sugar, serves as the main offering.

春分时节，北京人的一个古老传统是向太阳神献祭。

“太阳饼”是一种用小麦和糖做成的圆形蛋糕，是主要的供品。

送春牛：Reward farm cattle

Farmers will reward cattle with sticky rice balls to express their gratefulness.

农民会用糯米团奖励牛，以表达他们的感激之情。