What do you mean, long summer, long summer and today?
China called "five days" equal and "third class" solar terms, so a solar term is also called "third class". According to the climate characteristics and some special phenomena at that time, the working people in ancient China named each solar term "three phases" to express the characteristics of the weather at that time concisely and clearly.
The weather lasts for five days, 365 days a year (73 days on average). In order to correspond to the 24 solar terms, it is stipulated that three days are one day (gas) and a year is 72 days. Each climate corresponds to a phenological phenomenon called "waiting". Weather "weather" should include abiotic and biological categories. The former includes "water begins to dry up", "easterly winds thaw", "rainbows begin to appear" and "the ground begins to freeze". The latter includes animals and plants, such as "the swan goose comes", "the tiger begins to make love", "Ping begins to live", "Bitter vegetable show" and "the peach blossom begins to bloom".
Waiting for the first time in the long summer, it rang. It's early summer. Frogs and other frogs began to sing in the fields and Chi Pan in search of food. Crabs and crickets are suitable for warm and humid environments. With the chirping of crickets, the smell of summer is strong.
The second time in the long summer, the earthworm came out. As the underground temperature continues to rise at this time, earthworms climb from underground to the ground to breathe fresh air. Earthworms are real things, living in wet and dark soil. When the sun was shining, the earthworm got impatient and came out to join in the fun.
Long summer is the third, Wang Guasheng. Cucumber is a unique medicinal climbing plant in northern China. It grows rapidly in the long summer and bears red fruit in June and July. Long summer is the third place to wait for the king melon to be born, that is to say, the king melon (sweet potato) has grown up and matured at this time, and people can pick it and give it to each other.
Chang Xia called human custom an activity to measure the trend of weight change whenever Xia Zhishi was established, which was popular in southeast provinces in the old days. In the long summer, older people hang large scales on the beams or tree forks in front of the hospital, and men, women and children take turns to weigh themselves, compared with last year. This custom has a long history. According to the record of Biting Suzhou compiled in the first year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty, "Set up a summer day ... and record its weight by weighing people with a big scale." According to Gu Tieqing's Records of Food Clearing in Qing Dynasty, the reason why Chang Xia called people is because in summer, "the family called people with big scales, also known as beginning of autumn Day, to test the fat and barren summer." This custom is of positive significance for maintaining health and timely diagnosis and treatment of physical diseases. This custom is still common in some areas.
Summer is hot, and May is commonly called "evil month", which is taboo. There is a saying in ancient books that "children born in May are not easy to take care of". Meng Changjun in the Warring States Period, Wang Zhene, a general in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Evonne in Song Huizong were all born on the fifth day of May, and had the experience of being raised by a family with a different surname, which shows the deep taboo. In early summer, the epidemic is easy to spread; Old and weak children also have diseases that can't adapt to hot summer, commonly known as "bitter summer" and Chinese medicine calls it "summer dysentery". The custom of saying people in the long summer is related to this.
In summer, the custom of weighing people by hanging scales and writing down their weight is mainly popular in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan and Jiangxi in the south of the Yangtze River. Chang Xia said that people are very concerned about this:
First, the scale can't move inward, it can only move outward, that is to say, it can only be aggravated, not lightened.
Second, if the weight is nine, you must add another catty, because nine is the last number, which is unlucky.
In Huzhou, Zhejiang. When weighing a child, be sure to put a stone in the child's pocket. One is to increase the weight, and the other is to take the meaning of longevity.
The moral values of symmetrical people vary from place to place. In Shanghai and Fuyang, Zhejiang, people think that weighing people can relieve the suffering of the village. In Suzhou, Jiangsu, people believe that they can keep safe for one year. In Linhai, Zhejiang, it is said that it can keep people from getting sick. In Ji 'an, Jiangxi, people think that weighing people can prevent weight loss.