Đền thờ Bát Hải Long Vương xưa thuộc trang Phú Dương, tổng Trung Bạn, huyện Tống Sơn, trấn Thanh Hoa; nay thuộc khu phố 5, phường Phú Sơn, thị xã Bỉm Sơn, tỉnh Thanh Hóa. Theo sách “Thanh Hoa chư thần lục” ((bản dịch), ký hiệu VHv.1290, Thư viện Hán Nôm) của Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn ghi chép về các vị Thần được tôn thờ ở Thanh Hóa, thì vị Thần được tôn thờ ở trang Phú Dương có Hiệu duệ là “Bát Hải Long Vương tôn Thần” - Vị thủy thần liên quan đến vùng sông, biển.
Tương truyền, vào thời Hùng Vương thứ 18, vua Hùng Duệ Vương trị vì đất nước ở vùng đất trong bãi bồi cửa sông Lâu ngày xưa (nay là làng Phú Dương) dân cư thưa thớt, nghề nông chưa phát triển, chủ yếu làm nghề chài lưới. Trong làng có một cô gái mồ côi cả cha lẫn mẹ, thường mò cua bắt ốc ven sông, được vợ chồng một ngư dân vùng bãi ngoài (Nga Sơn) nhận về làm con nuôi.
Trong một lần về thăm quê cũ, ra sông Lâu tắm, bỗng mây nổi, sóng cồn, bỗng một con Giao Long nổi lên quấn lấy nàng, sau đó nàng có thai. Trong một đêm mưa gió, nàng sinh ra một cái bọc. Quá kinh hãi, nàng ôm cái bọc ấy thả xuốngdòng sông Lâu. Cái bọc ấy nhiều lần trôi vào bè vó của một ông lão thuyền chài; thấy kỳ lạ, ông lão vớt lên lấy dao rạch, từ trong bọc chui ra 3 con Hoàng Xà (nửa rồng nửa rắn, mào đỏ, vẩy vàng) trong ánh hào quang tỏa ra chói lọi.
Con lớn bơi thẳng vào bờ, rồi biến mất trong cái giếng tự nhiên (nay là Giếng Thiêng đền Bát Hải Long Vương). Hai con nhỏ bơi về phía cửa biển Thần Phù (Nga Sơn).
Vào một đêm mưa to, gió lớn, sấm sét đùng đùng, dân trong vùng nghe âm vang tiếng nói khác thường từ cái giếng ven sông Lâu: “Ta là Thái tử Long cung, được Vua cha sai lên giúp nướcNamđánh giặc”.
Biết là có Thần linh hiển báo, hôm sau, các bô lão trong làng đến bên bờ giếng đắp một ụ đất cao, thắp hương, cầu nguyện; rồi kêu gọi nhau bỏ công sức, tiền của dựng một cái miếu thờ, gọi là miếu Thủy Thần để ngày ngày hương khói.
Khi giặc phương Bắc xâm lăng nướcNam, Vua Hùng Duệ Vương sai con rể là Sơn Tinh đánh lui giặc trên bộ. Riêng cánh quân thủy của giặc vì có nội gián chỉ đường theo tám cửa biển đánh sâu vào đất liền, thế giặc rất mạnh nên quan quân thua trận rút dần từng bước.
Vua Hùng Duệ Vương lập đàn cầu đảo, được Thiên Đình ứng báo: “Tại bãi trong cửa sông Lâu, có kỳ nhân có thể đánh tan thủy tặc”.Vua sai sứ giả về tìm, dân làng đưa sứ giả đến bên giếng Thần, Hoàng Xà hiện lên thành một chàng trai lực lưỡng khôi ngô tuấn tú. Xin nhà vua cho 10 ngày để triệu hai em và tuyển đủ 10 tướng tài, chiêu mộ quân sĩ sẽ đánh tan giặc giữ.
Kỳ nhân Hoàng Xà dẫn quân tướng ra trận nhanh chóng phá tan giặc trên cả tám cửa biển. Đất nước trở lại thanh bình, Vua Hùng Duệ Vương phong choThần Hoàng Xà là Vĩnh Công Đại Vương và có ý lưu lại cùng lo việc triều chính.
Nhưng Vĩnh Công xin được về quê để dạy dân khai hoang, rửa mặn trồng lúa, chài lưới, trồng dâu, nuôi tằm dệt vải, đồng thời cắt cử các quan lớn đã từng theo Thần đi đánh giặc trấn giữ tám cửa biển nướcNam. Từ đó tám cửa biển nướcNamđều yên ổn, dân cư ngày càng đông đúc, trù phú.
Hằng năm, cứ đến dịp ngày đại thắng, Vĩnh Công Đại Vương lại triệu tập các quan lớn ở tám cửa biển về Phú Dương (nơi Thần đang ngự) hội tụ để tâu trình việc trông coi an ninh vùng biển, việc chăn dắt dân chúng ở từng vùng.
Trong những ngày hội tụ, Thần Vĩnh Công chủ trì, xem xét tình hình tám cửa biển, nhắc nhở các quan lớn chăm lo việc hướng dẫn, bày bảo cho dân khẩn hoang, lập ấp, cấy lúa trồng màu, đan thuyền, đan lưới đánh bắt cá, tôm và giữ gìn cho dân chúng được yên lành.
Vĩnh Công còn cho tổ chức Hội thi bơi thuyền, đánh vật, hát đúm, hát bè giữa các bản hạt, vừa để dân chúng tự hào về chiến công ngày trước và nêu cao tinh thần thượng võ. Bản thân Thần Vĩnh Công cũng tham gia múa hát, vui hội cùng dân chúng.
Công đức của Vĩnh Công đối với dân làng Phú Dương rấtlớn, Ngài sống gần gũi với dân như tình cha con, dạy bảo dân cấy lúa, trồng dâu, chăn tằm dệt vải, đánh bắt cá tôm. Dân Phú Dương cũng như cư dân ở tám cửa biển nướcNamnhờ ân huệ của Ngài ngày càng no đủ, xóm làng sầm uất, cuộc sống bình yên, giàu có, rộn vang tiếng đàn, tiếng hát.
Một hôm Vĩnh Công mời các vị hương lão trong làng Phú Dương đến dặn rằng: “Ta cùng các vị là dân lân hương ấp, ăn ở với nhau như tình ruột thịt, nghĩa như cha con; nay ta sắp phải vâng mệnh về chầu Vua cha Long Vương, nếu có nhớ đến ta thì nhà ta ở đây là Miếu sở, ngày ta đi là ngày Giỗ”.
Tất cả hương lão nghe vậy đều nức nở, bùi ngùi. Bỗng trời đất tối sầm, sấm chớp giữ dội. Lát sau trời quang mây tạnh các hương lão bàng hoàng chỉ còn thấy xiêm y của Vĩnh Công Đại Vương để lại.
Hôm đó, nhằm vào ngày 25 tháng Tám năm Mậu Thìn. Dân làng dâng biểu về kinh: Vua Hùng Duệ Vương thương xót ban phong Thần hiệu: “Vĩnh Công Bát Hải Động Đình tôn Thần” lại sai cấp tiền cho dân tổ chức táng tế chu đáo và sửa sang nơi ở của Thần thành Miếu điện, rồi lại hạ sắc miễn thuế cho dân lấy ân lộc ấy hàng năm mà hương khối. Dân làng Phú Dương tôn Thần Bát Hải Long Vương là Thành Hoàng của Làng để cầu mong được Thần phù hộ, độ trì, che chở .
Ngôi Miếu thiêng thờ Bát Hải Long Vương được xây dựng thành ngôi đền lớn vào khoảng những năm giữa thời Lê Trung Hưng (Thời lê Trung hưng từ năm1633-1788). Được tôn tạo vào những năm đầu thời Nguyễn (Thời Nguyễn từ năm1802- 1945). Ngôi đền tọa lạc trên đất làng Phú Dương, bên bờ sông Lâu thuộc tổng Trung Bạn, Phủ Hà Trung , Thanh Hoá (nay là khu phố 5 phường Phú Sơn, Thị xã Bỉm Sơn, tỉnh Thanh Hóa).
Ngôi đền xưa đã bị chiến tranh và sự vô thức một thời tàn phá, nhưng theo ký ức của các cụ cao niên trong làng Phú Dương thì Đền thờ Thần Bát Hải Long Vương là một ngôi đền lớn nhất xã Hà Dương. Ngôi đền xưa kiến trúc theo kiểu chữ Đinh(T), gồm Tiền tế, và Hậu cung; Cung Tiên tế có 5 gian, với 4 vì kèo ghỗ “chồng rường kẻ bẩy, với 12 cột cái và 12 cột quân, xung quanh được thưng ván dổi, mái lợp ngói âm dương, rui mè bằng ghỗ lim.
Cung Tiền tế có bộ hương án lớn, hai hàng chấp kích, một hòm lưu giữ các bài văn tế, thơ văn của các nhân sĩ đề tựa, hai lư hương đồng, một đôi hạc đứng trên lưng rùa và hàng chục bát hương bằng gốm, đá có trang trí hoa văn thời Lê.
Hậu cung gồm 3 gian, cột lim, tiếp giáp giữa cung tiền tế và hậu cung là máng nước bằng ghỗ có hai trụ đá vuông chống đỡ, Hậu cung có 3 ban thờ, từ thấp lên cao; Thượng ban đặt tượng và Thần vị Bát Hải Long Vương, Trung ban có bát hương và hòm đựng sắc phong, hạ ban có bát hương và các đồ thờ sơn son thếp vàng.
Những năm gần đây với truyền thống “uống nước nhớ nguồn” nhân dân quanh vùng đã góp công của tôn tạo lại ngôi đền này nhưng quy mô nhỏ hơn kiến trúc xưa trên nền móng cũ hướng ra sông Lâu, trong một không gian vừa thoáng đãng vừa thiêng liêng.
Năm 2009 Đền Bát Hải LongVương đã được UBND tỉnh Thanh hóa xếp hạng, công nhận là di tích lịch sử văn hóa cấp Tỉnh. Để đáp ứng nhu cầu chính đáng về đời sống văn hóa tâm linh của nhân dân trong và ngoài địa bàn Thị xã, để gìn giữ, bảo tồn và phát huy giá trị văn hóa của Di tích văn hóa lịch sử; đồng thời giáo dục tinh thần yêu nước và đạo lý “Uống nước nhớ nguồn” đối với các tầng lớp nhân dân, nhất là đối với thế hệ trẻ, chúng tôi thiết nghĩ:
Các cấp chính quyền mà, trực tiếp là UBND phường Phú Sơn sớm hoàn chỉnh quy hoạch, dự án trình các cấp có thẩm quyền phê duyệt, làm cơ sở để kêu gọi, vận động sự đóng góp của nhân dân, nhằm triển khai việc mở rộng tôn tạo Di tích đền Bát Hải long Vương tương xứng với giá trị văn hóa lịch sử của một Di tích cấp Tỉnh.
http://bimson.thanhhoa.gov.vn/web/trang-chu/di-tich-ls-danh-thang/le-hoi/than-tich-den-tho-bat-hai-long-vuong.html
Air is the element of the mind, and airy types know that everything begins with an idea. Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini are the "idea people," those who breeze in and offer a fresh perspective on the situation at hand. As observers, they're often seeing from a loftier position and are able to offer clarity that others don't have.
Some are spacy if there's a lot of air sign planets and not a lot of earth for grounding. But when there's a lack of air, it can hard to see things objectively. It's important to understand if there is too much air or too little air in a birth chart.
There are four elements in astrology. And there are four triplicities in astrology, which is a grouping based on the elements. The other triplicities are water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces), fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), and earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo).
The signs of the zodiac are grouped by elements in their triplicity, but they are also grouped by something known as their quality. Another name for quality is attitude. Libra is wild and relentless about justice and has an equally passionate need for beauty.
Aquarius has one ear attuned to the outer limits and is a visionary and loner. Gemini is light and changeable and a witty observer of life's spectacle. For the air signs, Libra is cardinal, the leader; Aquarius is fixed, able to doggedly follow one train of thought; and Gemini is mutable and as mercurial as the planet that rules it.
What relates to air, you might ask? The direction of east; birds and their feathers; the sky, clouds, and wind; the weather, especially gusty storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and cyclones (over water); the swords in tarot; books; flowers; wind chimes; kites; mountain peaks; and sails.
Social Curiosity - The air signs are social creatures, because their currency is ideas, and they'll find more stimulation when out mingling. Some are drawn to words and become professional communicators, while others—especially Aquarius—have a more conceptual way of thinking.
Air signs are masters at navigating through the collective waters and therefore are astute commentators of the cultural trends, attitudes, and the consciousness of the times. When air is out of balance, you can encounter a talking head, someone cut off from his or her own physical self. Air signs are more vulnerable to the excesses of our mind-body split and could benefit from yoga and other somatic practices.
In relationships, the distance of air to their emotions can be refreshing. They're great conversationalists because they're the keepers of so much knowledge, gossip, trivia, and strange factoids. Talking with an inspired air sign can be like skipping through a kind of virtual reality full of detail, specificity, and local color.
Those with planets in air signs use their minds to make sense of their lives. With air, there's more space between the life lived and the observing mind. This can lead air signs to appear detached, aloof, remote, or cool. Sometimes they'll try to talk their way through feelings or analyze a situation instead of encountering its full emotional weight.
The gift of air is flexibility and their ability to experience life through many prisms. They're often excellent communicators, storytellers, interpreters, and journalists. They link people together socially and often have a curiosity that keeps them out and about.
Air and earth (Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo): It can be a relief for a weighted-down earth person to be lifted up by an air's ideas and freethinking. An air may offer a different spin on how to prioritize things, which can be liberating for a duty-bound earth. An earth helps a remote air discover the mind-body connection. Earths can also advise airs so that some of their dreams can be made real.
Air and fire (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius): This is a dynamic combo, with an air being able to inspire a fire through thought. Airs help fires take a more logical path toward success, some direction for their leaps of faith. A fire gives an air a sense of mission or purpose and shines a light of focus through a jumble of collected data, thoughts, and information.
Air and water (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces): These two benefit from each other by bringing balance to feeling and thought. Waters show airs a path to feelings and can help them grow toward being more nurturing and emotionally expressive.
A water helps an air make the heart connection. An air lifts a water out of the murky swamp into the realm of thought. Like talk-therapy, airs encourage waters to find distance and to become intellectually curious about their experiences.
Air and air (Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini): Here is a meeting of the minds, and when balanced by other elements, it can mean a lifetime of shared interests. The way of connecting is through the exchange of ideas. The deeper emotional truth of the situation at hand can be discussed coolly. This bond thrives when there is also emotional authenticity, action, and physical touch.
https://www.liveabout.com/air-element-with-love-compatibility-206722
Nam Dư Hạ là một mảnh đất giàu truyền thống lịch sử văn hoá, nay thuộc phường Trần Phú, quận Hoàng Mai. Đình Nam Dư Hạ ngoài nét độc đáo về lịch sử, kiến trúc gắn với thần tích của 3 vị thành hoàng làng, nơi đây cón được biết đến với lễ hội truyền thống, lễ rước nước (lễ cấp thủy), một nghi lễ truyền thống gắn với cộng đồng dân cư vùng ven sông Hồng.
Đình Nam Dư Hạ phụng thờ Tam vị Thành hoàng là Tam Đầu Cửu Vĩ Long Vương, Thái uý Chương Võ Thái sư (Nguyễn Xí) và Lê Gia Hoàng Thái Hậu. Theo thần tích còn lưu lại, có vị sư tổ Từ Phong thường du ngoạn ở ven kinh thành Thăng Long, có lần đi qua đất Nam Dư thấy cảnh sắc đậm đà, bến thuyền xuôi ngược quyến rũ lòng người, ngài bỗng thấy có một con rồng từ đất bay lên nhào lượn trên không trung rồi biến vào vòm trời xanh.
Đức tổ cho đây là chốn tiềm long (nơi rồng ẩn) nên quyết định xây phủ đệ ở lại Nam Dư, đồng thời, ngôi chùa lấy tên là Thiên Phúc, mở một con đường rất thẳng từ cung điện nhà vua tới chùa và xây ngôi đình làng cho dân thờ Long Vương thần.
Vị Long Thần linh thiêng hiển hách có công cứu giúp Lê Lợi thoát khỏi mũi giáo của giặc trong cuộc khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn đánh đuổi giặc Minh. Khi Lê Lợi lên ngôi vua, nhớ ơn Long thần cứu mình, nhà vua đã phong sắc cho Long Vương là thượng đẳng thần và cho dân Nam Dư phụng sự hương khói đời đời.
Còn về vị thành hoàng làng thứ 2 là Thần Chương Võ Thái Sư, Thần là Nguyễn Xí người xã Thượng Xá, huyện Chân Phúc, tỉnh Thanh Hoá (nay là xã Nghi Hợp, huyện Nghi Lộc, Nghệ An). Năm lên 9 tuổi cha mất, ông theo người anh đến làm người nhà Lê Lợi. Càng lớn, Nguyễn Xí tỏ ra là người vũ dũng hơn người, được Lê Lợi yêu quí như con. Sau được Lê Lợi giao quản đội Thiết đội thứ nhất.
Từ đó, ông xông pha chiến trận, ở đâu cũng lập chiến công rồi được thăng lên Thái uý. Có lần, ông được Lê Lợi sai đi diệt giặc Minh ở thành Đông Quan, ông cho quân tiến từ Gia Lâm sang Nam Dư, ngủ đêm tại miếu thần.
Thái úy được Long Vương báo mộng hôm sau xuất quân thắng trận. Khi Lê Lợi đánh đuổi hoàn toàn quân giặc lên ngôi vua, Nguyễn Xí làm sớ tâu nhà vua phong sắc cho thần miếu Nam Dư Hạ là Thượng đẳng thần. Dân chúng nhớ ơn ông xin triều đình ban sắc nên tôn làm thành hoàng làng Nam Dư Hạ.
Vị thành hoàng làng thứ 3 được thờ phụng tại đình Nam Dư Hạ là Thần Lê Gia Hoàng Thái Hậu. Tương truyền, bà là Hoàng thái hậu họ Trịnh tên huý là Loan, người xã Phi Bạo, huyện Thanh Chương, Nghệ An, mẹ vua Chiêu Tông.
Dưới triều Lê Chiêu Tông, quyền uy của nhà Mạc rất lớn, âm mưu thoán đoạt ngôi vua ngày càng lộ rõ. Trước tình hình đó, Lê Chiêu Tông lập mưu triệt hạ thế lực của họ Mạc. Mưu bị bại lộ, nhà vua phải bỏ chạy khỏi kinh thành. Hoàng thái hậu lui về vùng Nam Dư lánh nạn. Bà đã dạy dân làng Nam Dư nghề trồng mía nấu mật, trồng dâu nuôi tằm.
Khi Mạc Đăng Dung chính thức lên ngôi thì vua Lê Chiêu Tông và bà bị ép phải chết. Nhân dân Nam Dư nhớ ơn thái hậu khi xưa nên đã lập miếu thờ bà. Đến khi Lê Trang Tông đánh đuổi nhà Mạc, dấy nghiệp Trung Hưng đã sắc phong cho bà làm Thượng đẳng thần.
Từ khi khởi dựng đến nay, đình Nam Dư Hạ trải qua nhiều lần tu bổ, tôn tạo. Vào thời kỳ kháng chiến chống Pháp, một số hạng mục của đình như phương đình, tiền tế, trung cung đã bị phá dỡ hoặc đốt cháy.
Từ năm 2001 – 2005 được sự quan tâm ủng hộ của chính quyền, nhân dân địa phương và khách thập phương, đình Nam Dư Hạ đã được tu bổ khang trang theo phong cách kiến trúc truyền thống. Hiện tại, mặt bằng kiến trúc tổng thể đình Nam Dư Hạ gồm các hạng mục: nghi môn ngoại, cửa mã, phương đình, đại bái, trung cung, hậu cung và tả hữu vu.
Phía trước đình là Nghi môn và bể non bộ, qua con đường làng là tới khuôn viên của đình. Trước đây, trước cửa đình là ao đình rất rộng, kéo dài tới tận chân đê sông Hồng, sau Nhà nước lấy đất làm đường vành đai 3, gần chân cầu Thanh Trì nên các cụ trong làng xây dựng một bể cạn và non bộ ở sân đình.
Cổng đình Nam Dư Hạ là hạng mục kiến trúc thế kỷ XIX, kết cấu theo kiểu thức “cửa mã”. Hai đầu hồi cổng là cột trụ biểu, đỉnh trụ là nghê chầu, tiếp đến là ô lồng đèn, thân trụ đắp chữ Hán, đế trụ thắt cổ bồng. Cổng có mái che, kết cấu tường hồi, bít đốc lợp ngói ri. Trên bờ nóc đắp lưỡng long chầu nguyệt.
Vào bên trong cổng tương ứng với 3 gian là các bộ vì phía tiền và hậu kết cấu dạng vì nách theo kiểu thức chồng rường quá giang gối cột. Trên các bộ vì chạm khắc linh vật như dơi, phượng, hoa văn chữ thọ, đầu các thanh xà chạm rồng theo phong cách nghệ thuật thế kỷ XIX.
Qua cổng đình là đến toà Phương đình kết cấu chồng diêm hai tầng tám mái đao cong, tiếp đến là Đại bái, Trung cung và Hậu cung. Toà Đại bái qua Trung cung có 5 lối vào kiểu cuốn vòm dẫn vào toà Hậu cung. Tại Hậu cung còn lưu giữ được những nét chạm khắc hoa văn hoa lá nghệ thuật thế kỷ XIX trên xà bộ vì hiên.
Mỗi hạng mục kiến trúc này đều được bài trí nhiều đồ thờ theo nguyên tắc truyền thống như hoành phi,câu đối, nhang án, bát bửu, ba bộ long ngai bài vị, khám thờ…
Một trong những di vật quí giá được lưu giữ tại đình Nam Dư Hạ phải kể đến ba bộ kiệu bát cống mang đậm nét chạm khắc thời Lê. Trải qua những năm tháng thăng trầm của lịch sử, ba bộ kiệu vẫn còn được giữ nguyên vẹn hình dáng ban đầu.
Kiệu được sơn son thếp vàng lộng lẫy, từng đường nét được chạm khắc chau chuốt chứa đựng tâm hồn, tài năng của người nghệ nhân. Đây là niềm tự hào của người dân Nam Dư Hạ đặc biệt trong những dịp lễ hội của làng. Dân làng Nam Dư Hạ coi ba bộ kiệu như là báu vật của cha ông truyền lại cho đời sau.
Về di văn Hán Nôm được lưu giữ tại đình Nam Dư Hạ, quí giá nhất là 11 đạo sắc phong, đạo sớm nhất có niên hiệu từ đời Cảnh Hưng 44 (1783) và một cuốn Ngọc phả là nguồn tư liệu quý giá góp phần khẳng định giá trị văn hoá, lịch sử của đình.
Lễ hội truyền thống làng Nam Dư Hạ diễn ra từ ngày 14/2 đến 16/2 âm lịch nhưng nét đặc sắc nhất của lễ hội này lễ rước nước (lễ cấp thuỷ). Lễ hội rước nước trước đây được tổ chức từ ngày 14 đến ngày 15 tháng Hai âm lịch, nhưng đến nay được sự thống nhất của ba làng Nam Dư Thượng, Nam Dư Hạ và Thúy Lĩnh diễn ra trong ngày 14 tháng Hai.
Để chuẩn bị cho lễ hội rước nước, cách ngày diễn ra lễ hội khoảng hai, ba ngày, ban tổ chức lễ hội cùng toàn thể nhân dân Nam Dư Hạ đã chuẩn bị mọi thứ đầy đủ cho lễ rước nước với một tấm lòng thành kính đặc biệt.
Làng Nam Dư Hạ ở trong đê nên mỗi khi rước kiệu ra sông lấy nước đều phải đi qua đình làng Thúy Lĩnh, khi đoàn rước qua cửa đình thì dừng lại, quay long đình vào đình Thúy Lĩnh lễ vọng. Cùng lúc đó, dân làng Thúy Lĩnh ăn mặc chỉnh tề làm lễ phụng nghênh.
Khi đoàn rước nước ra đến bến sông Hồng, dưới bến đã có nhiều chiếc thuyền đợi sẵn để chở kiệu nước và các lễ vật đi xuống sông thực hiện nghi thức cấp thuỷ. Đoàn rước lên thuyền tiến ra sông lên đến đình làng Bát Tràng (huyện Gia Lâm) thì chào và lễ vọng. Sau đó, đoàn thuyền quay ra giữa dòng sông.
Một cụ già cao niên đã được lựa chọn cân nhắc theo tiêu chuẩn về tuổi tác, đạo đức gia đình cũng như sức khoẻ được đại diện dùng gáo đồng múc từng gáo nước đổ vào choé. Chóe được đặt giữa thuyền trên miệng có phủ một vuông vải điều.
Vào buổi chiều cùng ngày, lễ nhập thuỷ được tiến hành trang trọng. Lễ tế được các cụ cao niên trong làng tổ chức với tấm lòng thành kính dâng lên các vị thành hoàng cầu mong cho dân làng một năm no ấm, an bình.
Lễ rước nước là nét độc đáo đặc trưng không chỉ của Nam Dư Hạ mà cả một vùng ven sông Hồng như Khuyến Lương, Vĩnh Hưng… của quận Hoàng Mai. Năm 1991, Bộ Văn hoá thông tin (nay là Bộ Văn hoá, Thể thao và Du lịch) đã xếp hạng cụm di tích đình – chùa Nam Dư Hạ là di tích quốc gia tại quyết định số 1728/QĐ ngày 21/0/1991.
http://ditichlichsu-vanhoahanoi.com/2017/10/03/dinh-nam-du-ha/
This is a collection of 2020 Chinese Calendars. It includes 2020 Chinese Lunar Calendar, Zodiac White Metal Rat Calendar, 2020 Chinese Baby Gender Calendar, Chinese Farmer Calendar, Chinese Five Element Calendar, Feng Shui Purple-White Flying Star 7-Red Calendar, Chinese Festivals and 2020 Chinese Holidays.
2020 is the 4717th Chinese year. The 2020 Chinese New Year Day is on Saturday, January 25, 2020 in China's time zone. The last day of 2020 year is on Thursday, February 11, 2021.
2020 is the year of Male White Metal Rat, which is the 37th of 60 zodiac signs (Stem-Branch calendar) counting system. The first day of 2020 Chinese Zodiac Year is on February 4, 2020. The last day of 2020 Year is on February 2, 2021.
The Cycle of the Purple White Flying Stars is in 20-Year Period 9 (2024-2043) of Purple Fire (li). 7-Red Star flies into the center palace of the 9-Star diagram in 2020. The kua number of 2020 is 7-Red.
2020 Chinese Lunar Calendar - Chinese New Year Day is the first lunar day of the first Chinese lunar month. That means the new moon day is the first lunar day. The new moon day could fall to different day in different time zone. Therefore, 2020 lunar months have different pattern between China and USA time zones.
Lunar Month 1 begins from January 25, 2020 to February 22, 2020
Lunar Month 2 begins from February 23, 2020 to March 23, 2020
Lunar Month 3 begins from March 24, 2020 to April 22, 2020
Lunar Month 4 begins from April 23, 2020 to May 22, 2020
Lunar Leap Month 4 begins from May 23, 2020 to June 20, 2020
Lunar Month 5 begins from June 21, 2020 to July 20, 2020
Lunar Month 6 begins from July 21, 2020 to August 18, 2020
Lunar Month 7 begins from August 19, 2020 to September 16, 2020
Lunar Month 8 begins from September 17, 2020 to October 16, 2020
Lunar Month 9 begins from October 17, 2020 to November 14, 2020
Lunar Month 10 begins from November 15, 2020 to December 14, 2020
Lunar Month 11 begins from December 15, 2020 to January 12, 2021
Lunar Month 12 begins from January 13, 2021 to February 11, 2021
2020 includes Lunar Leap Month 4. Some Chinese calendar applications treat the first half of the leap month as lunar month 4 and the second half of the leap month as lunar month 5. That means May 23, 2020 to June 6, 2020 is in lunar month 4. June 7, 2020 to June 20, 2020 is in lunar month 5.
https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/Calendar/2020/2020-ChineseCalendar.htm
Trời không nắng cũng không mưa
Chỉ hiu hiu gió cho vừa nhớ nhung...
Em còn nhớ đến quê không?
Bãi dâu vẫn đợi, dòng sông vẫn chờ
Bâng khuâng câu chuyện tình cờ
Không mong nên hẹn, không ngờ thành thân.
Rất xa bỗng hóa rất gần
Dù chưa gặp mặt một lần, lạ chưa!
Sáng nay Hà Nội giao mùa
Hồ thu, tóc liễu, Tháp Rùa lung linh
Nước non đây nghĩa đây tình
Ðọc thơ, em có thấy mình trong Thơ?
Hà Nội, ngày Lập Thu
Tháng 8-1980
http://www.gocnhin.net/cgi-bin/viewitem.pl?861
Hai câu đầu trong Hà Nội Sang Thu (1980) gần giống hệt hai câu đầu trong Mùa Thu Năm Ngoái (1942). Thì thu Hà Nội có đổi mấy đâu, mà sao không dùng lại được đôi câu thơ thu Hà Nội? Chẳng những thu vẫn thế, mà người làm thơ chắc cũng vẫn thế, vẫn hay nhớ nhớ nhung nhung...
“Em” về trong hồn Hồ Dzếnh lúc “Hà Nội giao mùa” năm 1980, em ấy có phải một em “tiền chiến”? Bốn chục năm trời, trong khoảnh khắc như mới hôm qua...(Thu Tứ)
Hôm nay mình giới thiệu đến các bạn thi khúc “Em Cứ Hẹn” (“Ngập Ngừng”) của Thi sĩ Hồ Dzếnh và Nhạc sĩ Hoàng Thanh Tâm. Thi sĩ Hồ Dzếnh (1916-1991), tên thật là Hà Triệu Anh hay Hà Anh (ghi theo giọng Quảng Đông là Hồ Dzếnh) là một nhà thơ nổi tiếng.
Ông được biết nhiều nhất qua tập thơ “Quê Ngoại” với một giọng thơ nhẹ nhàng, siêu thoát phảng phất hương vị thơ cổ Trung Hoa. Ngoài ra ông còn là một nhà văn được biết đến với nhiều tác phẩm, tiêu biểu là tập truyện ngắn “Chân Trời Cũ” (1942), Thạch Lam đề tựa.
Ông sinh năm 1916 tại làng Đông Bích huyện Quảng Xương, tỉnh Thanh Hóa. Cha ông tên Hà Kiến Huân, là người gốc Quảng Đông sang sinh sống ở Việt Nam từ khoảng 1890, mẹ ông tên Đặng Thị Văn, là người Việt, quê ở bến Ghép, huyện Quảng Xương, Thanh Hóa.
Ông học trung học, dạy tư, làm thơ, viết báo từ năm 1931 tại Hà Nội. Năm 1953 ông vào Sài Gòn làm báo, năm 1954 trở về Hà Nội tiếp tục viết báo, làm thơ. Ông là hội viên Hội Nhà Văn Việt Nam ngay từ buổi đầu thành lập (1957).
Truyền thuyết về tên Hồ Dzếnh của ông nếu phát âm theo giọng Quảng Đông là Hồi-Tsìu-Díng, thu gọn lại là Hồi-Díng, chắc vì khi phiên âm sang tiếng Việt hai tiếng Hồi-Díng nghe không được hay lắm nên ông đã ghi là Hồ Dzếnh.
Tuy vậy những người trong làng văn nghệ vẫn cứ trêu đùa gọi ông là Hồ Dính, có người còn đặt một vế đối: “Hồ Dính dính hồ hồ chẳng dính” để thách đối. Lúc có người đối lại là: “Ngọc Giao giao ngọc ngọc không giao” (mượn tên nhà văn Ngọc Giao). Cũng có người đối lại: “Vũ Bằng bằng vũ vũ chưa bằng”, (mượn tên nhà văn Vũ Bằng), nhưng đều chưa chỉnh.
Hồ Dzếnh được truy tặng Giải Văn Học Nghệ Thuật năm 2007. Ông mất ngày 13 tháng 8 năm 1991 tại Hà Nội do bệnh xuất huyết dạ dày và viêm thận.
Theo Từ Điển Văn Học (bộ mới, Nhà xuất bản Thế giới, 2004) và Tuyển Tập Văn Xuôi Lãng Mạn Việt Nam 1930 -1945 (Nhà xuất bản KHXH, 1990), các tác phẩm của ông gồm có:
• Dĩ vãng (truyện vừa, 1940)
• Quê ngoại (tập thơ, 1942)
• Những Vành Khăn Trắng (truyện dài, ký bút hiệu Lưu thị Hạnh, 1942)
• Tiếng kêu trong máu (truyện dài, 1942)
• Một chuyện tình 15 năm về trước (ký bút hiệu Lưu thị Hạnh, 1943)
• Chân trời cũ (tập truyện ngắn, 1943)[2]
• Hoa Xuân Đất Việt (tập thơ,1946)
• Cô gái Bình Xuyên (truyện vừa, 1946)
• Cuốn sách không tên (tiểu thuyết tự truyện, xuất bản sau khi mất)
Ngoài ra, ông còn cho đăng nhiều thơ, truyện ngắn trên các báo cùng với các vở kịch đã công diễn, nhưng chưa xuất bản. Đặc biệt, bài thơ “Chiều” của ông đã được nhạc sĩ Dương Thiệu Tước phổ nhạc cũng khá nổi tiếng. Bài thơ “Ngập Ngừng” của ông cũng được nhiều nhạc sĩ phổ nhạc như Anh Bằng (Anh Cứ Hẹn), Hoàng Thanh Tâm (Em Cứ Hẹn)…
“Ngập Ngừng” là một bài thơ nổi tiếng của thi sĩ Hồ Dzếnh, nằm trong tập thơ: “Quê Ngoại”, xuất bản năm 1943. “Cỗ Bài Tam Cúc” là một bài thơ tình khác của ông cũng nổi tiếng không kém.
Trong “Lời giới thiệu” Tuyển tập Hồ Dzếnh – Tác phẩm chọn lọc, Nhà xuất bản Văn Học 1988, nhận định: “Tác phẩm của Hồ Dzếnh không nhiều, lại không tập trung ở một tờ báo hay đặc san nào.
Với bản chất trầm lắng, ông luôn luôn khiêm tốn tự cho mình là người mới bắt đầu bước vào nghề viết. Tuy nhiên, với hai tập văn thơ “Chân Trời Cũ” và “Quê Ngoại”, Hồ Dzếnh được biết đến như một nhà thơ có chân tài”.
Chính nhờ vào ý tưởng mới lạ, độc đáo của bài thơ, nên thi phẩm này đã gây một ấn tượng sâu đậm trong lòng người yêu thi ca, và được phổ biến rộng rãi qua nhiều thế hệ.
Không chỉ xuất hiện trong thi ca, không khí bàng bạc tính chất lãng mạn và thi vị của Ngập Ngừng còn loan tỏa sang cả lĩnh vực âm nhạc, với những nhạc phẩm phổ nhạc, lấy ý hoặc từ ngữ từ những câu trong bài thơ như: “Anh Cứ Hẹn” của Anh Bằng, “Chuyện Hẹn Hò” của Trần Thiện Thanh, “Ngập Ngừng” (Em Cứ Hẹn) của Hoàng Thanh Tâm, càng giúp cho tác phẩm của nhà thơ Hồ Dzếnh đi sâu hơn vào lòng người thưởng ngoạn nghệ thuật nói chung, hay thế giới thơ của Hồ Dzếnh nói riêng.
http://www.gocnhin.net/cgi-bin/viewitem.pl?861
Some of the answers here are confusing. The actual force of gravity exerted by the planet wouldn’t change. However, some of the effects of rotation change our experience of gravity.
The centrifugal force of the rotation counteracts some of the force exerted by gravity - so we feel like we weigh a little less than you’d expect from gravity alone. If you got rid of rotation, then we’d feel a little heavier - even though the actual gravitational force wouldn’t change.
The shape of the earth is distorted by rotation. The planet is a little larger around the equator than it is from pole to pole. If you got rid of rotation, then the earth would return to a more perfect sphere. That would put people who are standing on the equator a little closer to the center of the earth - and the people at the poles would be a little further out.
Since gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance - we’d expect people at the poles to feel a weaker gravitational force than the do now - and those at the poles to feel a little heavier. Both of these effects would be relatively tiny - enough to show up as a pound or two on your bathroom scales - but not enough to make a significant difference to daily life.
No. In a nutshell, mass and gravity are closely related … however, you are probably thinking in terms of the pseudogravity created by spin in science fiction. It is correct that the spin of the Earth adds a centrifugal effect that somewhat opposes the pull of gravity, so the net force that you press down on the ground is slightly reduced.
It is not correct to call this effect gravity. In general relativity, spin affects the way space-time curves about an object. In that way it does affect gravity. See “Kerr metric”.
No, the gravity is still the same, but an object on the surface of the planet would weight slightly less since the vertical acceleration would be reduced in the radial direction by v^2/r.
The overall gravity stays the same but an object at the surface on the equator would weigh slightly less than they would at the poles. Their mass remains unchanged.
https://www.quora.com/Does-spin-affect-gravity-on-a-planet
The full moon phase (from full moon to the third quarter) is most suited to sowing or planting out root crops as well as decorative or fruiting perennials. Like apples, potatoes asparagus and rhubarb. It's also a good time for taking cuttings and dividing plants.
Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for more than one quarter of the world’s population. Although the People’s Republic of China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, a special Chinese calendar is used for determining festivals. Various Chinese communities around the world also use this calendar.
The beginnings of the Chinese calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E.
The Chinese calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon. This means that principles of modern science have had an impact on the Chinese calendar.
...
The Chinese calendar - like the Hebrew - is a combined solar/lunar calendar in that it strives to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar:
An ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations:
...
First, determine the dates for the new moons. Here, a new moon is the completely "black" moon (that is, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun), not the first visible crescent used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is the first day of a new month.
Second, determine the dates when the sun’s longitude is a multiple of 30 degrees. (The sun’s longitude is 0 at Vernal Equinox, 90 at Summer Solstice, 180 at Autumnal Equinox, and 270 at Winter Solstice.) These dates are called the Principal Terms and are used to determine the number of each month:
Principal Term 1 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 330 degrees.
Principal Term 2 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 0 degrees.
Principal Term 3 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 30 degrees. (etc.)
Principal Term 11 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 270 degrees.
Principal Term 12 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 300 degrees.
...
Each month carries the number of the Principal Term that occurs in that month. In rare cases, a month may contain two Principal Terms; in this case the months numbers may have to be shifted. Principal Term 11 (Winter Solstice) must always fall in the 11th month.
All the astronomical calculations are carried out for the meridian 120 degrees east of Greenwich. This roughly corresponds to the east coast of China. Some variations in these rules are seen in various Chinese communities.
What Years Are Leap Years? Leap years have 13 months. To determine if a year is a leap year, calculate the number of new moons between the 11th month in one year (i.e., the month containing the Winter Solstice) and the 11th month in the following year. If there are 13 new moons from the start of the 11th month in the first year to the start of the 11th month in the second year, a leap month must be inserted.
In leap years, at least one month does not contain a Principal Term. The first such month is the leap month. It carries the same number as the previous month, with the additional note that it is the leap month.
Unlike most other calendars, the Chinese calendar does not count years in an infinite sequence. Instead years have names that are repeated every 60 years. (Historically, years used to be counted since the accession of an emperor, but this was abolished after the 1911 revolution.) Within each 60-year cycle, each year is assigned name consisting of two components:
The first component is a Celestial Stemm. These words have no English equivalent:
1 jia 6 ji
2 yi 7 geng
3 bing 8 xin
4 ding 9 ren
5 wu 10 gui
The second component is a Terrestrial Branch. The names of the corresponding animals in the zodiac cycle of 12 animals are given in parentheses.
1 zi (rat) 7 wu (horse)
2 chou (ox) 8 wei (sheep)
3 yin (tiger) 9 shen (monkey)
4 mao (hare, rabbit) 10 you (rooster)
5 chen (dragon) 11 xu (dog)
6 si (snake) 12 hai (pig)
Each of the two components is used sequentially. Thus, the 1st year of the 60-year cycle becomes jia-zi, the 2nd year is yi-chou, the 3rd year is bing-yin, etc. When we reach the end of a component, we start from the beginning: The 10th year is gui-you, the 11th year is jia-xu (restarting the Celestial Stem), the 12th year is yi-hai, and the 13th year is bing-zi (restarting the Terrestrial Branch). Finally, the 60th year becomes gui-hai.
This way of naming years within a 60-year cycle goes back approximately 2000 years. A similar naming of days and months has fallen into disuse, but the date name is still listed in calendars.
It is customary to number the 60-year cycles since 2637 B.C.E., when the calendar was supposedly invented. In that year the first 60-year cycle started.
What Is the Current Year in the Chinese Calendar? The current 60-year cycle started on 2 Feb 1984. That date bears the name bing-yin in the 60-day cycle, and the first month of that first year bears the name gui-chou in the 60-month cycle.
This means that the year wu-yin, the 15th year in the 78th cycle, started on 28 Jan 1998. The 20th year in the 78th cycle, started on 1 Feb 2003. The following are dates for Chinese/Lunar New Year’s day:
Chinese year Zodiac animal Gregorian calendar
4693 Boar January 31, 1995
4694 Rat February 19, 1996
4695 Ox February 7, 1997
4696 Tiger January 28, 1998
4697 Hare/Rabbit February 16, 1999
4698 Dragon February 5, 2000
4699 Snake January 24, 2001
4700 Horse February 12, 2002
4701 Ram/Sheep February 1, 2003
4702 Monkey January 22, 2004
4703 Rooster February 9, 2005
4704 Dog January 29, 2006
4705 Boar February 18, 2007
4706 Rat February 7, 2008
4707 Ox January 26, 2009
4708 Tiger February 10, 2010
4709 Hare/Rabbit February 3, 2011
4710 Dragon January 23, 2012
4711 Snake February 10, 2013
4712 Horse January 31, 2014
4713 Ram/Sheep February 19, 2015
4714 Monkey February 9, 2016
4715 Rooster January 28, 2017
4716 Dog February 16, 2018
4717 Boar February 5, 2019
4718 Rat January 25, 2020
What about the year 2033? In the early 1990s, Chinese astronomers discovered that there was an error in the Chinese calendar for 2033. The traditional calendar claimed that the leap month would follow the 7th month, while in fact it comes after the 11th month.
It is very unusual that the 11th month has a leap month, in fact it hasn’t happened since the calendar reform in 1645 (before 1645, all months had the same probability for having a leap month).
But many Chinese astronomers still claim that there will never be a leap month after the 12th and 1st month. In addition, there will be a leap month after the 1st month in 2262 (in fact, it should have happened in 1651, but they got the calculations wrong!) and there will be a leap month after the 12th month in 3358.
Since the Chinese calendar is an astronomical calendar, predictions require delicate astronomical calculations, so my computations for 3358 should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
When did the calendar really start? If the Chinese calendar started in 2637 B.C.E., why is the current year 60 years too late? (e.g., in 1999, the current year was 4697? and not 4637)?
The Chinese calendar does not use a continuous year count! They used a 60 year cycle and a system of regional years (starting with each emperor). Before the 1911 revolution, Sun Yat-sen wanted to establish a republican alternative to the imperial reign cycles.
According to Chinese tradition, the first year of the Yellow Emperor was 2698 B.C.E., so he introduced a counting system based on this. Under this system, 2000 is year 4698. An alternative system is to start with the first historical record of the 60-day cycle from March 8, 2637 B.C.E. Based on this system, 2000 is year 4637.
Shang oracle bones - Two oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty in China (c. 1800 - 1200 BCE): Evidence from the Shang oracle bone inscriptions shows that at least by the 14th century BC the Shang Chinese had established the solar year at 365¼ days and lunation at 29½ days. In the calendar that the Shang used, the seasons of the year and the phases of the Moon were all supposedly accounted for.
What was the Early Chinese calendar? In China, the calendar was a sacred document, sponsored and promulgated by the reigning monarch. For more than two millennia, a Bureau of Astronomy made astronomical observations, calculated astronomical events such as eclipses, prepared astrological predictions, and maintained the calendar. After all, a successful calendar not only served practical needs, but also confirmed the consonance between Heaven and the imperial court.
Analysis of surviving astronomical records inscribed on oracle bones reveals a Chinese lunisolar calendar, with intercalation of lunar months, dating back to the Shang dynasty of the fourteenth century B.C.E.
Various intercalation schemes were developed for the early calendars, including the nineteen-year and 76-year lunar phase cycles that came to be known in the West as the Metonic cycle and Callipic cycle.
From the earliest records, the beginning of the year occurred at a New Moon near the winter solstice. The choice of month for beginning the civil year varied with time and place, however. In the late second century B.C.E., a calendar reform established the practice, which continues today, of requiring the winter solstice to occur in month 11.
This reform also introduced the intercalation system in which dates of New Moons are compared with the 24 solar terms. However, calculations were based on the mean motions resulting from the cyclic relationships. Inequalities in the Moon’s motions were incorporated as early as the seventh century C.E., but the Sun’s mean longitude was used for calculating the solar terms until 1644.
Years were counted from a succession of eras established by reigning emperors. Although the accession of an emperor would mark a new era, an emperor might also declare a new era at various times within his reign. The introduction of a new era was an attempt to reestablish a broken connection between Heaven and Earth, as personified by the emperor.
The break might be revealed by the death of an emperor, the occurrence of a natural disaster, or the failure of astronomers to predict a celestial event such as an eclipse. In the latter case, a new era might mark the introduction of new astronomical or calendrical models.
Sexagenary cycles were used to count years, months, days, and fractions of a day using the set of Celestial Stems and Terrestrial Branches. Use of the sixty-day cycle is seen in the earliest astronomical records. By contrast the sixty-year cycle was introduced in the first century C.E. or possibly a century earlier.
Although the day count has fallen into disuse in everyday life, it is still tabulated in calendars. The initial year (jia-zi) of the current year cycle began on 1984 February 2, which is the third day (bing-yin) of the day cycle.
Details of early calendars - One of the two methods that they used to make this calendar was to add an extra month of 29 or 30 days, which they termed the 13th month, to the end of a regular 12-month year. There is also evidence that suggests that the Chinese developed the Metonic cycle (see above Complex cycles) – i.e., 19 years with a total of 235 months–a century ahead of Meton’s first calculation (no later than the Spring and Autumn period, 770-476 BC).
During this cycle of 19 years there were seven intercalations of months. The other method, which was abandoned soon after the Shang started to adopt it, was to insert an extra month between any two months of a regular year. Possibly, a lack of astronomical and arithmetical knowledge allowed them to do this.
By the 3rd century BC, the first method of intercalation was gradually falling into disfavour, while the establishment of the meteorological cycle, the erh-shih-ssu chieh-ch'i (Pinyin ershisi jieqi), during this period officially revised the second method. This meteorological cycle contained 24 points.
Each beginning one of the periods named consecutively the Spring Begins, the Rain Water, the Excited Insects, the Vernal Equinox, the Clear and Bright, the Grain Rains, the Summer Begins, the Grain Fills, the Grain in Ear, the Summer Solstice, the Slight Heat, the Great Heat, the Autumn Begins, the Limit of Heat, the White Dew, the Autumn Equinox, the Cold Dew, the Hoar Frost Descends, the Winter Begins, the Little Snow, the Heavy Snow, the Winter Solstice, the Little Cold, and the Severe Cold.
The establishment of this cycle required a fair amount of astronomical understanding of the Earth as a celestial body, and without elaborate equipment it is impossible to collect the necessary information. Modern scholars acknowledge the superiority of pre-Sung Chinese astronomy (at least until about the 13th century AD) over that of other, contemporary nations.
The 24 points within the meteorological cycle coincide with points 15º apart on the ecliptic (the plane of the Earth’s yearly journey around the Sun or, if it is thought that the Sun turns around the Earth, the apparent journey of the Sun against the stars). It takes about 15.2 days for the Sun to travel from one of these points to another (because the ecliptic is a complete circle of 360º), and the Sun needs 365 ¼ days to finish its journey in this cycle.
Supposedly, each of the 12 months of the year contains two points, but, because a lunar month has only 29 ½ days and the two points share about 30.4 days, there is always the chance that a lunar month will fail to contain both points, though the distance between any two given points is only 15º. If such an occasion occurs, the intercalation of an extra month takes place.
For instance, one may find a year with two "Julys" or with two "Augusts" in the Chinese calendar. In fact, the exact length of the month in the Chinese calendar is either 30 days or 29 days–a phenomenon which reflects its lunar origin. Also, the meteorological cycle means essentially a solar year. The Chinese thus consider their calendar as yin-yang li, or a "lunar-solar calendar."
When were foreign calendars introduced? Although the yin-yang li has been continuously employed by the Chinese, foreign calendars were introduced to the Chinese, the Hindu calendar, for instance, during the T'ang (Tang) dynasty (618-907), and were once used concurrently with the native calendar. This situation also held true for the Muslim calendar, which was introduced during the Yüan dynasty (1206-1368).
The Gregorian calendar was taken to China by Jesuit missionaries in 1582, the very year that it was first used by Europeans. Not until 1912, after the general public adopted the Gregorian calendar, did the yin-yang li lose its primary importance.
Western (pre-Copernican) astronomical theories were introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century. Gradually, more modern Western concepts became known. Following the revolution of 1911, the traditional practice of counting years from the accession of an emperor was abolished.
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-chinese.html
Chinese Lunar Calendar needs 7 extra lunar months in 19 years or 144 extra leap months in 391 years. How does the Chinese lunar Leap Month work? Basically, Chinese Solar-Lunar Calendar looks for the least common multiple number of solar months and lunar months to adjust the cycles of the Moon and the Sun. It's kind of complicate. We need to explain it using the astronomical data of Moon and Sun.
What is Chinese Lunar Leap Month? First, we need to know the difference between the Chinese Astronomical Calendar and the Civil Calendar. The Chinese Civil Calendar is posted by the Chinese government. The Chinese Astronomical Calendar is used by astronomers who work for government. The Astronomical Calendar is much more accurate than the Civil Calendar.
The major difference is the assignment of Leap Months (Intercalary Months). We know a leap month is assigned if a lunar month (new moon to new moon) has no Solar Center Point. But, what do we do when the new moon day and the Solar Center Point fall on the same day?
If the new moon day and the Solar Center Point are on the same day, the lunar month contains that Solar Center Point in the Civil Calendar system. In the Astronomical Calendar, we have to compare the new moon time and the Solar Center Point time (hour, minute and second). The lunar month contains that Solar Center Point only if the Solar Center Point time comes after new moon time.
Different Time Zones, Different Leap Months - Because they are different, the listing of leap month assignments is different. From the following comparison charts of Beijing Time, PST and EST from 1979-2001.
Leap Month assignments are different between the Astronomical and the Civil Calendar. Leap Month assignments are different from different time zones' the Civil Calendars. Leap Month assignments are the same from all different time zones' Astronomical Calendars. Extra 1985 Leap Month was removed in China time zone.
The Chinese Lunar Calendar system would be perfect, if the length of solar month was always longer than the length of a lunar month. If a lunar month is longer than a solar month, then it's possible that a lunar month contains two solar Center Points.
We can call such month as the Double-Center-Point Lunar Month. For example, the lunar month in the December of 2052 contains Winter Solstice 2052/12/21 04:18:32 and Severe Cold 2053/01/19 15:00:35 in the following table of Chinese Astronomical Calendar.
When a lunar month contains two solar Center Points, then there will be a month nearby without any Center Point. Such a month without any Center Point is not a Leap Month, is called a Fake Leap Month. Therefore, the lunar month 2053/03/20 07:12:00 in the March of 2053 is not a Leap Month. Because this imperfection of Chinese Leap Month assignment, we need the 5th rule into the Chinese Calendar original rules.
The new moon day is the first day of a lunar month. The name of a lunar name is named by the Solar Center Point. The first lunar month of the year is the Tiger month, which contains Rain Water Center Point. The lunar month without a Center Point is a Leap Month ( Intercalary Month ).
The first Leap Month after a lunar month containing two solar Center Points is a Fake Leap Month and must be removed. All these five rules are good enough to make a nearly perfect Chinese Calendar. However, some articles about Chinese Calendar provides more rules. such as:
The Winter Solstice should fall in the 11th lunar month. The Chinese New Year Day must be between January 21st and February 21st. The 11th, 12th and 1st lunar months shouldn't contain a Leap Month. If there are two Leap Months in a Lunar Year, then the first Leap Month after the Winter Solstice is considered intercalary.
There are no strong astronomical reasons to make those rules for Chinese Calendar. Actually, they are only thumb-of-rule to determine the location of Leap Months. When studying the Sun and Moon astronomical data, we can understand more about the issues on the assignments of Leap Month. Also, we will know more about the difference between Astronomical Calendar and Civil Calendar.
https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/CLC/LeapMonth.htm
Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar, is formed on the movement of the moon and the sun. It is also called the Lunar calendar, Yin calendar, Xia calendar or the old Chinese calendar. Each Chinese calendar year has a zodiac sign, 12 or 13 months and each month has 29 or 30 days.
If there are 12 months, there will be 354 or 355 days in a year; if 13 months, there will be 383 or 384 days. Although China has adopted the Gregorian calendar for official and business occasions, the traditional Chinese calendar is widely used to define 24 solar terms, traditional holidays and helps to choose a lucky day before important activities such as wedding, moving into a new house.
Each time the moon moves into a line with the earth and the sun, a new month begins and this is called 'Chu Yi' or 'Shuo Ri', meaning the first day of a lunar month. When the full moon appears, it is the middle of the month. The time of a full moon circle is a little more than 29 days, so one month has 29 days or 30 days.
There are 12 – 13months in a lunar year. The month with its first day nearest the Beginning of Spring (the first solar term) is the first lunar month, and on that day the Spring Festival is held and this varies between January 20th and February 20th.
Leap Month - Just as the Gregorian calendar has a leap year in order to compensate for the fact that the earth does not travel around the sun in exactly 365 days, the Chinese calendar is adjusted so as to ensure that it bears a proper relationship with the apparent movement of the sun between the northern and southern tropics.
People in ancient times concluded that there is a 19 year cycle. And within this cycle, certain days will equate with the lunar day. For example, in 1963, 1982, and 2001, May 28th coincided with the sixth day of the fourth month in lunar year.
To decide when a leap month needs to be added to bring the lunar calendar in accordance to the earth's movement around the sun, the 24 solar terms are considered. Most months will have more than one solar term but in those instances where a month has only one, it will be repeated with 29 or 30 days the same as a normal month which means there are 13 months in some years. This phenomenon can occur every two or three years.
Chinese Lunar Calendar 2020 - According to Chinese calendar, 2020 is Geng Zi Year. It has a leap April, so all together 13 months, lasting from January 25, 2020 to February 11, 2021. The zodiac sign is Rat.
All traditional Chinese festivals are decided according to the lunar calendar. For example, Spring Festival is the first day of a lunar year, Dragon Boat Festival is on May 5th and Mid-Autumn Festival is on August 15th in lunar calendar.
Chinese Zodiac - A zodiac year is from the first day to the last day of a lunar year. Every lunar year has a representative zodiac. And it has a 12-year cycle with the order as Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
24 Solar Terms - After observing the sun’s movement, ancients have found the longest day and the shortest day of a year, respectively Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. Using these two annual events, a Chinese calendar year was divided into 24 equal parts, each forming a solar term.
24 solar terms show people’s understanding of four seasons, climate and the agriculture. For instance, the Beginning of Spring (Li Chun) symbolizes the coming of spring; Grain in Beard (Mang Zhong) means it is time to harvest wheat and Greater Cold (Da Han) signifies the coldest time of a year.
See more Customs Concerning the 24 Solar Terms - Choose a Lucky Date: In daily life, Chinese people usually choose a lucky day in Chinese calendar before important activities such as marriage proposal, wedding, praying for pregnancy, and traveling.
Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches - Based on Chinese lunar calendar, Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches is developed which is used to calculate years. The 10 heavenly stems are Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui and the 12 earthly branches are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai.
Every lunar year has a name combined by 1 heavenly stem and 1 earthly branch. For example, 2020 is Geng Zi year and 2021 is Xin Chou year. When every lunar new year comes, the heavenly stems and earthly branches turn to next one and combine a new name. And it has a 60-year cycle.
Five Elements - Ancient Chinese believed the universe was composed of five elements, namely metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Chinese like to find out their element using their birth date in lunar calendar and predict their life horoscope, like what career they are suitable for and what kind of people they are supposed to marry.
Over 4,000 Years’ History of Chinese Lunar Calendar - The lunar calendar has a very long history going back to the Xia (21st century BC - 16th century BC) and Shang Dynasty (16th century BC - 11th century BC). Roughly speaking, it has existed for more than 4,000 years. It is based on a unique combination of astronomy and geography through observation and exploration.
Following its creation in the Xia Dynasty, succeeding reigns continued to use the calendar but modified it from time to time. The Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) rulers instituted the Taichu calendar, while during Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) the Huangji calendar was introduced and it was adopted by Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Differences between Chinese Calendar and Gregorian Calendar - Chinese calendar is lunisolar calendar which is calculated according to the movement of the moon and the sun. Gregorian calendar is calculated by the movement of sun; when the earth goes around the sun for one circle, it is one year. Generally speaking, lunar calendar is 20 – 50 days later than Gregorian calendar.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/calendar.htm
The Chinese calendar has 12 or 13 lunar months per year, and is about 20 to 50 days behind the Gregorian calendar. It’s used to determine the dates of traditional Chinese festivals, like Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn. It’s also used for Chinese zodiac astrology, and many Chinese still celebrate their Chinese calendar birthdays.
Chinese Calendar Uses: Zodiac, Festivals, Lucky Dates...
Although China uses the Gregorian (global) calendar for most official and business purposes, the Chinese calendar is still used to determine the days of traditional festivals, such as Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn.
It is used by some for celebrating birthdays, and even for agriculture (when to plough, plant, harvest, etc.) and how Chinese view the four seasons.
The Chinese calendar is still popular among the Chinese people for Chinese zodiac horoscopes and choosing auspicious days for weddings, funerals, relocation, etc. It is also used by other East Asian countries including Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan.
Chinese Zodiac Years are based on Chinese lunar calendar - There are two dates a Chinese zodiac year could be said to start on: Chinese New Year (day 1 of the lunar year), which is somewhere in the period January 21 to February 20. Start of Spring (day 1 of the solar year), the first day of the first solar term in the traditional Chinese solar calendar, which falls in the period February 3–5.
Most Chinese people use lunar new year as the start of the zodiac year. But for professional fortune telling, Chinese astrologers use 'Start of Spring' or solar new year as the beginning of the zodiac year. The Chinese calendar can seem very foreign and complicated if you are new to it, but basically it just counts the moon cycles from one "spring" (Chinese New Year) to the next.
The Chinese calendar is based on lunar cycles or phases of the moon. Chinese months begin with new moon, and have a full moon on day 15. As a new moon comes roughly every 29½ days, Chinese calendar months always have 29 or 30 days. (Days: In the Chinese calendar, a day starts at midnight, but traditionally people regarded dawn as the beginning of a day.)
China's traditional solar calendar is seldom referred to for dates, but the Chinese calendar mirrors it and includes extra lunar months to keep pace with it. The Chinese calendar is traditionally called the ‘lunar calendar' (阴历 Yīnlì /yin-lee/) to distinguish it from the traditional ‘solar calendar', and now the Gregorian calendar (阳历 yánglì /yang-lee/).
The traditional solar calendar in China, like the Gregorian calendar, is based solely on the orbit of the Earth around the sun. It has 12 solar months (of 30 or 31 days — no shorter "February"), 365 days in a regular year and 366 days in a leap year. But that's where the similarities end…
Each month of China's solar calendar has two solar terms of 15 or 16 days. The 24 solar terms once governed agricultural arrangements in China. Solar terms occur on almost the same days each year on the Gregorian calendar.
The solar terms split the Chinese year into four equal length seasons (of three months or six solar terms), each centered on an equinox or solstice day. Learn more about the 24 solar terms.
Leap Months — When Chinese Add a 13th Month
As a lunar month is on average 0.92 days shorter than a "solar month", the lunar calendar is just under a day per month slower than the solar calendar. To prevent the lunar calendar from becoming more than half a month of sync with the solar calendar, an extra "leap month" is added in the Chinese calendar every 32 or 33 months. So every second or third Chinese calendar year has 13 months and 383–385 days.
The last Chinese calendar leap month began on October 24, 2014. There were two ninth lunar months: month 9 and then "intercalary month 9" — the leap month. The next leap month will be in 2020, when a second lunar month 4 will be observed.
Chinese Calendar Dates and Gregorian Calendar Dates - A Chinese calendar date is from 15 days behind to 15 days in front of the traditional solar calendar. That's 21 to 51 days behind the corresponding Gregorian calendar date (intercalary months excepted).
This can most easily be seen with Chinese New Year dates. Chinese New Year, the first day of the first lunar month, falls strictly in the period January 21 to February 20. China's first lunar month always starts within 15 days of the start of the first solar term ‘Start of Spring', on February 5 (or the 4th or 6th).
Ancient Chinese people named each lunar month according to what they or nature traditionally did in that month. Each Chinese calendar year has a Chinese zodiac animal associated with it, in a cycle of 12 animal signs: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. The latest 12-year cycle began on Chinese New Year 2008 with a year of the Rat. The Chinese calendar affects festivals, and hence the busiest times for travel in China. These are times to avoid travelling in China unless you want to take part in the festivities.
https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/guidebook/chinese-calendar.htm
Principal Term 12 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 300 degrees. The sky isn't falling As Comet Hale-Bopp continues to grow increasingly prominent in the sky, humans around the world will be peering at it with fear, awe, curiosity, superstition and suspicion.
That's nothing new. Throughout recorded history people have looked at the heavens, and celestial phenomena such as comets, meteor showers, the Northern Lights, novas and even eclipses have provoked visceral responses ranging from reverence to hysteria. Comets in particular have held an extended and generally terrifying fascination for people, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
"Comets have a long history, usually as omens and bearers of bad news," says Woody Sullivan, professor of astronomy. "But on the other hand, the death of Julius Caesar was marked by a comet and this was taken by the Romans as a sign of his divinity. And Napoleon made a fuss about the appearances of comets and some of his early military victories.
"'Awe-full' might be a better way to describe the impact of comets. It is often taken to mean dread, but it also can indicate greatness."
Caesar and Napoleon aside, comets generally have been regarded unwelcome visitors over the years. Pope Callixtus III excommunicated Halley's Comet in 1456 as an "instrument of the devil," and in the following century the appearances of comets were seen by Inca and Aztec astrologers as signs of divine wrath leading to the downfall of those empires to Spain.
The 1835-36 return of Halley's Comet was said to have caused a large fire in New York, a Zulu massacre of Boers in South Africa and the Mexican slaughter of Texans at the Alamo. In 1910, charlatans sold "comet pills" and "comet insurance" and a number of fearful Americans tried to board up their houses as protection against poisonous cyanide gas as the earth passed through the tail of Halley's comet.
Lurid and fanciful descriptions of comets stretch the imagination. Ambroise Par=8E, a French physician, described the comet of 1528 as follows: "This comet was so horrible, so frightful, and it produced such great terror that some died of fear and others fell sick. It appeared to be of extreme length, and was the color of blood."
This dark shadow over comets persists in strange ways to the present. The very appearance of these cosmic iceballs is given a ghostly presence by being called an apparition by science.
With this kind of historical record, it's no wonder that the approach of Hale-Bopp has been heralded by a rash of claims that: the comet is accompanied by a "dark" companion, is shadowed by a large spaceship four times the size of earth and is being controlled by extra-terrestrial intelligence.
Why do celestial phenomena, particularly comets, provoke such extreme reactions? "Whenever a major event occurs in the environment that is unusual, it is frightening because it is not natural and because we have no explanation for it and can't control it," explains Robert Kohlenberg, an associate professor of psychology, who studies how people learn.
"Explanations of phenomena such as comets are ultimately appealing because they offer control and the possibility of protecting ourselves against possible harm. This is very reasonable and accounts for why we have science and also why some people come up with less than conventional ideas to explain phenomena. Everything is always answered in terms of what motivates us. In this case, the motivation is protection. If something is unknown, there is no conceivable way of dealing with it," he adds.
As the same time, Kohlenberg acknowledges that alternative or less conventional ideas such as rocket ship guiding comets can be appealing because they do offer an explanation.
"Assuming that there are no frauds and charlatans involved, many people who come up with off-beat ideas are sincere in their explanations, which give them a better sense of control than the scientific reasons. Ideas of this type that persist are useful; if they are not, these beliefs die.
"We have a strong belief in science in our culture, so these off- beat ideas stand out. They might not in other cultures where science is not as well accepted."
Sullivan agrees, noting that the 20th century has been called the "psychiatric century" and that there are UFO believers who will latch onto anything to support their beliefs. This is, he notes, a product of the space age, the cold war and the modern-day belief in government cover-ups.
"But there has been a long human tradition of outside forces influencing events and, of course, in many belief systems the gods lived in the sky," says Sullivan.
"All ancient cultures with historical records, western and eastern, looked at any new apparition in the sky, such as a comet, with apprehension. The average person in ancient times knew the heavens much better than we do today, and something changing day to day in the sky was alarming to them."
But like Napoleon, not everyone dreaded comets. Back in the 17th century, Europeans believed that comets affected weather and helped produce superior wines. Comets were believed to cause warmer temperatures and thus higher sugar concentrations in wine grapes. 1997 already promises to be a vintage year for comet watching. Only time will tell if it will be the same for chardonnay.
https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/news59.html
The Spanish encountered the Aztec Empire not as a bunch of lost cities in the jungle but as a living, breathing civilization. When the conquistadors were welcomed into the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan by the Emperor Montezuma in 1519, the Aztecs had controlled most of central Mexico by outright subjugation and through various systems of tribute. The Aztec Empire’s influence was felt as far away as Central America and the American Southwest.
Many living under Aztec control wanted the empire out of their lives, and when the Spanish arrived they welcomed the Europeans who would help them overthrow the empire. Before the arrival of the Spanish the Aztecs knew their control over central Mexico was somewhat tenuous and were always aware of the possibility of internal strife causing a political and social collapse.
In the days of Montezuma’s reign, at the beginning of the 16th Century and starting some ten years before the arrival of Cortés and his men, Emperor Montezuma was witness to 8 omens which supposedly foretold the end of the empire and his own death. Because of these omens there was an underlying feeling that the Aztecs were doomed, and when the Spanish arrived those who remembered the omens saw their fates as sealed.
Whether or not these omens actually occurred is a question for historians and folklorists alike. We first see them mentioned in The Florentine Codex, a massive 3-volume illustrated ethnographic compilation put together by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. The codex has over 2,000 illustrations in its 2,400 pages and in Book 12 of the Codex we find the 8 signs that supposedly predicted the doom to befall the Aztecs.
Scholars are divided as to whether or not these omens were made up after the fact to justify the Spanish Conquest in the eyes of the conquered natives and to the rest of the world, or if they really happened. Myth or real, here are the 8 omens of Montezuma in the order they occurred.
8omens4The first omen reportedly occurred a full 10 years before the arrival of the Spaniards, which would put it happening around 1509. One day what has been described as a “fire plume” appeared in the sky. According to the legends, this is commonly referred to as “the sky omen”.
A great streak of light appeared in the night sky for almost a year, described as narrow at the tip and wide at its base, and so bright that it seemed like daybreak in the middle of the night. This “fire plume” was most likely a comet and is verified by an Aztec source called The Codex Telleriano–Remensis which chronicles natural disasters and cosmic events that happened in central Mexico from the 14th Century to the 16th Century.
There is an illustration in this codex showing Emperor Montezuma with a comet overhead and the Aztec calendar date corresponds to the European year of 1509.
So, this may be an omen that has an actual historical basis. In any event, the sky “fire plume” omen caused great distress among the people of ancient Mexico. According to one source, “As soon as it appeared, men cried out, slapping their mouths with the palms of their hands. Everybody was afraid, everybody wailed.” Comets throughout history have been seen as bringers of good luck or bad luck, and in this case, the comet was seen as a bad omen.
8Omens1The second omen had to do with the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli and it also involved a fire, but a more terrestrial kind. Huitzilopochtli was not only the god of war, of human sacrifice and of the sun, he was the patron and protector of the Aztec capital at Tenochtitlan and was seen as sort of a national god of the Aztecs. According to Aztec legends it was this god who was with them as a protector from Day One.
From their wanderings in the desert through their conquest of most of Mexico, Huitzilopochtli was always there watching over and guiding the Aztec people. It was a national catastrophe when the temple dedicated to this god caught fire in the central ceremonial complex of the Aztec capital. First, the wooden pillars of the temple caught fire suddenly and then the fire spread to the rest of the structure. It seemed that whenever water was poured on the fire, the fire increased.
When the fire was finally extinguished with most of Huitzilopochtli’s temple gone, the Aztec priests and astrologers declared what the citizens of the great city had already felt: this was a very bad omen.
The third omen occurred at another sacred place, a building used as both a temple and a monastery called Tzommolco-calmecac, also located in the central part of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. The temple-monastery complex was dedicated to the god Xiuhtecuhtli. This god was symbolized by the North Star and was seen as the lord of fire, patron and keeper of the Mexican volcanoes and god of the daytime and of heat.
Xiuhtecuhtli was also the god of food during famine, warmth during cold and of life after death. He lived in an impenetrable enclosure made of turquoise located somewhere underneath the earth so that no harm would come to him. The temple at Tzommolco was not as strong as this turquoise enclosure.
On a day of misty drizzle, a bolt of lightning came down and struck the temple and its thatched roof caught fire immediately. Witnesses claimed that there was no sound of thunder accompanying the lightning strike and that the storm was not a severe one. It seemed to occur for no reason, other than to be a “bad sign.”
The fourth omen happened much like the first, overhead in the skies. Thousands of people throughout central Mexico looked to the skies bewildered and afraid when they saw three large balls of fire emitting sparks streak across the sky from west to east.
Some reported a terrible sound accompanying this spectacle, like a deep roar of a wild animal. Later it was determined that these were most likely meteors entering the earth’s atmosphere and heading for somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless, this heavenly phenomenon was interpreted by all who saw it as a bad sign.
8omens6The fifth omen had to do with the lifeblood and the highway of the Aztecs, the very lake on which their capital sat, Lake Texcoco. Fishing boats were out on the water normally one day in calm weather when suddenly the lake welled up. Swirling eddies tossed about the boats and caused a mini tidal wave to hit the settlements on the shore, including the capital city which was on the island in the middle of the lake.
Many buildings flooded and some structures crumbled. While not too disastrous, this event had a more devastating psychological effect. No one could explain why the water in the lake would do that and it was another one to put on the list of the bad omens that were foretelling the great disaster that was to come. Modern day scientists and researchers theorize that seismic or underground volcanic activity could have been responsible for the strange behavior of Lake Texcoco that day.
The sixth omen concerns the sounds of a weeping woman which some say may be the basis of the legend of La Llorona. Please see Mexico Unexplained episode Number Three for a detailed description of the Llorona legend. For several nights the citizens of the Aztec capital city had heard the cries of a woman.
Some believed that it was the snake-skirted goddess Coatlicue, the mother deity of all the Aztecs, warning her children of the disasters yet to come. On some evenings the female voice was heard to be saying, “My children, it is already too late,” and “My children, where can I take you?”
The haunting voice filled all who heard it with a deep sense of dread and news of what was happening quickly spread from the capital city to all the corners of the Aztec Empire. What was behind this wailing woman’s message of foreboding? What did it mean?
The seventh omen had to do with a strange bird found by fisherman on Lake Texcoco. When the men saw this unusual gray-colored bird, they captured it in their nets and brought it directly to the imperial palace to present it to Emperor Montezuma, who had an impressive private zoo and collected strange and interesting creatures.
Please see Mexico Unexplained episode number 43 for a detailed discussion about Montezuma’s private zoo. In his vast collection of animals, the Aztec emperor had never seen such an unusual bird. It appeared to be some sort of crane, but it had a flat, round, black reflective surface on its forehead, almost like a mirror.
When he looked at the mirror-like fixture on the bird’s head, Montezuma could see the sky and the constellations and then people came into view. He saw a great army with men riding gigantic deer and carrying weapons unknown to him. When Montezuma called the court priests and astrologers over to see the images in the mirror, the images vanished and the bird died.
The last omen occurred just weeks before the Spanish arrived at the Aztec capital. A two-headed man appeared in the streets of Tenochtitlan. Witnesses were alarmed at the sight and people knew that the emperor had a human section of his zoo where he housed people with various deformities, so the two-headed man was brought directly to Montezuma.
According to the legend, when the emperor laid eyes on him, the two-headed man just disappeared. Another variation of this omen has a number of two-headed men showing up in the streets of the Aztec capital and all of them vanishing when brought to the imperial palace. As it was known that Montezuma took a keen interest in such people, this omen may have some basis in historical fact.
According to the legends, Montezuma did not dismiss the omens but meditated on them and took them very seriously. In spite of having the best astrological and priestly counsel in the Aztec Empire, the emperor had no idea of what the omens meant or what fate would befall him or his realm.
As news of the omens spread throughout the empire, perhaps some people were psychologically prepared for what was to come. Given the brutality experienced by some of the peoples subjugated by the Aztecs, perhaps each omen represented hope instead of doom. Whether good or bad, all who had heard of these omens had a feeling that big changes were on the horizon and they were right.
http://mexicounexplained.com/8-omens-montezuma-end-aztec-empire/
Moctezuma II (c. 1466 – 29 June 1520), variant spellings include Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motēuczōmah, Muteczuma, and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (Moctezuma the Younger, About this soundmodern Nahuatl pronunciation (help·info)),[N.B. 1] was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlán, reigning from 1502 to 1520.
The first contact between indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, when conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men fought to take over the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
During his reign the Aztec Empire reached its greatest size. Through warfare, Moctezuma expanded the territory as far south as Xoconosco in Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and incorporated the Zapotec and Yopi people into the empire. He changed the previous meritocratic system of social hierarchy and widened the divide between pipiltin (nobles) and macehualtin (commoners) by prohibiting commoners from working in the royal palaces.
The portrayal of Moctezuma in history has mostly been colored by his role as ruler of a defeated nation, and many sources describe him as weak-willed and indecisive. The biases of some historical sources make it difficult to understand his actions during the Spanish invasion.
Moctezuma had many wives and concubines but only two women held the position of queen – Tlapalizquixochtzin and Teotlalco. He was also a king consort of Ecatepec because Tlapalizquixochtzin was queen of that city.
His many children included Princess Isabel Moctezuma — and sons Chimalpopoca (not to be confused with the previous huey tlatoani) and Tlaltecatzin.
The Nahuatl pronunciation of his name is [motekʷˈsoːma]. It is a compound of a noun meaning "lord" and a verb meaning "to frown in anger", and so is interpreted as "he is one who frowns like a lord"[4] or "he who is angry in a noble manner."
His name glyph, shown in the upper left corner of the image from the Codex Mendoza above, was composed of a diadem (xiuhuitzolli) on straight hair with an attached earspool, a separate nosepiece and a speech scroll.
Regnal number - The Aztecs did not use regnal numbers; they were given retroactively by historians to more easily distinguish him from the first Moctezuma, referred to as Moctezuma I.[The Aztec chronicles called him Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, while the first was called Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina or Huehuemotecuhzoma ("Old Moctezuma").
Xocoyotzin (IPA: [ʃokoˈjotsin]) means "honored young one" (from "xocoyotl" [younger son] + suffix "-tzin" added to nouns or personal names when speaking about them with deference).
The descriptions of the life of Moctezuma are full of contradictions, and thus nothing is known for certain about his personality and rule.
The firsthand account of Bernal Díaz del Castillo's True History of the Conquest of New Spain paints a portrait of a noble leader who struggles to maintain order in his kingdom after he is taken prisoner by Hernán Cortés. In his first description of Moctezuma, Díaz del Castillo writes:
The Great Montezuma was about forty years old, of good height, well proportioned, spare and slight, and not very dark, though of the usual Indian complexion. He did not wear his hair long but just over his ears, and he had a short black beard, well-shaped and thin. His face was rather long and cheerful, he had fine eyes, and in his appearance and manner could express geniality or, when necessary, a serious composure. He was very neat and clean, and took a bath every afternoon.
He had many women as his mistresses, the daughters of chieftains, but two legitimate wives who were Caciques[N.B. 2] in their own right, and only some of his servants knew of it. He was quite free from sodomy. The clothes he wore one day he did not wear again till three or four days later. He had a guard of two hundred chieftains lodged in rooms beside his own, only some of whom were permitted to speak to him.
When Moctezuma was allegedly killed by being stoned to death by his own people "Cortés and all of us captains and soldiers wept for him, and there was no one among us that knew him and had dealings with him who did not mourn him as if he were our father, which was not surprising, since he was so good.
It was stated that he had reigned for seventeen years, and was the best king they ever had in Mexico, and that he had personally triumphed in three wars against countries he had subjugated. I have spoken of the sorrow we all felt when we saw that Montezuma was dead. We even blamed the Mercederian friar for not having persuaded him to become a Christian."
Bernardino de Sahagún
The Florentine Codex, made by Bernardino de Sahagún, relied on native informants from Tlatelolco, and generally portrays Tlatelolco and Tlatelolcan rulers in a favorable light relative to those of Tenochtitlan. Moctezuma in particular is depicted unfavorably as a weak-willed, superstitious, and indulgent ruler. Historian James Lockhart suggests that the people needed to have a scapegoat for the Aztec defeat, and Moctezuma naturally fell into that role.
Unlike Bernal Díaz, who was recording his memories many years after the fact, Cortés wrote his Cartas de relación (Letters from Mexico) to justify his actions to the Spanish Crown. His prose is characterized by simple descriptions and explanations, along with frequent personal addresses to the King. In his Second Letter, Cortés describes his first encounter with Moctezuma thus:
Moctezuma [sic] came to greet us and with him some two hundred lords, all barefoot and dressed in a different costume, but also very rich in their way and more so than the others. They came in two columns, pressed very close to the walls of the street, which is very wide and beautiful and so straight that you can see from one end to the other.
Moctezuma came down the middle of this street with two chiefs, one on his right hand and the other on his left. And they were all dressed alike except that Moctezuma wore sandals whereas the others went barefoot; and they held his arm on either side.
Anthony Pagden and Eulalia Guzmán have pointed the Biblical messages that Cortés seems to ascribe to Moctezuma's retelling of the legend of Quetzalcoatl as a vengeful Messiah who would return to rule over the Mexica. Pagden has written that "There is no preconquest tradition which places Quetzalcoatl in this role, and it seems possible therefore that it was elaborated by Sahagún and Motolinía from informants who themselves had partially lost contact with their traditional tribal histories".
Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc, who may have written the Crónica Mexicayotl, was possibly a grandson of Moctezuma II. It is possible that his chronicle relates mostly the genealogy of the Aztec rulers. He described Moctezuma's issue and estimates them to be nineteen – eleven sons and eight daughters.
Some of the Aztec stories about Moctezuma describe him as being fearful of the Spanish newcomers, and some sources, such as the Florentine Codex, comment that the Aztecs believed the Spaniards to be gods and Cortés to be the returned god Quetzalcoatl. The veracity of this claim is difficult to ascertain, though some recent ethnohistorians specialising in early Spanish/Nahua relations have discarded it as post-conquest mythicalisation.
Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex, written some 50 years after the conquest. In the codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which as described verbatim in the codex (written by Sahagún's Tlatelolcan informants) included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as,
"You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you," and, "You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth."
While some historians such as Warren H. Carroll consider this as evidence that Moctezuma was at least open to the possibility that the Spaniards were divinely sent based on the Quetzalcoatl legend, others such as Matthew Restall argue that Moctezuma politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean, as politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority.
Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Native Americans believed the conquistadors to be gods, most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gerónimo de Mendieta. Bernardino de Sahagún, who compiled the Florentine Codex, was also a Franciscan priest.
Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) includes in Book 12 of the Florentine Codex eight events said to have occurred prior to the arrival of the Spanish. These were purportedly interpreted as signs of a possible disaster, e.g. a comet, the burning of a temple, a crying ghostly woman, and others.
Some speculate that the Aztecs were particularly susceptible to such ideas of doom and disaster because the particular year in which the Spanish arrived coincided with a "tying of years" ceremony at the end of a 52-year cycle in the Aztec calendar, which in Aztec belief was linked to changes, rebirth, and dangerous events.
The belief of the Aztecs being rendered passive by their own superstition is referred to by Matthew Restall as part of "The Myth of Native Desolation" to which he dedicates chapter 6 in his book Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. These legends are likely a part of the post-conquest rationalization by the Aztecs of their defeat, and serve to show Moctezuma as indecisive, vain, and superstitious, and ultimately the cause of the fall of the Aztec Empire.
Ethnohistorian Susan Gillespie has argued that the Nahua understanding of history as repeating itself in cycles also led to a subsequent rationalization of the events of the conquests. In this interpretation the description of Moctezuma, the final ruler of the Aztec Empire prior to the Spanish conquest, was tailored to fit the role of earlier rulers of ending dynasties—for example Quetzalcoatl, the mythical last ruler of the Toltecs. In any case it is within the realm of possibility that the description of Moctezuma in post-conquest sources was colored by his role as a monumental closing figure of Aztec history.
In 1517, Moctezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on the east coast of his empire; this was the expedition of Juan de Grijalva who had landed on San Juan de Ulúa, which although within Totonac territory was under the auspices of the Aztec Empire. Moctezuma ordered that he be kept informed of any new sightings of foreigners at the coast and posted extra watch guards to accomplish this.
When Cortés arrived in 1519, Moctezuma was immediately informed and he sent emissaries to meet the newcomers; one of them known to be an Aztec noble named Tentlil in the Nahuatl language but referred to in the writings of Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo as "Tendile".
As the Spaniards approached Tenochtitlan they made an alliance with the Tlaxcalteca, who were enemies of the Aztec Triple Alliance, and they helped instigate revolt in many towns under Aztec dominion. Moctezuma was aware of this and he sent gifts to the Spaniards, probably in order to show his superiority to the Spaniards and Tlaxcalteca.
On 8 November 1519, Moctezuma met Cortés on the causeway leading into Tenochtitlan and the two leaders exchanged gifts. Moctezuma gave Cortés the gift of an Aztec calendar, one disc of crafted gold and another of silver. Cortés later melted these down for their monetary value.
According to Cortes, Moctezuma immediately volunteered to cede his entire realm to Charles V, King of Spain. Though some indigenous accounts written in the 1550s partly supported his words, it is still unbelievable for several reasons. As Aztec rulers spoke an overly polite language that needed translation for his subjects to understand, it is difficult to find out what Moctezuma really said.
According to an indigenous account, he said to Cortes: "You have come to sit on your seat of authority, which I have kept for a while for you, where I have been in charge for you, for your agents the rulers..."However, these words might be a polite expression that was meant to convey the opposite meaning, which was common in Nahua culture. What Moctezuma really meant could be to assert his own stature and multigenerational legitimacy.
Also, according to the Spanish law, the king had no right to demand that foreign peoples become his subjects, but he had every right to bring rebels to heel. Therefore, to give the Spanish the necessary legitimacy to wage war against the indigenous people, Cortes might just have said what the Spanish king needed to hear.
Moctezuma brought Cortés to his palace where the Spaniards lived as his guests for several months. Moctezuma continued to govern his empire and even undertook conquests of new territory during the Spaniards' stay at Tenochtitlan.
At some time during that period, Moctezuma became a prisoner in his own house. Exactly why this happened is not clear from the extant sources. The Aztec nobility reportedly became increasingly displeased with the large Spanish army staying in Tenochtitlan, and Moctezuma told Cortés that it would be best if they left.
Shortly thereafter, Cortés left to fight Pánfilo de Narváez. During his absence, tensions between Spaniards and Aztecs exploded into the Massacre in the Great Temple, and Moctezuma became a hostage used by the Spaniards to ensure their security.
In the subsequent battles with the Spaniards after Cortés' return, Moctezuma was killed. The details of his death are unknown, with different versions of his demise given by different sources.
In his Historia, Bernal Díaz del Castillo states that on 1 July 1520, the Spanish forced Moctezuma to appear on the balcony of his palace, appealing to his countrymen to retreat. Four leaders of the Aztec army met with Moctezuma to talk, urging their countrymen to cease their constant firing upon the stronghold for a time. Díaz states:
"Many of the Mexican Chieftains and Captains knew him well and at once ordered their people to be silent and not to discharge darts, stones or arrows, and four of them reached a spot where Montezuma could speak to them."
Díaz alleges that the Aztecs informed Moctezuma that a relative of his had risen to the throne and ordered their attack to continue until all of the Spanish were annihilated, but expressed remorse at Moctezuma's captivity and stated that they intended to revere him even more if they could rescue him.
Regardless of the earlier orders to hold fire, however, the discussion between Moctezuma and the Aztec leaders was immediately followed by an outbreak of violence. The Aztecs, disgusted by the actions of their leader, renounced Moctezuma and named Cuitlahuac in his place. In an effort to pacify his people, and undoubtedly pressured by the Spanish, Moctezuma was struck dead by a rock. Bernal Díaz gives this account:
"They had hardly finished this speech when suddenly such a shower of stones and darts were discharged that (our men who were shielding him having neglected for a moment their duty, because they saw how the attack ceased while he spoke to them) he was hit by three stones, one on the head, another on the arm and another on the leg, and although they begged him to have the wounds dressed and to take food, and spoke kind words to him about it, he would not. Indeed, when we least expected it, they came to say that he was dead."
Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún recorded two versions of the conquest of Mexico from the Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco viewpoint. In Book 12 of the twelve-volume Florentine Codex, the account in Spanish and Nahuatl is accompanied by illustrations by natives. One is of the death of Moctezuma II, which the indigenous assert was due to the Spaniards. According to the Codex, the bodies of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin were cast out of the Palace by the Spanish; the body of Moctezuma was gathered up and cremated at Copulco.
The Spaniards were forced to flee the city and they took refuge in Tlaxcala, and signed a treaty with them to conquer Tenochtitlan, offering to the Tlaxcalans freedom from any kind of tribute and the control of Tenochtitlan.
Moctezuma was then succeeded by his brother Cuitláhuac, who died shortly after during a smallpox epidemic. He was succeeded by his adolescent nephew, Cuauhtémoc. During the siege of the city, the sons of Moctezuma were murdered by the Aztecs, possibly because they wanted to surrender. By the following year, the Aztec empire had fallen to an army of Spanish and their Native American allies, primarily Tlaxcalans who were traditional enemies of the Aztecs.
Following the conquest, Moctezuma's daughter, Techichpotzin (or Tecuichpoch), became known as Isabel Moctezuma. She was given a large estate by Cortés, who also fathered a child by her, Leonor Cortés Moctezuma. Isabel was married and widowed by a conquistador in Cortés's original group, Alonso Grado (died. ca. 1527) a poblador (a Spaniard who had arrived after the fall of Tenochtitlan), Pedro Gallego (died ca. 1531), and conquistador Juan Cano, who survived her.
Moctezuma had many wives and concubines by whom he fathered an enormous family. Though the exact number of his children is unknown and the names of most of his children were lost to history, according to a Spanish chronicler, by the time he was taken captive, Moctezuma had fathered 100 children and fifty of his wives and concubines were then in some stage of pregnancy, though this estimate may have been exaggerated.
As Aztec culture made class distinctions between the children of senior wives, lesser wives, and concubines, not all of his children were considered equal in nobility or inheritance rights.
Genealogy of Tecuichpoch - Of his many wives may be named the princesses Teitlalco, Acatlan, and Miahuaxochitl, of whom the first named appears to have been the only legitimate consort. By her he left a son, Asupacaci, who fell during the Noche Triste, and a daughter, Tecuichpo, baptized as Isabel, married consecutively to Cuauhtemoc (the last Mexican sovereign), to visitador general Alonso Grado, to Pedro Andrade Gallego, and to Juan Cano de Saavedra.
She had children by the latter two, from whom descend the illustrious families of Andrade-Montezuma and Cano-Montezuma. By the Princess Acatlan were left two daughters, baptized as Maria and Marina (also known as Leonor). The latter alone left offspring, from whom descends the Sotelo-Montezuma family.
Several lines of descendants exist in Mexico and Spain through Moctezuma II's son and daughters, notably Tlacahuepan Ihualicahuaca, or Pedro Moctezuma and Tecuichpoch Ixcaxochitzin, or Isabel Moctezuma.
The grandson of Moctezuma II, Pedro's son, Ihuitemotzin, baptized as Diego Luis de Moctezuma, was brought to Spain by King Philip II. There he married Francisca de la Cueva de Valenzuela.[35] In 1627, their son Pedro Tesifón de Moctezuma was given the title Count of Moctezuma (later altered to Moctezuma de Tultengo), and thus became part of the Spanish nobility. In 1766, the holder of the title became a Grandee of Spain.
In 1865, (coincidentally during the Second Mexican Empire) the title, which was held by Antonio María Moctezuma-Marcilla de Teruel y Navarro, 14th Count of Moctezuma de Tultengo, was elevated to that of a Duke, thus becoming Duke of Moctezuma, with de Tultengo again added in 1992 by Juan Carlos I.
Descendants of Pedro Tesifón de Moctezuma included (through an illegitimate child of his son Diego Luis) General Jerónimo Girón-Moctezuma, 3rd Marquess de las Amarilas (1741-1819), a 9th generation descendant of Moctezuma II, who was commander of the Spanish forces at the Battle of Fort Charlotte, and his grandson, Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta, 2nd Duke of Ahumada and 5th Marquess of the Amarillas who was the founder of the Guardia Civil in Spain.
Other holders of Spanish noble titles that descend from the Aztec emperor include Dukes of Atrisco. Isabel Moctezuma was by Hernán Cortés the mother of Leonor Cortés Moctezuma, who was the mother of Isabel de Tolosa Cortés de Moctezuma. A nephew of Moctezuma II was Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin.
Many Indigenous peoples in Mexico are reported to worship deities named after the Aztec ruler, and often a part of the myth is that someday the deified Moctezuma shall return to vindicate his people. In Mexico, the contemporary Pames, the Otomi, Tepehuán, Totonac, and Nahua peoples are reported to worship earth deities named after Moctezuma.[38] His name also appears in Tzotzil Maya ritual in Zinacantán where dancers dressed as a rain god are called "Moctezumas"
Hubert Howe Bancroft, writing in the 19th century (Native Races, Volume #3), speculated that the name of the historical Aztec Emperor Moctezuma had been used to refer to a combination of different cultural heroes who were united under the name of a particularly salient representative of Mesoamerican identity.
As a symbol of resistance towards Spanish the name of Moctezuma has been invoked in several indigenous rebellions. One such example was the rebellion of the Virgin Cult in Chiapas in 1721, where the followers of the Virgin Mary rebelled against the Spanish after having been told by an apparition of the virgin that Moctezuma would be resuscitated to assist them against their Spanish oppressors. In the Quisteil rebellion of the Yucatec Maya in 1761 the rebel leader Jacinto Canek reportedly called himself "Little Montezuma"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moctezuma_II
Our angels will nudge us awake at that time, or get us to look now at this set of numbers (or other meaningful numbers), providing us with this Divine message. If you suddenly find yourself waking at 4:44 a.m., consider yourself blessed. Your angels probably woke you.
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/our-angels-speak-to-us-through-numbers-444
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