What should I eat on the summer solstice? What do you eat in traditional solar terms?

The summer solstice sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer, which is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Although the summer solstice has the longest day and the highest sun angle, it is not the hottest time of the year. Because, close to the surface of the heat, at this time still continue to save, did not reach the maximum time. As the saying goes, "Hot days are in dog days", and the real hot weather is calculated by summer solstice and beginning of autumn. From mid-July to mid-August, the temperature is the highest in all parts of China, and the highest temperature in some areas can reach about 40 degrees.

Solstice is the earliest festival in China. Before the Qing dynasty, there was a national festival on the solstice of summer. I went home to reunite with my relatives and have a drink. The Book of Rites also records the obvious phenomenon of solar terms in nature from summer to solar day: "From summer to solar day, antlers are untied, cicadas begin to sing, Pinellia ternata is born, and hibiscus is glorious." It shows that the antlers can be cut at this time, cicadas begin to sing, and Pinellia ternata and hibiscus gradually bloom. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, summer is the season with the highest yang. Health care should conform to the characteristics of abundant yang in summer, pay attention to protecting yang, and focus on a "long" word.

The custom of summer solstice

The custom of "sheltering from the rain" from the summer solstice is actually a climate expectation. In ancient times, farmers divided the half month from summer solstice into the first month (the first three days), the second month (the middle five days) and the last month (the last seven days). What farmers are most afraid of is "rain in the middle" and "thunder and rain at the end" (Lu). These superstitious customs reflect the helpless situation of ancient farmers "relying on the sky to eat", because most of the lightning storms that lasted for half a month from summer to Sunday had the characteristics of plum rain, which did more harm than good to crop growth; After the half-monthly ticket from the summer solstice, it is hot summer, and crops begin to need water, so farmers are looking forward to rain in time after the Year of the Loong (that is, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month). Today, there is still a meteorological proverb circulating in many rural areas of our country: "It rains twenty-one times in twenty minutes, and there is rice in the crevices."

"Summer heat" is a seasonal disease, which mainly comes from the summer heat and physical weakness in the weather forecast. Ancient people's prevention of summer sickness is generally divided into two stages. The first stage begins with "Long Summer", during which there are many customs. For example, Shanghainese have the custom of eating tea eggs on long summer days; The second stage begins in summer, and there are some "eating" customs all over the country about "preventing the summer solstice". Hu Pu 'an, who is nearby, recorded in the Record of Yizheng's Age: "On the summer solstice, people grind pea powder, stop sugar cane frost as cakes, eat relatives, and mix peaches, apricots and red fruits, which means that food is not in summer.