Why does beginning of autumn want to eat watermelon?

The latitude in northwest China is relatively high, and watermelons just entered the picking period around beginning of autumn. Eating watermelon in beginning of autumn is an early adopter, but in some central areas, beginning of autumn watermelon has been listed, so eating watermelon can eliminate the evil in early autumn and nourish the five internal organs.

The custom of eating watermelon and eating watermelon in autumn has a long history. It is said that one year in the Ming Dynasty, many people in Nanjing had boils, and some people followed the story of Cui Xianggong's daughter who ate melons and let the boils heal themselves. The boils turned out to be really delicious. Therefore, people eat more watermelons in autumn to prevent autumn dryness, which has formed a custom for a long time. The Chronicle of the Capital published in the Republic of China recorded: "The day before beginning of autumn, eating watermelon was called eating autumn, which also welcomed the arrival of autumn.

People believe that eating melons in early autumn can avoid diarrhea in winter and the next spring. According to Zhang Tao's Tianjin Miscellaneous Notes in Qing Dynasty, eating melons in beginning of autumn can avoid diarrhea. In the Qing Dynasty, people put melons, steamed eggplants and fragrant soup in the yard the day before in beginning of autumn, and ate them in beginning of autumn to remove the heat in summer and avoid dysentery.

Meteorological change

The beginning of autumn doesn't mean the end of hot weather. After beginning of autumn, there was a solar term in summer. Beginning of autumn is still hot, but it hasn't come out yet. The second solar term comes out in autumn, and the weather is still very hot in early autumn. As the saying goes, the heat is at three volts. According to the calculation method of dog days, beginning of autumn is often still in the period of dog days from summer to summer, and dog days involve four solar terms: summer, beginning of autumn and long summer.

In the dog days of July and August, the subtropical high was strong, which controlled most parts of East China. Under the control of subtropical high, the weather is sunny and hot, so it is extremely hot in dog days, so it is also the hottest period of the year. Judging from the climatic characteristics, the autumn sun is like fire, beginning of autumn is hot, and many areas are still hot. Beginning of autumn is the third hot solar term among the 24 solar terms, second only to Daxia and Xiaoxia.