When is Long Summer?

When is the long summer in 2008? According to the calendar compiled by the Calendar Office of the National Astronomical Observatory, the time of "long summer" this year is 23: 3 1 on May 5, Beijing time. This time it's for the East Eighth District. The time span of East Zone 9 is 1 hour, and the "long summer" time is 0: 3 1 on May 6th. The dividing line between them is east longitude 127.5 degrees, and the calendar "Long Summer" to the east of east longitude 127.5 degrees is 6 days, while to the west it is 5 days. In other words, if the calendar is compiled only for China, the date should be five days, and if it is compiled for the whole world, it may be set to six days. This coincidence has happened before.

The seventh of the twenty-four solar terms begins in April of the lunar calendar and around May 6 of the solar calendar, when the sun reaches 45 degrees of the yellow meridian. Folk customs regard it as the beginning of summer. At this time, the climate in most parts of China is warm and the crops grow vigorously, so the cotton and other crops are managed by intertillage. Agricultural proverb: "Three dynasties and long summers hoe the ground everywhere." And get a year's wealth by setting a sunny summer day. There is an agricultural proverb, "It doesn't rain in the long summer, and the plows and rakes hang high". Old customs make summer a traditional folk festival, called "Long Summer Festival".

In ancient times, Emperor Tiandi led hundreds of officials to welcome the summer in the southern suburbs, and held a ceremony of offering sacrifices to Emperor Yan and Zhu Rong. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that people began to taste new customs. In the Qing dynasty, there were more customs such as offering sacrifices to gods, tasting new products, giving gifts, weighing people and making new tea. Up to now, Jiangsu and Zhejiang still have the dietary customs of "eating tonic food" such as eating long summer eggs, healthy bamboo shoots, five tigers Dan and three and a half; In Xuanwei, Yunnan, there is a gate with acacia branches and safflower to suppress sacrifices, and the walls are surrounded by ashes to avoid snakes. Some ethnic minorities in China also have the custom of having a long summer festival.

The word "summer" in "long summer" means "big", which means that the plants sown in spring have grown upright. In ancient times, people attached great importance to the customs and habits of long summer.

On the long summer day, the ancient emperor would lead officials to the southern suburbs of Beijing to welcome the summer and hold a ceremony to welcome the summer. The monarch and his subjects all wear red ceremonial costumes and red jade ornaments, and even horses and car flags should be red to express their desire and good wishes for a bumper harvest.

In the imperial court, "open the ice in summer and give it to the civil and military ministers." Ice was stored last winter and given to officials by the emperor.

In the folk, people drink cold drinks to cool off in summer.

In summer, there is a custom of boiling tender broad beans in Jiangnan water town.

In some places, there is also the custom of calling people in summer.

The Long Summer Festival is in summer. In ancient times, there was a ceremony of "long summer, welcoming summer in the southern suburbs, and offering sacrifices to Zhu Rong and Chi Di". There is a habit in modern times, which is to taste new things and call people. On this day, people cook cooked wheat and barley ears on the fire to enjoy the freshness of new wheat. Or weigh people with scales to pray. During the long summer festival, people are forbidden to sit on the threshold. Many people are also used to measuring a year's harvest with cloudy eyes in summer, and think that it is best to rain when it rains in long summer, otherwise it means "it doesn't rain in long summer, and wheat comes in drought" and "it doesn't rain in long summer, and the plowshares hang high".

Among the 24 solar terms, the long summer begins in summer. In the old days, in rural areas, five-color beans such as red beans, soybeans, black beans, mung beans and mung beans were mixed with white rice and cooked into "five-color rice". Later, it evolved into glutinous rice cooked with Japanese bean meat. 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 the egg cover with colored thread and hang it on the child's chest or curtain. Children play with long summer eggs, and the eggshell is strong but not broken to win. Now there are five-color silk ropes for children, which are called "long summer ropes". On that day, it was a custom in Ningbo to eat "foot bone bamboo shoots", which were cooked with black bamboo shoots, each three or four inches long and not cut. When eating, choose two bamboo shoots with the same thickness and eat them in one bite, saying that eating them will make your feet and bones healthy (healthy). Then eat soft food (Junda food), saying that after eating it, there will be no rash in summer, and the skin will be as smooth as soft food.

"Long summer" is the beginning of summer. On this day, people in our area always weigh themselves and eat glutinous rice, tea eggs, broad beans and bamboo shoots.

How did these customs come from?

It turned out that 1279, after Kublai Khan destroyed Nanning and established the Yuan Dynasty, in order to consolidate the unity of Mongolian nobles and prevent the Han people in the south of the Yangtze River from rebelling, many Mongols (commonly known as Tatars) were sent to the south of the Yangtze River, and every ten households were required to provide for a Tatar, so that they could eat and wear well. The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty also made a law stipulating that many Tatars should be weighed on this day of long summer every year. It will only increase, not decrease. If you lose a catty, you have to cut three catties of human flesh to nourish the Tatars. If you lose two pounds, you will lose six pounds. At that time, the Tatars lost a lot of weight because of their acclimatization, so the people were tortured by re-cutting their meat, which was extremely painful.

In order to alleviate and avoid the pain of cutting meat, people tried to make these Tatars eat more before weighing in the long summer. It's best to eat something delicious and difficult to digest. There are many paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and farmers grow many kinds of glutinous rice, generally raising chickens and laying eggs. Glutinous rice and eggs are the favorite things of Tatars, so people cook more glutinous rice and eggs for Tatars to increase their weight. This effect is really good, and most people have relieved the pain of cutting meat. So, in order to celebrate well-being, everyone eats some glutinous rice and eggs and weighs them.

So year after year, Chang Xia developed the habit of eating summer eggs and glutinous rice by weighing.

In order to have a good long summer festival, people should eat some other vegetables, because there are few other vegetables in long summer, and all kinds of bamboo shoots are on the market. Bamboo shoots are rich in vitamins and delicious. Children grow and develop fastest when they grow bamboo shoots, so people think that eating bamboo shoots in long summer can strengthen their feet and bones, so everyone eats some "foot bone bamboo shoots". Long summer is also the time when fresh broad beans are on the market. Isn't there a saying among the people that "beans are seen in Qingming Festival and delicious in long summer"? Especially after General Qi Jiguang put down the Japanese aggression in the Ming Dynasty, people ate "Japanese beans" in the long summer, which also meant to celebrate the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.