The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Summer (Chinese: 立夏), the 7th term of the year, begins on May 5 and ends on May 19 this year.
Start of Summer signals the transition of seasons. On this day, the sun's rays reach an angle of 45 degrees to the earth The temperature will rise quickly during this period, yet in Northern China weather remains mild, not tropical.
Here are five things to learn about the Start of Summer.
Greeting Start of Summer
The term Start of Summer was originated at the end of the Warring States Period (239BC). Since it is a crucial time for the harvest of summer crops such as wheat and rape, ancient Chinese emperors in different dynasties attached great importance to the Start of Summer.
In the Zhou Dynasty (1050-221 BC), the emperor led his officials to stage a welcome rite for the Start of Summer and encouraged his residents to seize the key time to do farm work. It's said that most of the decorations were arranged in the color red, including the emperor and the officials' dress, the jade pendants, the horses and the flags, in order to show respect to the god of summer and pray for a good harvest.
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As an old Chinese saying goes "hanging an egg on children's chest can prevent them from getting summer diseases", parents will prepare boiled eggs and put them in a knitted bag before hanging them on their child's chest.
When at school, children gather together to play egg competitions by colliding each other's eggs in pairs and the one whose egg is not broken wins.
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