The Beginning of Summer is the seventh solar term among the twenty-four solar terms, and "Lixia Egg" is also called "Lixia Egg". It is the most classic delicacy on the day of Beginning of Summer, and it is also a toy for children. Let’s learn about “Beginning of Summer Eggs” and related interesting customs and legends!

1. Beginning of Summer Egg

The Beginning of Summer Egg is a good egg with both virtue and art. The "virtue" is reflected in that it is a delicacy, which perfectly reflects the value of food; the "art" is reflected in that it can become a toy in the hands of children, showing various "talents".

Food: The day before the Beginning of Summer, many people start cooking "Beginning of Summer Eggs" at home, usually boiled with powdered tea leaves or walnut shells. Watching the eggshells slowly turn red, the house is filled with fragrance. The eggs are round and round, symbolizing a happy life and praying for a safe summer. This kind of delicacy should be eaten while it is hot. When eating, pour good Shaoxing wine and sprinkle some fine salt inside. The wine is fragrant and tea-like, fragrant and delicious.

Some friends may have discovered that Beginning of Summer eggs look very similar to tea eggs. In fact, Beginning of Summer eggs are the predecessor of tea eggs. The ancients believed that eggs are round and round, symbolizing the perfection of life. Eating eggs at the beginning of summer can pray for peace in summer. The Beginning of Summer is usually in the fourth month of the lunar calendar. "April eggs are as cheap as vegetables." People boil eggs in leftover "Qijia Tea" to become "tea eggs." Later, people improved the cooking method and added fennel, meat marinade, cinnamon, and minced ginger to "Qijia Tea". From then on, tea eggs were no longer a festive food in the Beginning of Summer, but became one of my country's traditional snacks.

Toys: I don’t know if you have ever heard the jingle, “Begins of Summer eggs, thrown all over the street.” It’s normal if you haven’t heard of it. After all, the customs and habits of different regions are different. Although the Beginning of Summer Egg is a traditional custom of our Han people, many customs have become memories of one generation in the process of inheritance.

One of the ways to play the Beginning of Summer eggs is called egg fighting, which is usually a game for children. Use hard-boiled eggs, usually whole eggs boiled in white water with shells (the eggshells cannot be broken), soaked in cold water, and then placed in a net bag woven with colored silk or wool for the child to hang around his neck. The rules of egg fighting are quite simple. To put it bluntly, it is "to compare whose eggshell is harder": everyone holds an egg in their hands, with the sharp one as the head and the rounded part as the tail. The head of the egg hits the head of the egg, and the tail of the egg hits the tail of the egg. Fight them one by one. , the one who breaks the shell in a fight admits defeat, and then eats the egg, and the one who is left in the end and cannot break the egg is respected as the "Egg King".

2. The origin of the custom

There is a saying among the people, "If there are eggs on the chest at the beginning of summer, it will be difficult for the villain (zhù?) to survive in the summer." ? (Scane, Chinese medicine refers to a seasonal disease that occurs in summer, an infectious disease. The symptoms are mild heat, less food, tired body and weak limbs, and gradual weight loss.) The villain does not mean a person with bad character, but a person with bad character. Child. The meaning of the whole sentence is: If a child hangs a Beginning of Summer egg on his chest on the day of Beginning of Summer, the child will be less likely to suffer from this summer disease.

3. Legends

The custom of "eating eggs at the beginning of summer" has a long history, and it is said to be related to our ancestor Nuwa.

There is a ferocious god of plague in the sky. He usually likes to sleep in, but he doesn’t wake up until the Beginning of Summer every year. He takes a plague bag and sneaks into the lower world to spread the plague. Anyone who is infected by it is called "Xia Xia".

As a result, the mothers of their children went to the Nuwa Empress Temple to burn incense and kowtow in tears, praying for her to eliminate disasters and bring blessings and protect future generations. After Empress Nuwa learned about this, she went to the God of Plague to reason with her.

The Empress said: "From now on, you will never be allowed to harm any of my direct children." The God of Plague knew that Nuwa Empress had boundless power and did not dare to go against her. He said, "I don't know how many direct relatives the Empress has." The child is in the lower realm?" The Empress smiled and said, "Well, on the day of the Beginning of Summer, I will order my biological child to hang an egg bag on the front of his clothes. Whose mark do you recognize? You must not do anything like this. The method is quite interesting.)

On the day of the Beginning of Summer this year, the God of Plague woke up, picked up the plague bag, and rushed to the lower world. However, from morning to night, every child he saw had a disease on his chest. They didn't dare to do anything, and finally the plague god was exhausted and died of exhaustion on the road. After the plague god died, the children ate the eggs hanging on their chests.

To commemorate this. Thanks to the great kindness of Empress Nuwa, children hang boiled chicken, duck and goose eggs on their chests every year. Therefore, the custom of eating eggs on the Beginning of Summer continues to this day.

< p>Personal feelings: Nowadays, eggs are not expensive, and they are not a precious ingredient. There is no difference in the taste between Beginning of Summer eggs and tea eggs, but I personally feel that the Beginning of Summer eggs eaten on the day of Beginning of Summer must be more delicious than the usual tea eggs. Maybe it's a psychological effect. After all, as mentioned before, tea eggs are improved from Lixia eggs, so they taste almost the same, even more delicious. Suddenly I feel a little envious of ordinary people in ancient times. Although their material life may not be as rich as modern people, they still have the same taste. The spiritual world may be very rich, after all, there are many interesting traditional customs.