Ancient women lived alone, why should they use a few red beans to relieve loneliness?

It is a combination of the meaning of widow and red bean acacia, because red bean represents acacia in ancient poetry, and the widow will definitely miss it after her husband dies, so it is counted as red bean.

It is said that there is a widow in a small village. Her husband died young, and neither of them left children.

But this woman is also very loyal, widowed for her dead husband for 30 years. Later, when the locals saw her like this, they played on the court and applied for a chastity archway for her.

Later, the widow was seriously ill, and her sister-in-law came to see her and said, "You have been widowed for so many years, and it is worthwhile to get a chastity archway." The widow said nothing, but pointed to a small jar at the head of the bed and motioned for her sister-in-law to bring it here.

My sister-in-law opened it and found it was a can of beans. Obviously, she has been looking at these beans for some years. My sister-in-law looked at the widow puzzled.

At this time, the widow said slowly, "I have been counting these beans every day for years."

This is probably why widows count beans. Later, the ancients combined the meanings of red bean and acacia together. Because red bean represents acacia in many ancient poems, it gradually became a widow and was counted as red bean.

This is actually related to the social environment at that time, because the general way for ancient women to solve loneliness was to be a actress. But for widows, losing their husbands means losing dependence, so their hearts will be even more sad. Moreover, the ancients paid attention to marrying chickens and dogs, so they generally did not remarry easily, and they could only miss their husbands over and over again for the rest of their lives.

Therefore, the widow's counting of red beans means that she misses her husband and also reflects her lonely life.