Today is Friday, May 5, 2022
The fifth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar
Year of the Year of
"Spring is in the middle of nowhere, and the summer money is coming."
Lixia, the seventh of the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar and the first solar term of summer, indicates the official beginning of the Mengxia season.
The "Explanation of the Seventy-two Waiting Collections of the Moon Order" records: "LiXia, April Festival. Standing character interpretation see spring. Summer, fake also. Things are false at this time. ”
"Red and purple have turned into dust, and the cuckoo sounds in the summer."
Spring is over when the flowers of spring are blown down by wind and rain overnight, when the cuckoos are awakened by the heat and begin to chirp. And summer is finally here.
Lixia is a very special solar term.
At this time, everything has lost the grace of the spring when it first sprouted, nor has it yet reached the depression after the autumn harvest, nor does it have the coldness that needs to be hidden in the cold winter.
Li Xia gave the heavens and the earth a touch of warmth, and also gave the environment in which all things grew, so that all things in heaven and earth were full of the power to grow wantonly.
And we, like everything in the world, should be in this time of spring and summer communication:
Meditation and health, based on the present, planting flowers in the heart, and working hard to grow, in order to live up to this summer time.
01
Three summers
The history of the Lixia festival is very long, as early as the end of the Warring States period 2250 years ago, it has been established.
Therefore, since then, the summer has become an important festival that heralds the change of seasons and divides the four seasons into summer.
In ancient China, Lixia was divided into three seasons:
A wait, the grasshoppers chirp;
Erhou, earthworm birth;
Three waits, Wang Guasheng.
In the first summer, the grasshoppers began to chirp.
In early summer, frogs begin to chirp and forage by the ponds. The slugs are suitable for warm and humid environments, and with the chirping of the slugs, the taste of summer is stronger.
In the second season of lixia, earthworms burrowed out of the ground.
At this time, the underground temperature continues to rise, and when the yang is extremely strong, earthworms also come out to join in the fun.
In the third season of Lixia, the king melon gradually matured.
King melon is a medicinal climbing vine plant specially produced in North China, which grows rapidly in the summer season and bears red fruits in June and July. People pick and give to each other.
02
Lixia customs
Spring and summer
From ancient times to the present, people believe that "the time of the establishment of summer is the prosperity of all things", and the summer is the symbol of the prosperity and prosperity of all things.
Therefore, since the birth of Lixia, people have always attached great importance to the etiquette of Lixia.
As far back as the Warring States period more than 2,000 years ago, people created many customs to celebrate "Lixia".
At that time, people honored the five sages of the ancient period as the Qing Emperor, the Red Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, the White Emperor and the Black Emperor, and set up various festivals to worship the five sides of the heavens and the earth they controlled and the four seasons of the year.
Among them, the Qing Emperor Taihao (hào) was in charge of the East and Spring, while the Red Emperor Shennong was in charge of the South and Summer.
Therefore, in the late spring and early summer season, people will hold a grand ceremony of "welcoming the spring and welcoming the summer" to send the Qing Emperor back and welcome the arrival of the Red Emperor.
In ancient times, the emperors would lead hundreds of civil and military officials to the suburbs south of the capital on the day of the establishment of the summer to hold various "summer welcome" activities.
The exclusive color of the Red Emperor was vermilion, so the courtiers who accompanied the emperor would also wear scarlet dresses and scarlet jade pendants, and even horses and flags would all have vermilion.
It was difficult for ordinary people to make expensive dresses and drapes for themselves, as emperors and ministers did.
Therefore, compared with the solemnity of wearing red and hanging colors and worshipping the gods, their summer-welcoming activities are more grounded.
On the day of the summer, the people will plant scarlet flags in front of their doors and windows.
Lu You wrote in his poem "Li Xia": "The red banner is inserted into the city, and the Eastern Jun returns to the whole city." ”
This means that when the scarlet flag is planted in the windows of the people's homes in the city, it is time for the Red Emperor to descend and the Qing Emperor to prepare his car to return.
Etiquette reveals both wisdom and the joy of ancient life, and its grandeur also points to the importance of summer.
Call people
Calling people is an interesting summer custom.
People hung a large wooden scale at the entrance of the village or in the gate, and the scale hook hung a stool, and everyone took turns to sit on the stool to weigh people.
The scale man weighs flowers on the one hand and speaks auspicious words on the other.
The old man of the scale said, "The scale spends eighty-seven, and lives to ninety-one."
The scale child said, "The scale flower is twenty-three, and the small official chief will come out of the mountain."
Egg fighting game
The proverb says: "Lixia chest hangs eggs, children do not boil summer", and xiaxia is a common abdominal anorexia in summer.
On the day of summer, every household boils eggs, and then puts on a silk mesh bag that has been woven and hangs it on the child's neck. The children would play egg fighting games in groups of three or five.
The egg is divided into two ends, with the tip being the head and the round one being the tail. When fighting eggs, the egg head fights the egg head, and the egg tail hits the egg tail.
One by one, the breakers conceded defeat, and finally divided the highs and lows.
LiXia tastes new
In some places, Lixia also has the custom of tasting new ones. For example, Suzhou has a proverb of "Lixia sees three new", and the three new are cherries, green plums, and wheat, which are used to worship the ancestors.
In Changshu, try new foods are more hearty, there is a "nine meat and thirteen vegetarian" saying, nine meat for crucian carp, salted eggs, chicken, brine shrimp, cherry meat, etc., thirteen vegetarian including cherries, plums, radish, roses, pine flowers and so on.
In Nantong, boiled chicken and duck eggs are eaten.
03
Lixia proverb
In the summer, the weather gradually warms up, and the farmers also summarize many proverbs according to the situation of the season.
Spring fights for the day, summer fights for the time.
Lixia Mai's teeth will be pulled out in January.
LiXia mai grinned, can not be short of water.
In the summer, the weather is cool, and the wheat harvest is strong.
Peas stand in summer, one stick a night.
Qingming Grain Valley rain flowers, planting sweet potatoes before and after the summer.
When the season comes to summer, first plant the millet and then plant the hemp.
Rice is planted in the summer, and sesame seeds are planted in small pieces.
In April, the grain is full of seedlings (early rice), and in May, the seedlings are planted with a light.
First planted shallow, then deep, spring seedlings planted three or five.
Early seedlings 789, late seedlings 456.
One in the morning, seven in the evening, single in the glutinous rice field.
Li Xia is hoeing the field on the third day.
The hoe plate sounds, and the crops grow.
Cotton listens to the footsteps of men long.
If you want to have a good crop, you must hoe the grass in the field early.
Planted on a plough and harvested on a hoe.
Don't hoe the ground in the summer, hungry in the winter.
Qingming hemp, valley rain flower, Lixia planted rice point sesame seeds.
04
Li Xia's message
A cicada wakes up summer, a frog sound, back to the summer of childhood. In that flower, we came.
There is always a summer day that leaves unforgettable scenery. There is always a summer day with people you will never forget.
Summer always opens the memories of our childhood, when there are you, me, simple games, and we are extremely happy.
The light summer of May is the most beautiful time. Light incense, light warmth.
Bidding farewell to the blossoming of spring flowers, ushering in the green grass and trees of summer, flowers have a mission to return, the moon has clouds and sunshine, and people have sorrows and joys, all of which are the laws of life of natural reincarnation.
The beauty of Lixia lies in hope. Spring is short and ambiguous, as the beginning of the cycle of the four seasons, it is impossible to get rid of the cold of winter, and it is difficult to see the wind and the warmth of the sun.
As a result, people often look forward to the summer after spring, longing for warm sunshine, the green of rice paddies, the fragrance of flowers in the fields, the colorful summer dreams...
Brew a pot of light summer time to feed the soul and nourish the love of the years.
Let the green hope fill the atrium, let the soft warmth be properly long, let the light summer time, like a clear spring, precipitate gentle, and flow.
Standing in summer, the wind warms the grass and trees in the world, and a note is clear and shallow into the summer.
May you be as clear and warm as the breeze, as bright and splendid as a summer flower, as free as a white cloud.
In the summer of life, may you be content and firm, gentle and courageous. Cultivate a bodhichitta heart, get a cool mind, be unfazed, and be graceful and calm.