After dark, it coincides with the first day of the sixth lunar month, and the old wheat has been harvested. Farmers should try new things or visit relatives. After half a year, people will eat offerings such as jiaozi, steamed bread, melons and fruits. Among them, jiaozi is the favorite food of the people in the vast areas of northern China, and the fruits include peaches, plums, watermelons and other fresh fruits.
People put tables in houses, courtyards and wheat fields, put steamed jujube cakes and peaches and plums, fill buckets with newly harvested wheat, paste the word "Fu" on the buckets, burn incense and set off firecrackers, and pray for good weather in autumn. After that, people happily eat jiaozi, and there are "mixed dishes" made of meat, vegetables, vermicelli and kelp. In the rural areas of the northern region, this day is a festival of "hanging hoes", and the villagers regard this day as a festival to celebrate and pray for a bumper harvest.
The origin of the semi-annual festival
It is said that one summer hundreds of years ago, there was a great drought in Jiashanwu village, and rice could not be planted. Sweet potatoes and mangosteen have turned yellow, but the villagers can only "look up to the sky and sigh."
After hearing about the magical power of public rainfall on Wang Sanxiang in Zhicaowu, Zhuji, villagers in Jiashanwu who were eager for rainfall sent someone to ask Wang Sanxiang to set up a memorial tablet for the temple at the entrance of the village. After seven days and seven nights of devotion, I'm really glad to have this rain. A cold rain brought Jiashanwu back to life.
That is, on June 14th of the lunar calendar, villagers in Jiashanwu beat gongs and drums to send Wang Sanxiang back to Zhuji. Unexpectedly, the sturdy sedan chair bar broke three pairs, and Wang Sanxiang refused to get up. The villagers burned incense and made a wish, telling them: Thank you for Wang Sanxiang's divine power, bless Jiashanwu Village, and wish to have sacrifices every year today.
I wish the villagers a smooth return of the tablet bearing Wang Sanxiang to Zhuji. Since that year, Jiashanwu Village has had a "half-year festival".
Baidu Encyclopedia-Semiannual Festival