What are the customs of the long summer solar terms?

China has attached great importance to the long summer solar terms since ancient times. According to records, on the long summer day of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor led officials from the civil and military forces to the southern suburbs outside the capital to welcome the summer, held a ceremony of offering sacrifices to Emperor Yan and Zhu Rong, and instructed Stuart and other officials to go to various places to encourage farmers to step up farming. Book of rites "Moon Order" said: "On the day of long summer, the son of heaven personally led three princes, nine ministers, governors and doctors to welcome the summer in the southern suburbs. Reward, reward, seal the princes, celebrate the gift, and everyone is happy. " In ancient times, the dresses worn by the teams welcoming summer, the Yu Pei they wore, the chariots and horses they sat on, and even the flags on the cars were all red, which indicated that the hot summer was coming.

Up to now, there are still many traditional customs left over.

1. Hanging Eggs and Beating Eggs In the long summer, at noon that day, every household cooked the eggs (the eggs are cooked with shells and cannot be damaged), soaked them in cold water for a few minutes, then put on woven net bags and hung them around the children's necks. The children get together in twos and threes to play with eggs. An egg has two heads, the pointed one is the head and the round one is the tail. When you beat eggs, the head of the egg hits the head of the egg and the tail of the egg hits the tail of the egg. Fight one by one, and the loser gives up and finally decides the outcome. The winner of the egg head is the first, and the egg is king; The winner of the egg is the second place, and the egg is called Xiao Wang or Er Wang.

It is a custom to avoid sitting on the threshold in summer. In Anhui, it was recorded in the "Taihu County Records" in the tenth year of Daoguang: "It is said that in summer, bamboo shoots and amaranth are used as soup, and it is forbidden to sleep at the threshold during the day, which is also called worrying about summer fatigue." It is said that sitting on the threshold on this day will make you tired and sick in summer.

In the long summer, there will be the custom of swearing after lunch. People hang a big wooden scale at the entrance of the village or platform, and a stool is hung on the scale hook. Everyone sat on the stool in turn and weighed themselves. When weighing flowers, the caller said auspicious words. Weighing the old man, he said, "He weighed 87 and lived to 9 1." The girl weighed it, and she said, "105 Jin, people outside came to the door." Unwilling, unwilling, unwilling, the son of the champion has a fate. " A scale said, "When the scale hits twenty-three, the young official will grow up.

The seven-product county officials cannot be puzzled, and the three public officials and nine ministers should climb. "flowers can only be typed in (that is, from decimals to large numbers) and cannot be typed out.

As for the origin of the custom of "addressing people" in the Long Summer, folklore is related to the stories of Meng Huo and Liu Adou. It is said that after Meng Huo was surrendered to Shu by Zhuge Liang, he took orders from Zhuge Liang. Before he died, Zhuge Liang told Meng Huo that he would visit the master of Shu once a year. On the day Zhuge Liang entrusted him, it happened to be the long summer of this year, and Meng Huo immediately went to worship Adou. Since then, every summer, Meng Huo has promised to visit. Many years later, Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, destroyed Shu and took Adou with him. Meng Huo did not forget the great trust of the Prime Minister. Every year, Chang Xia led troops to Luoyang to visit Adou. Every time he went, he had to weigh Adou to verify whether Adou had been abused by Emperor Wu of Jin. He threatened that if Kim abused Dou, he would attack him. In order to deceive Meng Huo, Emperor Wudi of Jin made lunch for Adou with glutinous rice and peas every year in the long summer. Adou saw the glutinous and fragrant pea glutinous rice, which greatly increased his appetite. Meng Huo weighed himself in the city, each time weighing several kilograms more than the previous year. Although Adou had no skills, Meng Huo was called a man by Chang Xia, and Emperor Wu of Jin dared not mistreat him, so he lived a quiet life and a long and happy life. Although this legend is different from historical facts, what people want is a peaceful world of "peace and happiness, long life". Chang Xia said that people can bring good luck to Adou, and people also pray that God will bring them good luck.

3. Long Summer Rice On the day of long summer, people in many places mix white rice with red beans, soybeans, black beans, mung beans and other five-color beans to make "five-color rice", which later developed into glutinous rice cooked with Japanese bean meat, accompanied by amaranth and yellow croaker soup, called "long summer rice".

Long summer rice in many parts of the south is glutinous rice mixed with peas. There are boiled eggs, whole bamboo shoots, peas with shells and other specialties on the table. Eat double eggs, bamboo shoots, not peas. According to folklore, eggs are eaten in the long summer. Because eggs are shaped like a heart, people think that eating eggs can replenish the spirit. After the long summer, it will be a hot summer. In order not to lose money in the hot summer, you should take supplements in the long summer. With a thriving life, people's legs are as strong as bamboo shoots and can walk a long way, which is the main leg. Peas with shells are like eyes. There were many eye diseases in ancient times. In order to get rid of them, people prayed for a year by eating peas. Their eyes were as clear as fresh peas, and there was no disease or disaster.

Ningbo grows in summer and is used to eating "foot bone bamboo shoots", which are cooked with black bamboo shoots, each three or four inches long and not cut open. When eating, you should pick two bamboo shoots with the same thickness and eat them in one bite, saying that eating them can "strengthen your feet and bones"

(in good health). Then eat soft vegetables, saying that it will not get prickly heat in summer, and the skin will be as delicate as soft vegetables.

People in Changsha, Hunan, eat glutinous rice flour mixed with rat grass in summer, which is called "long summer soup".

There is a folk saying that "if you eat soup in the long summer, the stone will be trampled into a pit" and "if you eat a ball in the long summer (pronounced' Tuo'), you will cross the river with one foot", which means that you have endless strength and are as light as a swallow.

Chang Xia, a farmer in the suburb of Shanghai, made a strip of food with wheat flour and sugar, called "wheat silkworm". People ate it and said they could avoid "summer".

Long summer is regarded as a grand festival by people in Tongshan County, Hubei Province. Chang Xia, a native of Tongshan, eats soaked strawberries, shrimps and bamboo shoots, which is called "eat soaked eyes, eat shrimps and make great efforts, and eat bamboo shoots to strengthen the feet and bones".

Eating shrimp noodles in southern Fujian in the long summer is to buy shrimp and cook it in the noodles. Shrimp turns red when cooked, indicating good luck, and shrimp is homophonic with summer to express wishes for summer.

East Fujian mainly eats "light cakes" (flour baked with a little salt) in the long summer.

Zhouning, Fu 'an and other places in eastern Fujian soaked the light cake in water and made it into dishes, while Jiaocheng, Fuding and other places cut the light cake in half and ate fried bean sprouts, leeks, meat and waste vegetables.

Some villages in Chunchi Town, zhouning county eat "long summer paste", which can be divided into rice paste and sweet potato paste. Cook the soup in a large pot. The content of soup is very rich, including meat, small bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, chickens and ducks in water, tofu and so on. Neighbors invited each other to drink paste soup. This is the same as eating "seven porridge" in rural areas of eastern Zhejiang in summer.

Our customs are somewhat similar. "Qijia porridge" and "Qijia tea" can also be regarded as another form of tasting new things in the long summer. Qijia porridge collects rice from neighbors, adds various beans and brown sugar, and cooks it into a large pot of porridge for everyone to share. "Seven teas" means that each family brings its own freshly baked tea leaves, mixes, cooks or makes a big pot of tea, and then everyone sits together and drinks.

These porridge or tea are not necessarily delicious food, but these ceremonies can be said to be important social activities in the old rural society.