Summer Customs

Ancient China attached great importance to the Lixia festival, with numerous traditional customs, some of which have been preserved to this day.

During the Zhou Dynasty, on the day of the first summer, the emperor would lead civil and military officials to the southern suburb outside the capital to welcome the summer, hold ceremonies to worship Yan Di and Zhu Rong, and designate officials to go to all parts of the country to encourage peasants to cultivate the land. The Rituals - the Order of the Moon" said: "the day of the summer, the son of God personally rate the three dukes, nine ministers, vassals, doctor, in order to welcome the summer in the southern suburb. Returned, the line of reward, feudal lords, celebrate the gift by line, no one is not happy."

The Han Dynasty inherited this custom, to the Song Dynasty, etiquette is more cumbersome, the Ming Dynasty began to "taste the new customs". Qing Dynasty, there is also the gift of saying. About this statement in the Qing Dynasty, "the emperor Beijing years Jisheng" on the record, the book said, "summer to take the usual exposure of the rice flour spring buds, and sugar fried as a variety of colors of fruit stacks, each other," you can see that the ancient people regarded the summer as a very important day.

Some of the traditional customs of this day are still preserved today.

On the day of summer, people in many places in the south of China will use red beans, soybeans, black beans, green beans, green beans and other five-color beans mixed with white polished round-grained rice to cook into a "five-color rice", commonly known as eating "summer rice". Eat "summer rice", there is "weighing people" custom. It is said that after weighing on this day, you will not be afraid of the summer heat, will not lose weight, otherwise there will be disease.

In order to meet the summer, China's Jiangxi area there is a summer tea drinking custom, said not to drink tea, will be a summer of suffering; in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places there are turning the egg, touch the egg, painted eggs and other summer folk games; in China's Anhui area of the summer this day to avoid sitting on the threshold, the common belief that this day to sit on the threshold, the summer will be tired and sick; Minnan area of the summer to eat shrimp noodles, that is, to buy prawns mixed with noodles to cook, shrimp cooked red, for the auspicious color, and shrimp cooked, and the color of the shrimp, and the shrimp, and the shrimp, and the shrimp, and the shrimp, the shrimp, and the shrimp, and the shrimp, and the shrimp. For the auspicious color, and shrimp and summer resonance, as a wish for the summer.