Why do you want to taste and eat new things in summer?
In summer, "tasting the new" is popular everywhere. Earlier, wheat in the north and rice in the south were harvested in summer. With the harvest of new grain, a series of sacrificial ceremonies followed, including offering sacrifices to heaven and land. Even offering sacrifices to the "land father-in-law".
The ancients called Hou Ji (the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the eldest son of Di Ku) the "Valley God". People grind the newly cut rice into rice, make a meal and offer it to Gu Shen, then taste the new rice and drink the new wine, which is called "66 blessings". In particular, northerners will steam the freshest flour into steamed bread for their ancestors, and they are also used to cooking porridge with new rice on this day.
Since the end of the Song Dynasty, after the slight summer heat every year, there has been a new custom of early rice ripening and sickle eating in the south. Before people eat the first bite of new rice, they will make it into dried rice, brew new wine, prepare meat and eggs and the newly listed bitter gourd, towel gourd and eggplant, which has a sweet taste of remembering the bitter experience.
According to the literature, the specific ceremony is like this: put items on the altar of the God of Grains, burn incense and light candles, and say, "Please eat the new dish of the God of Grains! Thanks to the grace of the great god of grain, the grain is abundant and bless the family to be healthy and strong. " After the incense is reduced to ashes, burn the coat paper.
Then, put the dried rice, wine, meat and vegetables on your dining table, read "please ask your ancestors (predecessors) to taste the new" and worship with both hands. At noon, please invite the villagers who have harvested rice to eat new grain together, exchange production experience and make plans for developing production. Dry rice cooked with rice grown by yourself is certainly delicious and more intimate.
Why does Xiao Shu need to dry clothes and books?
After the slight summer heat, it will be "Clothes Day" on June 6th. Legend has it that June 6th is the day when the Dragon King basks in scales. People choose to dry clothes and calligraphy and painting on this day. It is said that you can avoid being eaten by insects after drying in the sun on this day, so there is a saying that "June 6, basking in red and green", and some places will choose Tanabata as the day.
The custom of hanging clothes continued until the Wei and Jin Dynasties, which became an opportunity for rich children to show off their wealth. Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest", looked down on this style. When his rich neighbor was covered with silk and satin, Ruan Xian deliberately picked up a worn-out dress with a bamboo pole. Someone asked him why, and he replied, "I can't avoid customs and talk to you (let's just say so)!" " "
The custom of "uncovering books" has a history of at least two thousand years in China. In Mu Zhuan, there is a record that "the son of heaven traveled eastward, second only to Queliang, and his book was exposed in Yuling". In the Han and Tang Dynasties, the book exposure system was gradually formed. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a unique gathering of scholars was formed in the pavilion and Hanyuan, where scholars and scholars visited each other and tasted and learned.