Folk Activities on the Start of Summer
Welcoming SummerThe word “Summer” in “Start of Summer” means “great,” indicating that the plants sown in spring have grown tall. Therefore, in ancient times, people attached great importance to the 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 welcome the summer and hold a ceremony for welcoming summer. All the emperor and his ministers wore red ceremonial robes, matching red jade pendants, and even the horses and banners were all red, expressing their prayers for harvest and hopes for a better future. In the imperial court, “on the day of Start of Summer, ice was opened, and given to the officials.” The ice was stored from the previous winter and was given by the emperor to his officials.
In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, people feel some sorrow because the beautiful spring has passed, so they prepare meals and drinks to celebrate, as if saying goodbye to someone, 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 the folk tradition, people drink cold drinks to cool down on the day of Start of Summer. On the day of Start of Summer, there is a custom in the water towns of Jiangnan to cook and eat tender green beans. Some places also have the custom of weighing people on the day of Start of Summer.
Tasting New Foods
There are also festival activities such as tasting new foods on the Start of Summer.
For example, in Suzhou, there is a proverb “the Start of Summer sees three new things”, referring to cherries, green plums, and wheat, which are used for ancestral worship.
In Changshu, the food for tasting new things is more abundant, with the saying of “nine meat dishes and thirteen vegetable dishes”. The nine meat dishes include carp, salted eggs, flounder, boiled chicken, pickled fish, boiled shrimp, and cherry meat; the thirteen vegetable dishes include cherries, plums, wheat worms, bamboo shoots, green beans, peas, broad beans, cucumbers, lettuce, clover, radishes, roses, and pine flowers.
In Nantong, people eat boiled chicken and duck eggs.
On the day of Start of Summer, many families boil whole eggs and then immerse them in cold water for a few minutes before putting them into already woven silk net bags and hanging them around children's necks. Then the children gather in groups to play egg-fighting games.
Eggs have two ends, the pointed one is the head, and the round one is the tail. When playing egg fighting, the heads fight each other, and the tails strike each other. They fight one after another, and the broken one surrenders. Finally, the winner is determined. The egg with the winning head is the first, called the King of Eggs; the egg with the winning tail is the second, called the Little King or Second King. There is a proverb: “Wearing an egg on the chest on the Start of Summer, children will not suffer from summer sickness.”
According to folklore, eating eggs on the Start of Summer can strengthen the heart. Since the shape of the egg resembles the heart, people believe that eating eggs can prevent the heart from being damaged. After the Start of Summer comes the scorching summer, and to avoid losing strength in the summer heat, it is necessary to take nourishment on the Start of Summer. A proverb from Sheng County says that it strengthens the legs, so that the legs are as strong as spring bamboo, able to walk far, symbolizing strengthening the legs. The shelled green beans resemble eyes. Additionally, since eye diseases were common among ancient people, people prayed for good eyesight throughout the year by eating green beans, hoping their eyes would be as clear as fresh green beans, free from illness and disasters.
Weighing People
After lunch on the day of Start of Summer, there is also the custom of weighing people.
Weighing people usually involves hanging a large wooden scale in the village entrance or hall, with a chair hanging from the scale hook. People take turns sitting on the chair to be weighed. The person weighing reads the scale marks while speaking auspicious words.
When weighing the elderly, they say, “eighty-seven scale marks, living up to ninety-one.” When weighing girls, they say, “one hundred and five jin, the rich family will come knocking. Don't refuse, don't refuse, don't refuse, the scholar's son has a match.” When weighing children, they say, “one scale mark equals twenty-three, the young man will grow up to become a mountain. No problem being a seventh-grade county official, and even a high-ranking official can be reached.”
Weighing scales can only be marked from small numbers to large ones, not the opposite. According to folk legend, this is related to the story of Zhuge Liang, Meng Huo, and Liu Bei.
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