The origin of long summer, the story of long summer solar terms

1. Two legends about the origin of the long summer. Every year around the first day of April (between May 5 and 6 in the Gregorian calendar), when the sun reaches 45 degrees on the yellow meridian, it is the lunar long summer solar term. Changxia was established at the end of the Warring States Period (239 BC). "Sinus refers to the southeast, Wei refers to the long summer, and everything grows here, so it is named long summer." Chang Xia said that this is the beginning of saying goodbye to spring in summer. When the temperature rises obviously, the summer heat comes, thunderstorms increase and crops enter the peak season, people are used to taking long summer as an important solar term.

2. The solar term "Long Summer" was established at the end of the Warring States Period (239 BC), indicating the replacement of the four seasons and the beginning of the summer of the four seasons. According to the standard of climatology, when the average temperature reaches 22℃ in five days, summer begins. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the waiting temperature in the long summer season is close to the climatological standard, which is the origin of the twenty-four solar terms. From this point of view, it is practical to regard the Long Summer Festival as long summer in the 24 solar terms.

3. In the long summer, everything is thriving. The book "Eight Chapters of Lotus Life" written by the Ming Dynasty said: "On the day of summer dream, heaven and earth began to merge and everything was beautiful." At this time, the summer harvest crops entered the late growth stage, the winter wheat blossomed and filled, the rape was close to maturity, and the summer harvest crops were basically a foregone conclusion that year. Therefore, there is a saying in agricultural proverbs that "see summer in the long summer". According to records, during the Zhou Dynasty, on the day of long summer, the emperor personally led hundreds of civil and military officials to the suburbs to "welcome summer" and instructed Si Tuleideng and other officials to encourage farmers to work hard. Old customs make summer a traditional folk festival, called "Long Summer Festival".