On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon raised its head.
The Dipper pointed due east, and the Horn mansion first appeared. Spring returned as the seasons turned, a sign of all things coming to life: birds and beasts grew horns, shoots split their husks, and the season of spring plowing began.
The courts of every nation held an audience that day. Led by the ministers of Rites and War, the assembled officials presented agricultural texts to their ruler to show their devotion to fundamentals. It signified that "a nation's great affairs lie in sacrifice and war," but "a nation's foundation lies in farming and its fields."
The emperor feasted his ministers on Yichun wine brewed by ancient methods and bestowed knives, rulers, and other objects from the Imperial Manufactory, all made of white jade. The gifts signified that these eminent gentlemen must take care in measuring and weighing affairs of state. The Empress gave the titled madams entering the palace varying numbers of "green pouches." Officially, she had sewn them all herself, without a palace maid's help. Filled with grains and fruit seeds, they were meant to be passed on to relatives and children in their respective lineages, praying for a bountiful harvest and plentiful grain in the new year. They also suggested that households of wealth and learning knew propriety when their granaries were full.
In Huaihuang County City, it had long been customary for every household to eat a bowl of Dragon Whiskers noodles on the morning of that day. Pancakes cooked then were called "dragon scales." The town's married women and brides-to-be had to set aside their needles and thread. As their elders said, the dragon had just raised its head; threading a needle might injure its eyes and provoke its displeasure.
Young