What do you eat in the long summer in the twenty-four solar terms? The origin of the custom of long summer.

On the day of long summer, the most classic traditional food is long summer eggs. On the day before the long summer, many people began to cook "long summer eggs" at home, usually with tea powder or walnut shells, and watched the eggshells turn red slowly, and the house was full of fragrance. Eat the tea eggs while they are hot. When eating, pour good wine and sprinkle some fine salt. The wine is fragrant.

However, the traditional eating customs of long summer in different parts of the country have their own characteristics.

Shanghai area: During the long summer festival, farmers in suburban counties of Shanghai make wheat flour and sugar into strip food, which is called wheat silkworm. It is said that people can avoid "summer" by eating it. In the long summer, tender grass heads and rice noodles are fried into cakes, which are called "stalls" and are deeply loved by Shanghai and Pudong people. Sugar plum, fermented grains, salted eggs, etc. It is also a seasonal food, calling it fresh and tasting it "three new".

Wuxi area: Three fresh fruits are divided into three fresh fruits: ground, tree and water. The three fresh plants are broad bean, amaranth and cucumber (amaranth, wheat, broad bean, amaranth, broad bean and garlic sprout); Three fresh trees are cherry, loquat and apricot (one is plum, apricot and cherry, and the other is plum, cherry and toon head); The three kinds of fresh water are marine fish, puffer fish and shad (shad, shad and yellow croaker, as well as shad, whitebait and mackerel). Among them, tasting fresh land is the most common. In some places, there is a custom of eating moldy tofu in the long summer, saying that eating moldy tofu will not bring bad luck.

Changshu area: People taste new things and have abundant food in the long summer. There is a saying called "Nine Meat and Thirteen Vegetables". "Nine meats" refer to shad, bonito, salted fish, salted eggs, sea cucumbers, elk ducks, salted shrimps, cherry meat and pomfret. "Thirteen elements" refer to cherries, plums, and wheat silkworms (new wheat is kneaded into thin strips and cooked), such as bamboo shoots, broad beans, hairy needles, peas, cucumbers, chicory bamboo shoots, grass heads, radishes, roses, pine flowers, etc.

The origin of the custom of long summer;

In ancient China, the long summer was divided into three periods: "First, waiting for the cricket's cry;" Second, wait for the earthworm to appear; Wait for Wang Guasheng. " That is to say, in this solar term, you can first hear kangaroos (that is, crickets) croaking in the field (that is, frogs), then you can see earthworms digging in the soil, and then the vines of the king melon begin to climb and grow rapidly. The day to welcome summer is to build summer. At this time, everything is thriving. After the long summer, it is another hot summer. In order not to lose weight in hot summer, people often take supplements in the long summer to make their bodies strong.

In most parts of southern China, weeds and diseases and insect pests also spread rapidly due to the vigorous growth of crops. Long summer, where Hakka people live, has completely entered summer. The weather is hot, people lose their appetite and start to lose weight, which is called "dry summer". However, after the long summer, it is the farming era that needs manpower most. People hope to stay healthy through the long summer. On the other hand, people with poor health and weak resistance are vulnerable to diseases caused by germs.

People began to take time off for the summer and pay attention to their diet. When people eat some food in the long summer, they often pin their good wishes on praying for peace and getting rich.

In ancient times, people attached great importance to the customs and habits of long summer. On the long summer day, the ancient emperor would lead officials to the southern suburbs of Beijing to welcome the summer and hold a ceremony to welcome the summer. The monarch and his subjects all wear red ceremonial costumes and red jade ornaments, and even horses and car flags should be red to express their desire and good wishes for a bumper harvest. In the imperial court, "open the ice in summer and give it to the civil and military ministers." Ice was stored last winter and given to officials by the emperor.

In the folk, people drink cold drinks to cool off in summer. In summer, there is a custom of boiling tender broad beans in Jiangnan water town. In some places, there is also the custom of calling people in summer. People also cook wheat and barley ears on the fire to enjoy the freshness of new wheat; Or weigh people with scales to pray. During the long summer festival, people are forbidden to sit on the threshold. Many people are also used to measuring a year's harvest with cloudy days in summer, thinking that it is best to rain in long summer, otherwise it means "it doesn't rain in long summer, and wheat comes in drought", "it doesn't rain in long summer, and the plow hangs high" and "it doesn't rain in long summer, and there is no rice on the head".