Auther：2022-05-05
Lixia, the seventh of the twenty-four solar terms, is the first solar term of the summer season, and is celebrated from May 05 to 07 of the Gregorian calendar. It is an important festival that marks the beginning of the peak season of growth of everything. After the beginning of summer, the sunshine increases, the temperature gradually rises, thunderstorms increase, and crops enter the stage of strong growth.
It is the beginning of summer, which means the farewell of spring. After the beginning of summer, the rainy season officially begins, and the amount of rain and rainy days both increase significantly. Summer is the best season for many crops to grow vigorously, with sufficient light, suitable temperature and abundant rain to provide plants with the necessary conditions.
In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there is a custom of tasting new plants at the beginning of summer. In Suzhou, there is a proverb that three new things are seen in the first summer. The three new refers to the newly ripe cherries, plums and wheat. Wuxi folklore traditionally has the custom of tasting three new foods at the beginning of summer. Three freshness is divided into three freshness, tree three freshness, water three freshness. The three freshnesses of the earth are fava beans, amaranth and cucumber; the three freshnesses of the trees are cherries, loquats and apricots; the three freshnesses of the water are sea snails, puffer fish and shad. In Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other places, people still retain the ancient custom of eating wormy rice, which is a kind of purple-black glutinous rice, at the beginning of summer.
