The ancestors always said that "men are afraid of August and women are afraid of the twelfth lunar month", which is not superstition. What is this?

China has 24 solar terms, each of which is a representative of ancient agricultural culture. Although our society is developing very rapidly now, our attention to solar terms seems to have declined. In fact, it is quite reasonable to savor the proverbs about solar terms left by our ancestors, just like "It's cold in August, warm in September and sunny in October", which seems easy to understand, and was summed up by our ancestors with their own practical experience at that time.

Proverbs are the treasures of China's traditional culture and contain the wisdom of our ancestors. In the era when men plowed and women wove, the ancients lived by farming and depended on God to eat, so they would sum up what each solar term looked like every month and then gain more according to their own experience. In the mouth of the ancestors, there is a saying that men are afraid of August and women are afraid of the twelfth lunar month. What does this mean? Some people may think that superstition is exaggerated, but if you think about its connotation carefully, you will find that this sentence is actually very interesting and contains philosophy of life.

August itself is full of literary flavor. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, many literati will write poems through festivals and then express their inner feelings at this moment. Just like the historical saying "May people live a long life and be loved by the afterheat", it is also said that the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival was triggered by Xu Da under Zhu Yuanzhang. But this is just a folklore after all.

But we can see the living conditions of the ancients from August. Why? Because during the festival in August, wealthy families will begin to prepare for enjoying the moon. For example, the Jia family has been preparing for a dream of red mansions, and ordinary people will start to get busy. They are busy collecting food from the fields and sharing the joy of this year's harvest with their families.

But in ancient times, people didn't have tools, so they had to go to the fields with their hands. They were very tired. But as we all know, it is very hot in August. Generally, all the people who go to the fields are men, and most of the women are at home, but men have to go to support their families, so "men are afraid of August."

So what does the second sentence mean, women are afraid of the twelfth lunar month? The wax in the twelfth lunar month refers to the things that are sacrificed, so every family will sacrifice at this time of the twelfth lunar month. Before this, women liked the first month very much, because in ancient times, women didn't need to bring a needle and thread in the first month, otherwise it would be unlucky, so women could have more rest and go out to play in the first month, which many women were looking forward to, but they didn't like being in the twelfth month, because women were busy preparing sacrifices at home, and there were many things besides the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Moreover, the weather was bad in1February, and ancient women were more delicate and prone to illness. Unlike today's young people, they are all afraid of the first month, because they are afraid of being urged to get married when they go back. This may be that the times are advancing, but this proverb is still very reasonable in ancient times.