China has attached great importance to the long summer solar terms since ancient times. According to records, on the long summer day of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor led officials from the civil and military forces to the southern suburbs outside the capital to welcome the summer, held a ceremony of offering sacrifices to Emperor Yan and Zhu Rong, and instructed Stuart and other officials to go to various places to encourage farmers to step up farming. "The Book of Rites and the Moon Order" said: "On the day of long summer, the son of heaven personally led three kings, nine ministers and princes to welcome the summer in the southern suburbs. Reward, reward, seal the princes, celebrate the gift, and everyone is happy. " In ancient times, the dresses, jade articles, carriages and horses worn by the team to meet summer, and even the flags on the cars must be red, which indicates that the hot summer is coming. Up to now, there are still many traditional customs left over.
Long summer custom-preventing summer diseases
Long summer, also called "Long Summer Festival", in Wenzhou, every household should eat bamboo shoots and Sophora beans (that is, broad beans, which are called Sophora beans because they come from Huaihe River) and green plums. In Yueqing, everyone, old and young, eats tea eggs, green plums, fresh bamboo shoots and fresh broad beans, thinking that it can prevent "summer disease" (people will be thin in summer). After transplanting rice in rural areas, farmers slaughtered chickens and ducks to nourish their bodies, and gave cows water chestnut incense to strengthen their muscles and bones, in preparation for the next "double summer" labor. Every household also makes wheat cakes or black rice cakes to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, regardless of wealth.
Changxia custom made-buy safflower
In the long summer, in all parts of southern Zhejiang, every household has to buy safflower and new tea. There is a poem that says, "It's sunny in April in long summer, and I discuss with Lang to spend money for the New Year;" Red flowers and pickles are hard to slow down, and it is even harder to buy a new year's tea. "Because the new valley was planted at that time, it was the time when the green and yellow were not connected. Do not reserve rice, and buy it at a high price when the supply is in short supply. At the same time, the silkworm moth broke out of the cocoon and pulled out new silk. Tea leaves will become old leaves if they are not collected. Red flowers are used by women to dye clothes. Production in April, be sure to buy in time.
A person who customizes and weighs in the long summer.
The custom of "calling people" on the day of long summer is mainly popular in southern China, which originated in the Three Kingdoms period: Meng Huo was surrendered by Zhuge Liang, and after surrendering to Shu, he surrendered to Zhuge Liang. Before he died, Zhuge Liang told Meng Huo that he would visit the master of Shu once a year. On the day Zhuge Liang entrusted him, it happened to be the long summer of this year, and Meng Huo immediately went to worship Adou. Since then, every summer, Meng Huo has promised to visit. Many years later, Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty lost Shu and took Adou with him. Meng Huo never forgets his great trust. Every year, Chang Xia led troops to Luoyang to visit Adou, and every time he went, he weighed Adou to verify whether Adou had been abused by Emperor Wu of Jin. He threatened that if Kim abused Dou, he would attack him. In order to win Meng Huo's trust, Emperor Wu of Jin used glutinous rice and peas to make lunch for Adou every summer. Adou saw the glutinous and fragrant pea glutinous rice, which greatly increased his appetite. Meng Huo weighed himself in the city, each time several kilograms heavier than the previous year. Although Adou had no skills, Meng Huo was called a man by Chang Xia, and Emperor Wu of Jin dared not mistreat him, so he lived a quiet life and a long and happy life. Although this legend is inconsistent with history, what people want is a peaceful world of "peace and happiness, long life". Chang Xia said that people can bring good luck to Adou, and people also hope that God will bring them good luck. Chang Xia said that people have been passed down to this day. In the long summer, people have lunch every day, hanging a big wooden scale at the entrance of the village or platform and a stool on the scale hook. Everyone took turns sitting on the stool and said. The ancient poem goes: "Long summer is called a person, laughing on the hanging beam of the scale." When weighing flowers, the caller said auspicious words. When weighing the old man, he said, "He weighs 87 and lives to 9 1." . When you weigh a girl, you say, "105 Jin, people outside come to see you." Unwilling, unwilling, the champion son has a fate. " Weighing a child, he said, "It takes a dozen or twenty-three children for a small official to grow up." Seven county officials should not be guilty, and three public officials and nine ministers should climb. "flowers can only be typed in (that is, from decimals to large numbers) and cannot be typed out.
Every summer, there is a custom of weighing people everywhere. At home, there is a big scale hanging on the nave or in the patio. All men, women and children in the family can weigh it, but it is mainly called children. There is a touching legend among the people: it is said that during the Three Kingdoms period, she was rescued from a million-strong army in Changbanpo, and her biological mother, Mrs. Mi, threw herself into a well in order not to drag Zhao Yun down. Adou was personally taken care of by Liu Bei. However, it is inconvenient for Liu Bei to take care of his children in the army, so he thinks it is better to give Adou to his later wife (Sun Quanmei) to raise him. So Liu Bei prepared many gifts and escorted them to the State of Wu. When I arrived in Wu, it happened to be the Long Summer Festival. When Mrs. Sun saw chubby little Adou, she liked it very much, but she was worried: After all, I am a stepmother. If Adou is not well raised, it will not only be difficult to explain to her husband, but also leave a laughing stock among the people. She thought of a way: today is long summer. I'll weigh Adou in front of Zhao Zilong, and then I'll weigh him in the long summer next year, and I'll know if the children are well raised. As soon as Mrs. Sun made up her mind, she had adzuki bean weighed. From then on, Mrs. Sun will weigh adzuki beans every year at the Long Summer Festival and then inform Liu Bei. In this way, in Jiangnan, the custom of respecting people in the long summer has been formed. There are also some taboos about saying people. For example, when weighing, the scale can't move inward, but can only move outward, that is to say, it can only be aggravated, but not lightened. For example, if the number of pounds is nine, you must add one pound when reporting, because nine is the last number, which is unlucky. Generally, the second year is called the Long Summer Festival, which tests the fatness of one year. In Huzhou, it is said that children put a stone in their pockets to gain weight and to live longer. In Ningbo, on this day, a big scale is hung in the ancestral hall, and a laundry list is hung on the scale hook. Adults and children are weighed one by one, which means that they can avoid summer illness, gain weight, get older and fatter, and lose weight is "eliminating meat", so they must make up.
Long Summer Custom-Five Lang Eight Guarantees to Wushan
In summer, workers from all walks of life are used to taking vacations and going to Wu Shan to play more. There is Hang Yan Day: "Goro Babao goes to Wu Shan." Five lang, namely mamilang, shaved lang, inverted lang (a dung collector), cobbler lang and foil maker lang. Eight guarantees, namely wine mixing, noodle protection, tea protection, rice protection, local protection, horse protection, mutual protection (yin and yang) and milk protection (baby care). Thirteen craftsmen went to Wu Shan that day. Thirteen craftsmen, namely carpenters, masons, masons, blacksmiths, shipbuilders, Buddhists, sculptors, painters, silversmiths, coppersmith, sawworkers, masons and kiln workers.
Long summer eating customs
Eat shad
Wenzhou has the custom of tasting shad in long summer. Shad is a famous fish in China. Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica records: "There is something in the early summer, and there is nothing in the rest of the month, so it is named shad. At the turn of spring and summer every year, squid groups swim from the sea to the river to lay eggs. The body is rich in fat and the meat is extremely delicious. " It is said that after the Long Summer Festival, the bones of shad taste terrible. If you give people shad before the festival, there are usually fragrant flowers. In the Qing Dynasty, Sun Youshi of Ruian wrote a poem "Giving Pebbles to Send shad". In the poem, he said, "Yellow croaker picks flowers to ride the wind, and also orders fairy flowers to send snow shad", and noted: "My hometown sends shad, covered with Chinese rose flowers, and the gesture is even more strange."
Take supplements
Jiande folk song: "Make summer, eat tonic." People usually eat boiled eggs with red dates and stewed chicken with astragalus to nourish their bodies and prepare for intense agricultural labor. Others eat five tiger Dan, that is, red dates, black dates, walnuts, longan and litchi. Others eat "three and a half", that is, Codonopsis pilosula, Astragalus membranaceus, Angelica sinensis and Achyranthes bidentata.
Roasted wild rice
In Jiaxing, there is a custom of boiling water bamboo. Wild rice is usually eaten by children in groups. Families gather firewood, pick fresh broad beans from the ground and cook broad bean rice in the wild (some add bacon and bamboo shoots). In Huzhou, three or five children, or six or seven people, go outside the village to cook wild rice, which is 100 meters away from each family. You can pick broad beans and peas from any field (not stealing, but you are not allowed to pick only one field and run more). Some children are fishing on the beach, while girls set the pots and collect firewood. People think that after eating wild rice, people become smart and diligent, and there is no summer. 1February 12 On Silkworm Flower's birthday, farmers in Deqing made some puppies out of rice flour and hung them in a ventilated place to dry in the shade, calling them "long summer dogs". When cooking wild pot rice in the Long Summer Festival, wash the rice noodle dog and cook it with wild pot rice. It is said that children are stronger than dogs. Adults eat long summer wine at home. On this day, there are maltose cakes and homemade cakes on the market.
Eat long summer rice
In the old society, on the same day of long summer, people in most places cooked "five-color rice" with white rice mixed with five-color beans such as red beans, soybeans, black beans, mung beans and so on, and later evolved into glutinous rice cooked with Lou beans and yellow croaker soup, which was called "long summer rice". Eat double eggs, bamboo shoots, not peas. Put the boiled eggs, whole bamboo shoots and peas with shells on the table. It is said that eggs are eaten in the long summer. Because eggs are shaped like hearts, people think that eating eggs can replenish the spirit. After the long summer, it will be a hot summer. In order to avoid losing money in hot summer, you should take supplements in the long summer. There is a thriving life in Rongzhou proverbs. I hope that people's legs are as strong as bamboo shoots and can walk a long way, that is, the main legs. Peas with shells are like eyes, and the ancients had many eye diseases. By eating peas, they pray that their eyes will be as clear as fresh peas all year round, and there will be no diseases and disasters. Ningbo grows in summer and is used to eating "foot bone bamboo shoots", which are cooked with black bamboo shoots, each three or four inches long and not cut open. When eating, you should pick two bamboo shoots with the same thickness and eat them in one bite, saying that eating them can make your feet and bones healthy. People in Changsha, Hunan, eat glutinous rice flour mixed with rat grass in summer, which is called "long summer soup".
The folk proverb says, "Eat the soup in the long summer, and the stone will be trampled into a pit", and "Eat a ball in the long summer (pronounced' Tuo') and cross the river with one foot", which means endless strength and being as light as a swallow. Chang Xia, a farmer in the suburb of Shanghai, made a strip of food with wheat flour and sugar, which was called "wheat silkworm". People ate it, saying that it could avoid "returning to summer". Long summer is regarded as a grand festival by people in Tongshan County, Hubei Province. Chang Xia, a native of Tongshan, eats soaked grass poison, shrimp and bamboo shoots. The so-called "eating soaked eyes, eating shrimp makes great strength, and eating bamboo shoots strengthens the feet and bones". Eating shrimp noodles in southern Fujian in the long summer is to buy shrimp and cook it in the noodles. Shrimp turns red when cooked, indicating good luck, and shrimp is homophonic with summer, expressing wishes for summer. East Fujian mainly eats "light cakes" (flour baked with a little salt) in the long summer. Zhouning, Fu 'an and other places in eastern Fujian soaked the light cake in water and made it into dishes, while Jiaocheng, Fuding and other places cut the light cake in half and ate fried bean sprouts, leeks, meat and waste vegetables. Some villages in Chunchi Town, zhouning county eat "long summer paste", which can be divided into rice paste and sweet potato paste. Cook the soup in a large pot. The content of soup is very rich, including meat, small bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, chickens and ducks in water, tofu and so on. And invited neighbors to drink paste soup. This is somewhat similar to the custom of eating "Qijia porridge" in the rural areas of eastern Zhejiang in the long summer. "Seven-family porridge" and "Seven-family tea" are another form of tasting new things in the long summer. "Seven-family porridge" is a large pot of porridge made of rice collected from neighbors and various beans and brown sugar. Share it with everyone. "Seven teas" means that each family brings its own freshly baked tea leaves, mixes, cooks or makes a big pot of tea, and then everyone sits together and drinks. These porridge or tea are not necessarily delicious food, but these ceremonies can be said to be important social activities in the old rural society. There is a saying that after eating this porridge, my neighborhood is harmonious, and I am bent on going to Xia Geng in summer.
In Lishui, Changxiami cooks with bamboo shoots, peas and glutinous rice every day. In Qingyuan County, every household eats delicious soup in summer, also called "long summer soup". Eggs eaten all over Jinhua are called "long summer eggs". Eat bamboo shoots in Dongyang and other places. Eating green plums in Pujiang and Yiwu means avoiding foot pain, commonly known as "needle stalk". There is a custom of avoiding sitting on the threshold all over the country, saying that sitting should be light all year round. In the old custom of Dongyang, women have their eyebrows trimmed and their ears pierced, and calves have their noses pierced. This day is often carried out.
Zuixia
In Taizhou, in the long summer, the tender leaves of ramie are cooked and mashed, mixed with wheat flour to make pancakes, spread on a pot to make wheat fried and wrapped in vegetarian meat. People who can't eat wine on this day also drink a little, or rest until they are drunk, so it's called "drunken summer". Old people also eat chicken porridge to supplement their health. People in Taizhou also eat green plums, eggs and longan. Eating longan is said to keep your eyes clear all year round, and eating plums and eggs in summer can strengthen your feet and bones. Minnan people in Yuhuan steamed eggs and pork with brown sugar and old wine as supplements for a long summer.
Eat healthy bamboo shoots
Stalagmites have just appeared in the long summer. In Huzhou, every household has to dig a few roots, simmer them with charcoal fire with shells, peel off the shells after cooking, and dip them in salt, soy sauce and pepper to eat. This is called "healthy foot bamboo shoots". It is said that eating healthy bamboo shoots can make your feet healthy. In Zhoushan, at noon, ancestors were sacrificed with cowpea glutinous rice, black bamboo shoots, soft vegetables, crabs and pomfret. Cooked black bamboo shoots and soft vegetables are not chopped, which are called "foot bone bamboo shoots" and "fan wind vegetables" It is said that eating black bamboo shoots can strengthen feet, eating soft vegetables can prevent heatstroke, and eating cowpea rice can prevent mosquito bites. In Jiande, mountain people also pull wild bamboo shoots up the mountain and eat them in salt water, which is called "eating healthy bamboo shoots". In Lin 'an and Yuqian, families burn bamboo shoots and stew. After cooking, the whole family, men, women and children, each ate two bamboo shoots and the children added an egg. I thought that eating an egg in the long summer would make me ten thousand more energetic. This custom still exists today.
Five-color rice
In Ningbo, every household cooks white rice with red beans, soybeans, black beans, mung beans, commonly known as "five-color rice" or "long summer rice". Zhenhai is called "five heads", which means elders, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. Ninghai and other places are called "colorful auspicious". Families also boil eggs with tea leaves, called "long summer eggs", and feed each other. Fenghua and other places also have the custom of making "rice duck eggs" on this day. Eat cherries and red dates, and your eyes are bright; Eating conch is smart; Eating fried broad beans is called hard teeth. Cixi also has the custom of eating raw tofu.
Eat silkworm flower rice
Eating cherries, bamboo shoots and old wine is a custom in Japan, and eating silkworm flowers and rice is a custom in Xinchang. Silkworm flower rice is a kind of mixed rice cooked with glutinous rice, japonica rice and canned rice. I think silkworm flower rice is good with bacon.
Sanshao Wulajiu Shixin
On that day, Hangzhou still had the custom of eating "three burns", "five waxes" and "nine innovations". Three burns, that is, burning summer cakes, roast chicken and shochu. Five kinds of wax, namely yellow croaker, salted duck egg, sea silk, bacon and Qingming dog. There are cherries, plums, shad, broad beans, amaranth, bamboo shoots, soybeans, roses, black rice cakes and lettuce at nine o'clock. Eat small wild bamboo shoots, thinking that you can help others.
Hang eggs, beat eggs
As the saying goes, "hanging an egg on your chest in the long summer will not cramp you in the summer." Hanging oneself to relieve summer is a common phenomenon in summer. Abdominal distension, anorexia, fatigue and emaciation make it easy for children to recover from summer. At noon in summer, people cook eggs (they are boiled in shells and cannot be damaged), soak them in cold water for a few minutes, then put on woven silk bags and hang them around the children's necks. Pray for the healthy growth of children in summer. Children with eggs hanging on their chests will gather in twos and threes to play with eggs. An egg has two heads, the pointed one is the head and the round one is the tail. When you beat eggs, the head of the egg hits the head of the egg and the tail of the egg hits the tail of the egg. Fight one by one, and the loser gives up and finally decides the outcome. The winner of the egg head is the first, and the egg is king; The winner of the egg is the second place, and the egg is called Xiao Wang or Er Wang.
Sacrifice ancestors and gods.
As the beginning of a season, people have attached great importance to long summer since ancient times. In the history of the Zhou Dynasty, every summer, Emperor Tiandi led ministers to the southern suburbs to hold a welcoming ceremony. After the ceremony, officials in charge of fields and forests will also tour the plains of heaven and earth on behalf of the Emperor. Encourage farmers to pay close attention to farming. In addition, the emperor also offered pigs to the ancestral hall when the agricultural officials presented new wheat, and held a ceremony to taste the new wheat. In the folk, on the day of long summer, it is necessary to sacrifice the newly harvested fruit to the gods first, indicating that there are new gains. The first thing that comes to mind is to tell God and ancestors that these vegetables and grains have been harvested and given to them for enjoyment.
In the long summer, the weather is changeable and hail may appear in some places. Therefore, in ancient times, farmers had the custom of offering sacrifices to the rural hail gods in summer to pray for the elimination of hail disasters and a bumper harvest.