China News Service Client, Beijing, May 5 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) "The trees are shaded in summer and the terraces reflect into the pond." Lixia is the seventh solar term in the traditional twenty-four solar terms and the first in summer. This solar term means that the Mengxia season officially began.
Because of its important guiding significance for agricultural activities, Lixia has received considerable attention since its establishment. At the same time, in order to cope with the gradually warming weather, the folks have gradually formed a series of interesting folk customs, and activities such as "fighting eggs" and "appropriating people" to test fat and thin are still very popular.
The meaning of Lixia solar terms
In the twenty-four solar terms, Lixia was established earlier. It heralds the change of seasons, which was thought to be the beginning of summer in ancient times.
Data Map: "Lixia" solar energy heralds the end of spring and the arrival of summer. The picture shows the corn seedlings in the fields of Ganzhou District in Zhangye in the morning light are growing vigorously. Chen Lishe
The significance of this solar term is explained in the "Solutions for the Seventy-two Collections of the Moon Order": "Establishment, Jianshi, Xia, Fake, and things are all fake at this time." "Fake" here means "big" The meaning is that the plant sown in spring has grown upright.
From a climatic point of view, people are accustomed to regard Lixia as a significant increase in temperature and an increase in thunderstorms, and an important solar term for crops entering the peak season.
In the summer season, everything flourishes. The ancient book records: "On the day of Meng Xia, the world and the world begin to meet, and all things come together." At this time, the summer harvest crops entered the later stage of growth, and their year is basically foregone, so there is a saying "Let summer watch summer".
Why did ancient times hold the summer ceremonies?
The ancients believed that summer is a time of high yang, and summer and summer are the main contents of summer seasonal beliefs and ceremonies. Folklore expert Xiao put it in "Twenty-four Solar Terms and Folklore", "Lixia, as the beginning of summer, has been valued by people since ancient times."
In ancient times, on the day of Lixia, the emperor wanted to lead the civil and military officials to the southern suburbs of Beijing to welcome the summer and hold the ceremony. Monarchs always wear vermillion dresses, with vermillion jade wear, and even horses and car flags must be vermilion to express the good wishes for a good harvest.
As time goes by, the Lixia customs become more abundant and perfect.
Data map: The children are fighting eggs. Photo by Dou Yuewen
In the Ming Dynasty, Liu Dong recorded in the "Emperor Jingjingluo": "In the summer, Qibing will be given to the Minister of Culture and Martial Arts." It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, on the day of Lixia, the Ling officials in charge of the ice administration of the court would dig out the ice in the winter The blocks are cut apart and given to the officials by the emperor.
In the folk, people will drink cold drinks to cool off the heat. During the Song Dynasty, there were already many patterns of cold drinks. It is said that the Jiangnan Water Town also has the custom of cooking tender broad beans in the summer.
Tie "Xia Xia Sheng" "Fat" to test fat and thin
Around Lixia, folks have also formed interesting customs involving various aspects such as diet and games.
Due to the high temperature in summer, people's bodies are prone to discomfort, such as not thinking about diet and so on. Therefore, to "personalize" on the summer day is to weigh people with scales, mainly the elderly and children.
Data Map: "Lixia" solar terms mean that summer is no longer far away. In Wanzai County, Jiangxi, local people have carried out traditional folk activities such as playing eggs, eating glutinous rice with pea and weighing, to welcome the arrival of summer. Photo by Deng Longhua
Then, after the summer has passed, weigh yourself again and compare it with your previous weight to check your health and adjust your body in time. In addition, people will also tie the child to the "scrap summer rope": use five-color silk thread tied to the child's wrist and other places to express the desire to eliminate the heat.
Or, adults will cook a few eggs, and children will play in a group of "fighting eggs" in groups of three or five. The ends of the egg are divided, the tip is the head, and the round is the tail. When the egg is fighting, the egg head hits the egg head, and the egg tail hits the egg tail. The broken one admits defeat and finally wins and loses.
At this time, "Lixiafan" is a special diet: people use red beans, soybeans and other five colors of beans mixed with rice, steamed and eaten. Some folklore experts explained that this kind of Lixia rice is also called five-color rice, which means to balance the five elements and give people spiritual encouragement.
Xiao Fang said that 24 solar terms is a cultural technique for us to grasp the growth time of crops, observe the laws of animal activities, and understand the rhythm of human life. Lichun tasting spring, Qingming tea tasting, etc. is also a traditional taste of time life.
In addition, people living in nature can only make themselves more happy and happy by following nature. He believes that people should consciously inherit the civilized wealth of 24 solar terms, respect natural time, respect the rhythm of life, and enjoy the colorful life of natural time. (Finish)