The customs and diet of the twenty-four solar terms:

1. beginning of spring, commonly known as "Dachun". The old custom of beginning of spring is not only an ancient solar term, but also an important festival. On beginning of spring Day, the son of heaven will personally lead the princes and doctors to welcome the spring in the eastern suburbs, and give orders of kindness. On beginning of spring Day, an old man was elected in the village and symbolically hit the spring ox three times with a whip, which meant the beginning of the year's farming. Folk artists make many small mud cows, which are called "spring cows".

send it to every family, which is called "seeing off the spring". The host should pay the person who sent the spring. More essentially, it is a holiday sales activity, but it is happy for everyone. In some places, a yellow paper with a picture of a spring cow is pasted on the wall. Yellow stands for land, and spring cattle stands for farming, commonly known as "Spring Cattle Map". During the Spring Festival, people are used to eating radish, ginger, onion and bread, which is called "biting spring".

2. Rain not only indicates the beginning and increase of rainfall, but also indicates the increase of temperature. Before the rain, the weather was relatively cold. After the rain, the spring breeze warms up, and pathogenic bacteria and viruses are easy to spread with the wind, so infectious diseases are often easy to break out in spring. We should protect ourselves, pay attention to exercise, enhance resistance and prevent diseases.

during the solar term of rain, the humidity of the ground rises gradually, and dew and frost appear in the morning. Therefore, in view of such climate characteristics, diet aftercare should focus on recuperating the spleen and stomach and expelling wind and removing dampness. Because the climate is cold at this time, you can make up for it properly, such as honey, jujube, yam and tremella, which are all suitable for this solar term.

3. Stinking, symbolizing the beginning of February, will make a thunder in the ground and wake up all the hibernating snakes, insects, rats and ants, and the reptiles and ants at home will rise up and feed everywhere. Therefore, in ancient times, people would smoke the four corners of their homes with fragrance and wormwood to drive away snakes, insects, mosquitoes, rats and musty smells. Over time, it gradually evolved into the habit of slapping people who are unhappy and driving away bad luck, which is the predecessor of "beating villains".

During the period of fright, it is warm and cold at first, and the climate is relatively dry, which easily makes people thirsty and cough due to exogenous factors. Raw pears are cold and sweet, and have the effects of moistening the lungs, relieving cough, nourishing yin and clearing away heat. There is a folk custom of eating pears by surprise. In addition, patients with cough can also eat lotus seeds, loquat, Siraitia grosvenorii and other foods to relieve their pain. The diet should be light, and it is best not to eat greasy foods. Irritating foods such as pepper, onion and garlic should also be eaten less.

4. vernal equinox, the vernal equinox solar terms are generally on March 21th or 21th of the Gregorian calendar. On the day of the vernal equinox, the day and night are equally divided into 12 hours each, and the vernal equinox is equally divided among the three months of spring (from beginning of spring to long summer). Some people say that "the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox are equally divided day and night", so the vernal equinox is also called "the day and the day".

It's also called Spring Festival. In the old days, there was a custom of "eating spring vegetables at the vernal equinox". Spring vegetables are a kind of wild amaranth, also known as wormwood. In the south of the Yangtze River, the custom of rewarding cattle and offering sacrifices to birds is popular.

5. Tomb-sweeping and ancestor worship have a long history. Grave-sweeping, also called tomb sacrifice, sweeping sacrifice and going to the grave. Tomb-sweeping in Qingming Festival is because of the shock, the vernal equinox has passed, the ice has melted and the vegetation has sprouted. People think of their ancestors' graves, whether foxes and rabbits have pierced holes or not, and whether they will collapse due to the rainy season. Therefore, on the one hand, they go to the graves to remove weeds, repair branches and add some shovel soil to the graves.

On the other hand, prepare some sacrifices, burn some paper money, hang some notes on the branches, and hold a simple memorial ceremony to show the memory of the dead. On this day in ancient times, people gathered together to make friends, help the old and take care of the young, and took a good spring outing to the suburbs. Before and after the Qingming Festival, there were many traditional colorful cultural and sports activities, such as tug-of-war, swinging, flying kites, playing polo and fighting cocks.

6. Grain Rain, which means "rain gives birth to a hundred valleys". In the south of the Yangtze River, the peony flower is commonly called "Grain Rain Flower", because it blooms in Grain Rain Festival, so there is a proverb "Grain Rain visited the peony in three dynasties". Wherever there are flowers, scholars and women visit and feast and enjoy them, which is called "Flower Festival". For fishermen, the custom of offering sacrifices to the sea is popular in Grain Rain Festival.

The custom of picking tea in southern Grain Rain is said that drinking tea in Grain Rain on this day will clear fire, ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight. Therefore, no matter what the weather is in Grain Rain, people will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

7. In long summer, in the old days, five-color beans such as red beans, soybeans, black beans, green beans and mung beans were mixed with white rice to cook "five-color rice". Later, it evolved into glutinous rice cooked with Japanese bean meat, and the dish consisted of amaranth and yellow croaker soup, which was called "long summer rice". Boiled eggs with black tea or walnut shells are called "long summer eggs" and fed to each other.

weave egg covers with colored threads and hang them on children's chests or on curtains. Children generally play the game of eating eggs and fighting eggs, relying on long summer eggs for play, and winning by making the eggshell firm but not broken. As the saying goes, "long summer hangs eggs on his chest, and children don't suffer from summer." Summer onset is a common abdominal distension and anorexia in summer, with fatigue and emaciation, especially for children. There are still five-color silk ropes for children, which are called "long summer ropes".

8. Xiaoman, there is a folk saying in South China that "Xiaoman is full and rivers are full", which reflects the climate characteristics of this area with a lot of rainfall. The temperature increases obviously, and the rainfall increases. After the rain, the temperature will drop sharply, so pay attention to adding clothes, and don't catch a cold and catch a cold.

Xiaoman is the prone period of wet dermatosis, so the diet should be based on refreshing and light vegetarian diet, and often eat foods with the function of clearing away dampness and heat, such as adzuki bean, mung bean, wax gourd, cucumber, day lily, cress, auricularia auricula, carrot and tomato.

9. Miscanthus means that crops with awns such as wheat are mature. The custom of offering sacrifices to the god of flowers on the day of planting mang seeds. There is a custom of cooking plums in the season of awning, which has existed since the Xia Dynasty. There are many ways to cook plums. The simple one is to cook them with sugar or mix them with dried plums to make the plum juice leach.

You can also use salt to cook with plums, or use salt to mix with sun-dried plums to make plum juice leach out. More elegant, you should add perilla into it. The dark plum produced in northern China is very famous. When it is cooked with licorice, hawthorn and rock sugar, it is made into a good summer product-sour plum soup.

11, summer solstice, although the day is the longest and the sun angle is the highest, it is not the hottest time of the year. Summer solstice is the earliest festival in China. Before the Qing dynasty, there was a national holiday on the summer solstice, and I went home to reunite with my relatives and have a drink. Guangdong is popular with "summer solstice dogs, who have no place to hide."

There is a local saying that eating dog meat on the summer solstice can dispel evil spirits, strengthen the body and resist the plague. "Eat the dog on the summer solstice, and the west wind will take a detour", which means that as long as people eat dog meat on the summer solstice, their bodies can resist the invasion of the west wind and rain, catch fewer colds and be in good health. It is based on this good wish that the unique folk food culture of "dog meat on the summer solstice" has been achieved.

11. In the summer, there used to be a folk custom of "eating new rice", that is, after the summer, farmers would grind the newly cut rice into rice, prepare a meal for the worship of the five grain gods and ancestors, and then everyone would taste new wine. It is said that "eating new things" means "eating new things", which is the first new day after the Summer Festival. Cities generally buy a small amount of new rice to cook with old rice, plus newly listed vegetables.

Therefore, there is a folk saying that millet is eaten in a small summer and grain is eaten in a big summer. As the saying goes: Monopterus albus competes with ginseng in the summer. Monopterus albus was born in a mud cave on the waterfront, and the summer eel, which was one month before and after the slight summer heat, was the most nourishing and delicious. Summer is often the remission period of chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases, while Monopterus albus is warm and sweet, and has the functions of invigorating the middle warmer, benefiting qi, nourishing the liver and spleen, removing rheumatism and strengthening bones and muscles.

According to the theory that winter diseases are supplemented in summer, Monopterus albus is the most suitable food in summer. Monopterus albus has a high content of protein, more than twice as much iron as carp and yellow croaker, and contains a variety of minerals and vitamins. Monopterus albus can also reduce the concentration of cholesterol in blood, prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases caused by arteriosclerosis, and has a good effect on diarrhea caused by indigestion.

12. Summer is usually on July 22nd or 23rd of Gregorian calendar. Summer heat means hot, and summer heat is the hottest solar term in a year. Make up for three or nine in winter and three days in summer. The nutritional components of poultry meat are mainly protein, followed by fat, microorganisms and minerals. Compared with livestock meat, poultry meat is a low-fat and high-protein food, and its protein is also a high-quality protein.

chickens, ducks, pigeons and other poultry are the best choices for tonic in the summer. . Taiwan Province folk proverb: Eat pineapple in summer, saying that pineapple is the best in this season.

13, beginning of autumn, usually on August 7th or 8th of the Gregorian calendar. Autumn means that the summer is cool and the autumn begins. On beginning of autumn Day in the Zhou Dynasty, the Emperor of Heaven personally led the princes and doctors of Sangong Jiuqing to the western suburbs to welcome the autumn and hold a sacrificial ceremony. In the Han Dynasty, this custom was followed, and animals were sacrificed to show Qiu Lai's intention of promoting martial arts. People have the custom of divining whether the weather is cool or hot when they are in beginning of autumn.

There are folk sayings: long summer grows eggplant and beginning of autumn eats eggplant. Beginning of autumn is a good time to eat eggplant. Folk custom beginning of autumn put melons, steamed preserved eggplant and fragrant glutinous soup in the yard the day before, and ate them in the beginning of autumn.

14. During the summer vacation, there will be folk activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as "Making July 31" or "Mid-Autumn Festival". In the old days, there was a ceremony to open the ghost gate from the beginning of July, and until the ghost gate was closed at the end of the month, Purdue giving activities would be held.

It is said that Purdue activity begins with opening the ghost gate, and then the lantern pole is erected, and the river lantern is released, which leads to the lonely soul; The main body is building Purdue altar, setting up solitary shed, intervening to rob orphans, etc., and finally ending with closing the ghost door. Today, it has become a major activity time for ancestor worship. ? Worshipping ancestors and welcoming autumn in the summer are mostly related to the folk customs before and after the solar terms.

15. The Millennium is around September 7th of the Gregorian calendar every year. The temperature began to drop and the weather turned cold. Yang qi reaches its peak in the summer solstice, and the extremes must be reversed, and Yin qi also rises at this time. When it comes to the White Dew, the yin is gradually aggravated, and the dew in the morning is gradually thickened and condensed into a layer of white water drops, so it is called the White Dew.

The Millennium solar term has been the beginning of the real cool season. Many people blindly emphasize the tonic of seafood and meat when recuperating their bodies, ignoring seasonal diseases, which have caused damage to themselves and their families. Nasal diseases, asthma and bronchial diseases should be avoided in the Millennium solar term. Usually, you should eat less or not eat fish, shrimp and seafood, raw and cold stewed pickles, spicy, sour, salty and sweet food.

16, the autumnal equinox solar terms, usually on September 22nd or 23rd every year. The climate in the south began to fall from this solar term. According to the lunar calendar, "beginning of autumn" is the beginning of autumn, and it ends in "first frost", and the "Equinox" is exactly half of the 91-day journey from beginning of autumn to first frost. During the autumnal equinox, many areas in our country hold the folk activities of "laying eggs vertically".

17. In the cold and dew season, Nanling and the vast areas to the north have entered autumn, and the northeast and northwest regions have entered or will soon enter winter. In addition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which snows all year round, snowfall has generally begun in the northeast and northern Xinjiang.

Cold dew diet should be based on a balanced diet with five flavors. According to the individual's specific situation, it should eat more sweet, light and moist foods, which can not only replenish the spleen and stomach, but also nourish the lungs and moisten the intestines, and prevent and treat dry throat and mouth. Fruits include pears, persimmons, bananas, etc. Vegetables include carrots, wax gourd, lotus root, tremella and beans, fungi, kelp and laver.

You should eat warm food for breakfast, and it is best to drink hot medicinal porridge, because both japonica rice and glutinous rice have excellent functions of strengthening the spleen and stomach and invigorating the middle qi, such as sugarcane porridge, Polygonatum odoratum porridge, Adenophora adenophora porridge, raw porridge and Polygonatum porridge. Middle-aged and elderly people and chronic patients should eat more red dates, lotus seeds, yams, ducks, fish, meat and other foods.

18, first frost means that the weather is getting colder and it is beginning to frost. On October 23rd or 24th of Gregorian calendar, when the sun is located at 211 degrees of the Yellow Meridian, it is the first frost, which is the last solar term in autumn. In first frost, health care is particularly important. There is a folk proverb that "it is better to make up for first frost once a year", which shows the influence of this solar term on us. First frost solar term is the peak period for the recurrence of chronic gastritis and gastroduodenal ulcer.

The elderly are also prone to suffer from "old cold legs" (knee osteoarthritis), and chronic bronchitis is also prone to relapse or aggravation. At this time, you should eat more pears, apples, ginkgo, onions and mustard (potherb mustard). Chestnut has the effects of nourishing stomach and spleen, tonifying kidney and strengthening tendons, promoting blood circulation and stopping bleeding, relieving cough and resolving phlegm, and is a good tonic at this time.

Frost spreads all over the vegetation and rocks, commonly known as frosting. Vegetables covered with frost, such as spinach and wax gourd, taste particularly delicious, while fruits covered with frost, such as grapes, are very sweet. The ancients generally ate both mutton and rabbit meat in autumn. ?

19, beginning of winter, not only represents the coming of winter, fully speaking, beginning of winter means that winter begins, everything is collected, and it is safe from the cold. Beginning of winter is a big festival in October, during the Han and Wei Dynasties. On this day, the Emperor of Heaven will personally lead his ministers to welcome the winter weather, commend and support the martyrs who died for their country and their families, ask the deceased to protect their lives, and encourage the people to resist the plunder and invasion of foreign causes or hungry bandits.

among the people, there are customs such as offering sacrifices to ancestors, feasting, and divining the old age. Sacrifices are made to ancestors with the best seasonal products, so as to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities of future generations, and pray for a good year from God, and farmers themselves will be rewarded with drinking and rest. Although there is no such thing as hibernation, there is a folk custom of beginning of winter to make up for winter.

21. Light snow is a festival that reflects weather phenomena. There is little snow and no snow on the ground, which is the original meaning of the solar term "light snow" After a light snow, the temperature drops sharply and the weather becomes dry, which is a good time to process bacon. After the light snow festival, some farmers began to make sausages and bacon, and just enjoyed the food during the Spring Festival.

in some places in the south, there is also the custom of eating Ciba in October of the lunar calendar. In ancient times, Ciba was a traditional festival sacrifice in southern China, which was originally used by farmers to offer sacrifices to the cow god. There is a saying that "in October, Ciba Lu Lu Shao" refers to the sacrificial event.

21. Heavy snow means the starting time and amount of heavy snow during this period. It is a solar term that directly reflects precipitation, just like light snow, rain and Grain Rain. At this time, there are many people suffering from colds in northern China. If you can take some heavy snow Shun 'an Health Soup, it will be very beneficial to resist the attack of cold pathogens on the body surface, nose and mouth.

22. The winter solstice is regarded as a big festival. There was a saying that the winter solstice is as big as a year, and there is a custom to celebrate it. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep in the winter solstice, eating jiaozi and wonton, while the southern region has the habit of eating rice balls and long noodles in the winter solstice on this day. There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors on the winter solstice in various regions.

23, slight cold, usually on October 5 or 6 of the Gregorian calendar. Slight cold means that the weather is already very cold. There is a folk proverb that "a slight cold and a great cold make an ice ball". Literally, it seems that the severe cold is worse than the slight cold. In fact, in meteorological records, the slight cold period is colder than the severe cold. People often say that "the cold is in the third day, and the heat is in the third day", and "the third day" is within the solar terms of the slight cold, so the slight cold is the coldest solar term in the whole year.

In this solar term, young people should be careful not to get acne because of overeating fat, sweet and spicy products. In the slight cold, the old Nanjing usually cooks vegetable rice. The contents of vegetable rice are not the same, but they are all cooked with glutinous rice, which is very delicious. Guangzhou traditionally eats glutinous rice in a slight cold morning. In order to avoid being too glutinous, it is generally 61% glutinous rice and 41% fragrant rice.

24. The Great Cold is the last of the 24 solar terms. Every year around October 21th, when the sun reaches 311, it is a severe cold. It means that the weather is cold and the coldest period is coming. According to China's customs, especially in rural areas, people are busy getting rid of old cloth and new ones, curing new year's dishes and preparing new year's goods every big cold festival.

During the period from the Great Cold to beginning of spring, there are many important folk customs and festivals. For example, the sumptuous food, the kitchen sacrifice and New Year's Eve, and sometimes even the biggest festival in China, the Spring Festival, is in this solar term. The severe cold solar terms are full of joy and joy.