先秦冬小麦种植与相应的岁始之制

Planting of Winter Wheat in the Pre-Qin Period and the Corresponding Year Being Beginning System

西周时期试种冬小麦,每当夏历九月田间麦苗出齐,周王就以十月朔日为一年之始。后来又以夏历四月麦成熟为一年之始。东周及春秋战国时麦熟多在夏至,又以五月为岁始。受种质特性和种植条件所限,当时经常有麦不出苗或穗不成实的年份,因此,这种岁始之制并不是每年都固定实行的历法制度,而是一种国家政策性质的规定,用于显示冬小麦种植的成就,激发农人种麦的积极性,以求改变单一的粮食种植模式,使冬小麦早日成为全国的主粮。就此而言,周王室遵循世代相沿的农政传统,将这种国家法令作为特殊历制行用于世,有着大力发展冬小麦生产的积极意义。

In late period of the Western Zhou Dynasty,the emergence of seedlings of wheat planted in October was regarded as the beginning of a year.While at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty,maturity of wheat planted in April was deemed as the beginning of a year.The calendar of planting or harvesting wheat changed the season concept of“sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn”,and Lao Zi,Yi Zhuan(Remarks on the Trigrams),Lv Shi Chun Qiu(Lv’s Commentaries of History)and other works interpreted it with philosophic thoughts,which deepened the dialectical thoughts in ancient times.