According to the folk legend， the 2nd day of the second lunar month is the very day for the dragon king who is in charge of clouds and rains to raise his head. After that day， there will be more and more rain， so that day is also called Spring Dragon Day. Every year when this day comes， those Chinese northern people will carry the lanterns in the morning to fetch water from the wells and the rivers. They will light the candles， burn incense1 and offer tributes2 to the dragon king and have haircut. In the old times， people called this “welcome the fields dragon”.

根據(jù)民間傳說，農(nóng)歷二月初二是掌管云雨的龍王抬頭之日。過了龍?zhí)ь^這天，雨水充沛，所以這天被稱為“春龍節(jié)”。每年春龍節(jié)到來，我國北方地區(qū)的人們?cè)谶@天早晨會(huì)家家戶戶提著燈籠到井邊或河邊挑水?；氐郊依锉泓c(diǎn)燈、燒香、給龍王上供、理發(fā)。舊時(shí)，人們把這種儀式叫做“引田龍”。

A popular fairy tale in the north of China can tell the origin of the day. When Wu Zetian， the empress， in the Tang Dynasty came into power， the Heaven God was so angry that he ordered the dragon king to stop raining for three years. Soon after this， the dragon king who was in charge of the heaven river heard the bitter cries from the folk， saw many people starve to death. He was afraid that there would be no life in no time. Then he went against the Heaven Gods order and gave the folk a heavy rain. Because of this， the dragon king was thrown into the folk world by the Heaven God and pressed under a large mountain. The Heaven God claimed that only when the gold beans were in blossom3 could the dragon king return to the heaven palace.

春龍節(jié)的來源，在我國北方民間還流傳著這樣一個(gè)傳說。相傳唐朝，武則天登基做了皇帝，玉帝大怒，命令龍王三年之內(nèi)不能降雨。不久，掌管天河的龍王日日聽聞老百姓哭泣，見無數(shù)百姓因饑餓而死，他擔(dān)心人間很快會(huì)沒有生命。于是他違背玉帝的旨意，給老百姓降了一場(chǎng)大雨。玉帝得知后，將龍王打入凡間，壓在一座大山下面。玉帝下令，只有當(dāng)金豆開花之時(shí)才允許龍王返回天庭。

Then the folk hurried to look for gold beans everywhere in order to save him. On the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month the next year， when people were drying the corn seeds in the sun， they thought of the corn seeds as gold beans because when they were roasted4， they would pop in blossom like gold beans. So all the families began to pop corn and burn incense and put gold beans on desks. When the dragon king raised his head， he knew the folk were trying to save him， so he shouted to the Heaven God， “Gold beans are in blossom， so let me out.” After the Heaven

God saw all gold beans in blossom in all families， he had to give his order to ask the dragon king to return to the heaven palace and go on with his job of making clouds and rains for the folk. Since then， it has been the folk custom to eat pop corn on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month.

老百姓為了拯救龍王，四處尋找開花的金豆。到了第二年農(nóng)歷二月初二這一天，人們正在太陽底下翻曬玉米種子，猛然想起，這玉米種子就像金豆，因?yàn)樗鼈円唤?jīng)烘烤就像金豆炸開了花一樣。于是家家戶戶爆玉米花，并在院里設(shè)案焚香，供上“開花的金豆”。當(dāng)龍王抬頭一看，他知道老百姓在救他，就向玉帝大聲喊道：“金豆開花了，放我出去！”玉帝看到人間家家戶戶院里的金豆花開花，只好傳諭，詔龍王回到天庭，繼續(xù)給人間興云布雨。從此以后，民間形成風(fēng)俗，每到農(nóng)歷二月二，人們就爆玉米花吃。