What activities are there during the Summer Solstice? What do we eat during the Summer Solstice?

What activities are there during the Summer Solstice? What do we eat during the Summer Solstice?
The Summer Solstice is the most prominent symbol of summer and the hottest day of summer. It is also the earliest solar term among the 24 solar terms. What activities are there during the Summer Solstice? What to eat during the Summer Solstice? The Book of Songs records that “cicadas chirp in May”, and cicadas are the same as crickets. It means that in May cicadas break through the soil and climb up the trees, beginning the first clear singing of summer. If you want to know more about the fifth lunar month of 2018, please consult the fortune teller website. To get rid of the summer heat and avoid the dog days, on the summer solstice, women give each other folding fans, cosmetics and other gifts. "Youyang Zazu? Liyi" records: "On the summer solstice, fans and powder and rouge bags are presented, and both have words." "Fan" is used to create wind; "powder and rouge" are used to apply on the body to disperse the turbid air generated by body heat and prevent prickly heat. In the imperial court, after the "summer solstice", the royal family would take out the ice that was "stored in winter for use in summer" to "cool off in summer and avoid the heat of summer". This practice began in the Zhou Dynasty and was followed by successive dynasties until it became an institutional system.
Summer Solstice Food
"Wheat Zongzi" and "Summer Solstice Cake": Jiangnan food customs, generally including wheat Zongzi, glutinous rice dumplings, plums, wontons, noodle soup, etc. "Wujiang County Chronicles" records: "On the summer solstice, wheat dumplings are made and given to each other after the sacrifice is completed." People not only eat "wheat dumplings", but also give them as gifts to each other. On the summer solstice, farmers roll out dough into thin pancakes, bake them, and fill them with vegetables, bean pods, tofu, and bacon. They eat them after offering sacrifices to their ancestors. They are commonly called "summer solstice pancakes," or they are given to relatives and friends.
The summer solstice is the time of wheat harvest. Since ancient times, people have celebrated the harvest and worshipped their ancestors at this time to pray for disaster relief and a good harvest. Therefore, the summer solstice was incorporated into the ancient rituals of worshiping gods as a festival. "The Book of Zhou: Spring Officials" states: "When the summer solstice comes, bring local animals and demons." In the Zhou Dynasty, offering sacrifices to gods at the summer solstice was meant to eliminate famine, hunger and death. The summer solstice falls after the wheat harvest, and farmers thank God for the good harvest and pray for "autumn rewards." Around the summer solstice, some places hold a grand "summer wheat harvest" ceremony, which is a remnant of the ancient "summer sacrifice" activity.
Since ancient times, the Chinese people have had the saying "wontons at the Winter Solstice and noodles at the Summer Solstice". In the Jiangnan area, eating noodles at the Summer Solstice is an important custom in many areas. There is a saying among the people that "after eating noodles at the Summer Solstice, the day will be one line shorter." There are many varieties of noodles in the south, such as Yangchun noodles, dry soup noodles, shredded pork noodles, three fresh noodles, Guoqiao noodles and sesame oil cold noodles, while in the north there are noodles with gravy and noodles with soybean paste. "Because the new wheat has already arrived during the summer solstice, eating noodles during the summer solstice also means trying something new." 1. Lettuce and cold noodles. In the past, there was a saying in old Beijing that “eat wontons at the winter solstice and noodles at the summer solstice”. According to the customs of old Beijing, people would start eating raw vegetables and cold noodles as soon as the summer solstice arrives. Eating these raw and cold foods can effectively help reduce internal heat and stimulate the appetite, but they will not harm your health because they are too cold. Therefore, whenever the summer solstice approaches, foods such as cold noodles start to sell well.
2. Hot noodles Some people like to eat hot noodles in the hot summer, which is called "guotiaoer". It is said to have the meaning of "warding off evil". Eating hot noodles is to drive away evil and sweat more to remove moisture and heat retained in the body.
3. Summer Solstice Soup: People in Changsha, Hunan eat soup balls made of glutinous rice flour and Artemisia selengensis on the Summer Solstice, which is called "Summer Solstice Soup". A folk proverb says, "After eating the Summer Solstice Soup, the granite stones will be stepped into pits," and "Eat a ball (pronounced "tuo") on the Summer Solstice, and you can cross the river with one foot," which means to have incredible strength and be as light as a swallow.
4. Summer Solstice Pancakes: After the summer harvest, new wheat is on the market, so there is a custom of eating noodles on this day to taste the new wheat. Some people also make a paste with wheat flour, spread it into thin pancakes and bake them for food. It is filled with vegetables, bean pods, tofu, and bacon and eaten after ancestor worship. It is commonly known as "Summer Solstice Cake".
5. Pea cake: On the day of the summer solstice, according to the old Nanjing custom, adults would ask children to sit on the doorstep and eat pea cake to prevent all kinds of diseases. The origin of this custom is that in summer, the weather is very hot and people don’t want to eat, so they let children eat pea cakes first to whet their appetite. In addition, old Nanjing people eat a bowl of cold noodles and weigh themselves on the day of the summer solstice.
6. Summer Solstice Eggs Summer Solstice Eggs are eaten in Hengyang, Chenzhou, Yongzhou in southern Hunan and Xiangxi. On the summer solstice, boil a whole egg, peel it, add red dates and cook it into soup, which is called "eating summer solstice eggs". In southern Hunan, mainly in Jiahe, Lanshan and Guiyang, people get up early in the morning on the summer solstice, boil whole eggs, dye the eggshells red with red paper or red dye, put them in a small net bag, tie it on the chests of teenagers and children, and hang it until noon or afternoon, when they peel the eggshells and eat the eggs. People believe that eating eggs during the summer solstice can strengthen the body and stomach, and make walking more vigorous. As the saying goes, "Eating eggs on the summer solstice will crush the stone slabs."
7. New Wheat In some areas of Shandong, there is a custom of cooking new wheat grains and eating them on the summer solstice. Children use a small sieve made of new wheat straw to scoop out the new wheat grains from the soup to eat. It is both a way of tasting new food and a game.
8. Yuanhujiao
"Eating round Jiao balls on the summer solstice will make the stones creak when you step on them." In the past, many farmers would string the prepared Jiao balls on bamboo sticks, insert them into the gaps in the paddy fields where water flows, and burn incense as a sacrifice to pray for a good harvest. Therefore, there is still a custom of eating Yuanhujiao during the summer solstice in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

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