How did the ancients live in Lixia?
Summer indicates the beginning of summer. At this time, the sun is shining brightly, everything is beautiful, and the summer harvest crops enter the late stage of growth. In ancient times, what were the interesting customs of Lixia on this day? Xiaobian takes you to see it!
Weigh eighty-seven and live to ninety-one
Don't lose weight in winter, and sad in summer. Many people think that this is a joke, but in fact this statement has folk customs as the basis. A poem written about the custom of "Lixia" in The Bamboo Branches of Shanghai County by Qin Rongguang of the Qing Dynasty said: "Lixia weighs people lightly and heavily, and laughs and laughs on the scales. ”
Lixia wants to weigh this day, how to weigh? Generally speaking, a large scale is hung on a roof beam or tree, and the hands hold the scale hook and the two legs are suspended; the child sits in the basket or on a stool with four feet facing the sky, and the basket or stool is suspended from the scale hook.
Weight gain, called fa fu, weight loss, called meat elimination. It is said that after weighing the weight on the day of summer, you are not afraid of the summer heat and will not lose weight. People hope that by calling people, they will increase their happiness and longevity.
The imperial court ate ice cubes and the folk drank cold drinks
The Ming Dynasty Liu Tong recorded in the "Imperial Capital Scenery And Material Strategy": "Establish the summer day to start the ice, and give the minister of culture and martial arts." It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, as soon as the day of lixia came, the Lingguan in charge of the ice administration of the imperial court had to dig out the ice cubes stored in the winter cellar, cut them apart, and reward them to the officials by the emperor.
In fact, the emperor LiXia gave ice, which did not start in the Ming Dynasty. According to research, during the two Song Dynasties, it has become a custom and custom for emperors to give ice to their subjects.
In the folk, although the ancient people could not get ice on the summer day, they also had the custom of drinking ice on this day. Or the "Imperial Capital Scenery Strategy" carries the clouds: "Li Xia Qi Bing... Weaving (referring to the common people) must be sold and bought, and the two copper cups in the hands are stacked, and their raw bumps are called 'ice cups'. ”
Cook the eggs and the children will fight the eggs
On the day of Lixia, children should not sit on stone steps, if they sit, they must sit on 7 stone steps to dissipate all diseases. Avoid sitting on the threshold, otherwise it will cause sore foot bones in the summer, if you sit, you have to sit on the 6 thresholds to synthesize 7 numbers to solve the nightmare. In the past, mothers chose this day to wear ears for girls, and when they wore them, they had to coax their children to eat tea eggs, and when the children opened their mouths to bite the eggs, they had a needle to pass through.
Summer is the peak season for egg food. In Shengzhou, at noon in Lixia, every household boils eggs (eggs with shells boiled, cannot be broken), soaked in cold water for a few minutes, and then put on a silk mesh bag and hangs it around the child's neck. Some also draw patterns on the eggs, and children compete with each other, called fighting eggs.
Seven porridges in the south, and bread in the north
In Lixia, some villages in Zhouning County, Fujian Province, eat "Lixia Paste", which is divided into two categories, one is rice paste, and the other is sweet potato powder paste. The soup is extremely rich in soup, including meat, small bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, chicken and duck sewage, tofu, etc., and neighbors invite each other to drink paste soup. This is similar to the custom of eating "seven family porridge" in the rural areas of eastern Zhejiang.
Most parts of the north have the custom of making and eating pasta during the summer, which is intended to celebrate the wheat harvest. There are three main types of noodles in Lixia: summer cake, pasta cake and spring roll.
After the summer, the weather will gradually become hot, and soon it will enter the heat, at which time, adults and children will face the test of summer heat, especially children with weak physique, it is easy to get sick in the changeable climate.
Therefore, it is necessary to let children develop good health habits at the beginning of the summer, which can not only smoothly transition to summer, but also reduce the occurrence of diseases.
Spring ends and summer begins
The rainstorm is approaching. As soon as the summer festival arrives, a steaming summer begins.
Another name for Lixia is "Spring End Day". In his famous poem "Spring Ends", Bai Juyi vividly described the beautiful scenery of this season: "The scenery is sold in the heat, and the feelings of the times are sitting with emotion."
No one spoke a word, and someone turned back to lean back. Drunk with a few bushes of red peony, thirsty for a bowl of green Changming. Spring returned to try to send the warblers to leave a language, so that they could live in Anyuan three or two times. ”
In ancient China, Lixia had a great significance for Chinese who were mainly farmers. Because of this, Chinese has had many customs and etiquette about Lixia since ancient times, from the official to the folk, every time this season has to work hard to "do things", play that is called a hi.
First, let's talk about the Emperor's House. Every time in Lixia, members of the royal family had to bring civil and military officials to the southern suburbs of the capital to "welcome the summer", which was the most important custom in ancient times. According to historical records, all the monarchs and courtiers at the "Summer Welcoming" ceremony must wear vermilion dresses, with vermilion jade pendants, and even horses and flags must be scarlet, which means the desire and desire for a good harvest.
After "welcoming the summer", the emperor also wanted to "set up the summer day to open the ice and give it to the minister of culture and martial arts." Ice was a very precious thing in ancient times, because it was not easy to store, so only the emperor and general had summer ice to eat. To trace the history of ice making and hiding ice in the Imperial Family, it can even be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago.
In the "Book of Poetry in July", there are verses such as "Chiseling Ice Rushing" and "Na Zhi Ling Yin", which shows that China's history of Tibetan ice has become as old as the Book of Poetry.
According to archaeological findings, the earliest "Lingyin (i.e., ice kiln)" we have found today is in the territory of Fengxiang in Shaanxi Province, which was owned by the monarchs of the Qin State during the Spring and Autumn Period. Because it is more than 2,500 years old, it is also the oldest known ice cellar in the world.
The so-called "Kai Bing" activity is that the Lingguan in charge of the ice government in the DPRK digs out the ice cubes stored in the winter cellar, cuts them according to a certain size, and is rewarded by the emperor to the Civil and Military Officials. This kind of activity of emperors giving ice to Xia had become a common practice during the Two Song Dynasties and continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.