Boiling eggs with shepherd's purse is the most common way to eat in Hunan. On the third day of March, shepherd's purse will have long stems and flowers, and women will pick them and put them in their hair.

On the third day of the third lunar month, Chinese people have the custom of eating local dishes and boiling eggs. Shepherd's shepherd's purse, also known as ground vegetable and field vegetable, is a kind of wild vegetable growing in the corner of the field. Although it is a wild vegetable, it is delicious and nutritious. The folk proverb says, "On March 3rd, shepherd's purse is a panacea." "On March 3rd, shepherd's purse boiled eggs." Spring is the season to eat shepherd's purse. Eating shepherd's purse in spring is also a long-standing traditional custom among Chinese people. "The Book of Songs" has a chant of "it is as sweet as water"; Xin Qiji also has a poem that "peaches and plums in the city are worried about the wind and rain, and spring is in the head of the stream."

According to legend, in Chu, people have headaches because of wind and rain. On the third day of March, Shennong passed Yunmengze (now Xiaogan) and saw that the villagers had a terrible headache. He found wild eggs and vegetables and cooked them to satisfy people's hunger. When people eat it, their heads don't hurt. The custom of "on March 3, eating ground vegetables and boiling eggs will keep them from having a headache for a year" continues to this day.