“Look out!!! A lightning strike! Let’s get inside as soon as possible! "
Have you ever seen lightning
strike at the same time as hearing thunder? The beauty and the majesty of
Nature astound us. Thousands of years ago, our Chinese ancestors carved the
character 申Shēn on tortoise
shells and whalebones. It represents lightening that explodes from the sky, breaks
up and reaches down towards the earth. We can read it like the letter S.
申Shēn also means to extend, the length, if we add 人 Rén person to the left, we make the ideogram伸Shēn, to Reach, with which we can
make the words:
l 伸長Shēncháng to stretch
l 伸展Shēnzhǎn to reach out
Many years ago, the ancient Chinese did not know how to measure time. They did not even know how old they were. In order to understand the concept of time they invented a method using Yin, Yang and the five elements. They divided the sky into 10 parts and the earth into 12 parts. This traditional way of dividing the year was based on two concepts: a cycle of 十天干 Shí tiāngān or cycle of the 10 Celestial Trunks and a cycle of 十二地支 Shí'èr dìzhī or cycle of the 12 Earthly Branches.
Each year is made
up of two of Celestial Trunks and one of the Earthly branches. For example,
2016 is called 丙申 in which 申Shēn is the 7th Earthly
Branch. As we have already seen, it is represented in nature by a bolt of lightning.
This is because the 7th month in the Chinese calendar, equal to the 8th
month in the western calendar, August, is the time of the year in which Yang
energy is at its utmost and the time when it is unleashed. This has symbolic
significance: 2016 will be, for example, a year that resembles Lightening, a
year of great movement and progress.
©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi Translated by Neil Berry
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