24 solar terms, agricultural meteorology, long summer.
Before and after the long summer, it is the season of transplanting early rice in the north and south of the Yangtze River. In the long summer, everything is thriving. Summer harvest crops enter the late growth stage, winter wheat blooms and fills, rape is close to maturity, and the year of summer harvest crops is basically a foregone conclusion, so the agricultural proverb has the saying "Look at summer in the long summer".
Long summer is the seventh of the twenty-four solar terms in China, which generally appears around May 5th of the Gregorian calendar. This season marks the official start of the lunar summer and is one of the important nodes of agricultural production in China. In our traditional culture, people have many special traditions and customs about the long summer.
First of all, about "watching summer". In the long summer, the weather began to turn hot, the yang gradually flourished, everything recovered, and vegetation flourished. The vibrant scene makes people sigh the magic of nature. In traditional culture, people call this period "watching summer". This statement comes from people's keen perception of seasons in ancient agricultural society.
Farmers believe that the crops planted early will be harvested in advance and can enjoy a bumper harvest; The latter will not be harvested until autumn, which may lead to reduced production or even poor harvest due to unexpected circumstances.
Therefore, farmers should complete the preparation of farmland before this particular node in the long summer, so as to ensure that the crops behind can grow endlessly and thrive. In this way, people later called this season "watching summer".
Secondly, the long summer is an important node in the traditional solar terms culture. The long summer means that spring is over and summer is coming. In ancient times, people would hold various celebrations at this time, such as banquets and sacrifices.
One of the most famous is the "dragon boat rowing" activity in Jiangnan water town. It is said that this activity can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with a history of thousands of years. Men, women and children put on bright clothes, rowed beautifully decorated dragon boats, sang and danced, and swam in rivers, lakes and seas. This activity means that human beings live in harmony with nature, full of vitality, giving people courage and strength.
In addition, the long summer also involves many customs and activities in diet and medicine. Before the long summer comes, many people feel sleepy and weak, which is called "May disease".
At this time, people need to pay attention to food hygiene, do some physical exercise properly, strengthen their physique and prevent diseases. At the same time, the long summer is regarded as an important health preserving node in China medicine. At this time, people can choose some food supplements or medicated diets, such as olives, bitter gourd and asparagus. In order to achieve the purpose of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat and nourishing the body.
In a word, Long Summer is a very important node in China traditional culture. In this season, people can carry out various festivals, pay attention to food hygiene and medical health preservation methods, and experience the vitality and inspiration of nature from winter to spring and from spring to summer.