One, Greeting the Summer
The “Summer” in “Start of Summer” means “big”, indicating that the plants sown in spring have grown tall. Therefore, people in ancient times placed great importance on the customs and rituals of the Start of Summer.On the day of the Start of Summer, ancient emperors would lead officials to the southern suburbs of the capital to greet the summer and hold a ceremony for welcoming the summer. All the courtiers wore red ceremonial robes, with red jade pendants, and even the horses and banners were red, expressing their prayers for a bountiful harvest and their hopes for a better future. In the palace, “on the day of the Start of Summer, ice was opened, and given to the ministers of literature and martial arts.” The ice was stored from the previous winter and was given by the emperor to the officials.
In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, people feel sad because the beautiful spring has passed, so they prepare meals and drinks to celebrate, as if bidding someone farewell, called “seeing off spring”. Cui Yin wrote in his fu: “Welcoming the beginning of summer, ending the last of spring.” Wu Outing's poem "Start of Summer" also says: “Helpless to see spring go, we send it away with cherries and bamboo shoots.”
In folk traditions, people drink cold drinks to cool down on the day of the Start of Summer. On the day of the Start of Summer, there is a custom in the water towns of Jiangnan to cook and eat tender peas. Some places also have the custom of weighing people on the day of the Start of Summer.
Two, Taste New
There are also festival activities such as tasting new foods during the Start of Summer.For example, in Suzhou, there is a proverb “the Start of Summer sees three new things”, which refers to cherries, green plums, and wheat, used for ancestral worship.
In Changshu, the food for tasting new things is more abundant, with the saying of “nine meats and thirteen vegetables”. The nine meats include crucian carp, salted eggs, halibut, stewed chicken, pickled fresh fish, boiled shrimp, and cherry meat; the thirteen vegetables include cherries, plums, wheat silkworms, bamboo shoots, peas, beans, broad beans, cucumbers, lettuce, grass heads, radishes, roses, and pine flowers.
In Nantong, people eat boiled chicken and duck eggs.
Three, Egg Fighting
On the day of the Start of Summer, many families boil whole eggs and then put them in cold water for a few minutes before putting them into woven silk bags and hanging them around the children's necks. Then the children gather in groups to play egg-fighting games.Eggs have two ends, with the pointed one being the head and the round one the tail. When fighting eggs, the head hits the head and the tail hits the tail. They fight one after another, and the broken one loses. Finally, the winner is determined. The one who wins with the head is first, called the King of Eggs; the one who wins with the tail is second, called the Prince or Second Prince. There is a saying: “Wearing an egg on the chest on the Start of Summer, the child will not suffer from summer heat.”
According to folklore, eating eggs on the Start of Summer helps protect the heart. Because the shape of the egg resembles the heart, people believe that eating eggs can prevent the heart from being harmed. After the Start of Summer comes the scorching summer, and to avoid losing strength in the summer heat, people should take tonics on the Start of Summer. A saying in Sheng County goes that eating eggs makes legs strong, like spring bamboo shoots, enabling people to walk long distances, symbolizing strengthening the legs. The shell-on peas look like eyes. Moreover, ancient people had many eye diseases, and to eliminate these eye problems, they prayed to eat peas to ensure their eyes remain clear and healthy throughout the year, free from illness or disasters.
Four, Weighing People
After lunch on the day of the Start of Summer, there is also the custom of weighing people.Weighing people usually takes place at the village entrance or in a courtyard, where a large wooden scale is hung. A bench is suspended from the scale hook, and everyone takes turns sitting on the bench to be weighed. The person measuring the weight marks the scale while saying auspicious words.
For the elderly, it is said: “Eighty-seven scale marks, living to ninety-one.” For girls, it is said: “One hundred and five jin, a wealthy family will find you. Not willing, not willing, not willing, the son of a scholar has a match.” For children, it is said: “One mark of scale, twenty-three, the young man will grow up and go out. Being a seventh-grade county official is no problem, and climbing to high positions is also possible.”
Marking the scale can only be done from small numbers to large ones, not the other way around. According to folk legends, this is related to the story of Zhuge Liang and Meng Hui and Liu Bei's son.
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