Boiled eggs with shepherd's purse is the most common way to eat in Hunan. On the third day of March, shepherd's purse will have long stems and flowers, and women will pick them and put them in their hair.

On the third day of the third lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating local dishes and boiling eggs. Shepherd's purse Shepherd's purse, also known as ground vegetables and wild vegetables, is a kind of wild vegetables growing in the corner of the field. Although it is a wild vegetable, it is delicious and nutritious. The folk proverb says, "On March 3rd, shepherd's purse is a panacea." "On March 3rd, shepherd's purse boiled eggs." Spring is the season to eat shepherd's purse. Eating shepherd's purse in spring is also a long-standing traditional custom in China. The Book of Songs has a chant of "sweet as water"; Xin Qiji also has a poem that "peaches and plums are full of worries, and spring is at the head of the stream".

According to legend, in Chu, people have headaches because of wind and rain. On the third day of March, Shennong passed Yunmengze (now Xiaogan) and saw that the villagers had a terrible headache. He found wild eggs and vegetables and cooked them to satisfy people's hunger. People eat their heads and the pain stops. The custom of "eating vegetables and boiling eggs on March 3, a year without headaches" continues to this day.