What does beginning of spring mean by eating spring?

Chewing on spring is one of the solar terms customs in beginning of spring, which refers to eating spring plates, spring cakes, radishes and so on. On the day when spring begins, it means "If you bite the grass roots, you can do anything".

Among these foods with the word "spring", the most crucial one is "radish". Therefore, in the past literature, many people directly said that "biting spring" means that beginning of spring ate radish that day. For example, "Shi Jing Fang Xiang Zhi Draft" said that "beginning of spring is born with radishes every day, called biting spring"; "Miscellanies of Jinmen" said that "in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in the early spring in Beijing and Tianjin, there was a custom of eating fresh radish every day, which was called biting spring". The Story of Yanjing's Age is rather slick, saying that "rich people eat more spring cakes and women buy more radishes to eat, which is called biting spring".

Biting spring was first seen in Jin Dynasty and was popular in Tang and Song Dynasties. With the passage of time, biting spring now refers to the custom of eating spring rolls, eating spring cakes, eating spring rolls and chewing radish every day at the beginning of spring to celebrate the arrival of spring, which also means health and safety in the new year.

The origin of biting spring

At present, there is no exact statement about the origin of "biting spring". But what is clear is that this custom appeared at least in the Jin Dynasty, when there were "five coriander", which was equivalent to the later "spring dishes". The so-called five spices refer to five spicy vegetables: onion, garlic, pepper, ginger and mustard.

It is also clear that the custom of "biting spring" comes from people's need to keep fit, that is, human beings are formed for their own health needs. For example, eating spiced food can sterilize and drive away the cold. The main folk custom of biting spring is to eat big radish, which is also because radish is spicy and has the effect of "eating it to sleep in the spring", as well as the functions of nutrition, fitness and illness. This may be the real intention of the ancients to advocate beginning of spring to eat radishes.