In Treatise on Febrile Diseases: "In May, the yang is on the exterior, the stomach is cold, and the yang is in the interior ..." It seems that May is regarded as an eventful autumn.
From the perspective of Chinese medicine and climate, this statement is reasonable.
May is noon, and the five elements belong to fire. At this time, the weather turned hot, the yang reached its peak, and various diseases and poisonous insects were active. In May, when the temperature is high, the yang is easy to disperse outside, but it becomes weak inside. Coupled with air-conditioned rooms and cold drinks, many people will have symptoms such as spleen and stomach weakness, eczema and excessive internal heat.
The ancients thought that the most poisonous day of "Poison May" was the fifth day, when all five poisons came out, so the Dragon Boat Festival was set up to preserve health and eliminate evil spirits.
May health care is not limited to one day, and it is best to extend to the whole lunar May.
So what can we do to seize the opportunity arranged by God?
Besides eating zongzi, there are six things to do well.
1, hanging wormwood to repel mosquitoes
In the ancient Dragon Boat Festival, many farmers would get up early to cut wormwood and calamus and hang them in front of their doors, thinking that they could drive away evil spirits and keep them safe.
This is not superstition, but it makes sense. Both Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus have volatile substances, which can sterilize and repel insects. Both of them have the best medicinal properties during the Dragon Boat Festival. The climate in May is humid, and there are all kinds of poisonous insects higher than expected. There are all kinds of mugwort and calamus at home, which is equivalent to buying natural pesticides and disinfectants, and mosquitoes avoid them.
2. Wear a medicine bag to prevent infection with virus.
Wearing sachets is a "health coup" created by the ancients. Ancient men and women would wear sachets around the Dragon Boat Festival.
Strong-smelling Chinese herbal medicines such as cassia twig, magnolia flower and clove are put in it, and women who love beauty will also put in dried flowers, which can not only avoid seasonal epidemics and repel mosquitoes, but also remove the smell of sweat and make people feel fragrant when they move.
3, blue soup bath to eliminate germs
Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Yulan Festival, is in midsummer, and it is the season with frequent skin diseases, and it is the day when plants and trees have the strongest medicinal properties in a year. The herbs collected on this day are most effective in treating skin diseases and ward off evil spirits.
The ancients often used bluegrass soup to bathe and decontaminate, and the folk had the custom of taking medicine and bathing during the Dragon Boat Festival. "Big Dai Li" in Han Dynasty said: "Take a bath with blue soup in the afternoon." Qu Yuan's "Songs of the South" said that "bathing orchids is afraid of bathing flowers", so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "bathing orchids".
On this day, we can also take a bath from the drugstore to get rid of the evil spirit.
4. Realgar wine water can kill hundreds of insects.
There is an old saying: "Drink realgar wine and all diseases will disappear." The ancients believed that the efficacy and smell of realgar could inhibit snakes, scorpions and other insects.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, people will drink a glass of realgar wine. People with wells will also throw realgar in silk wool and throw it into the well to remove the poison in the water. Many places also put realgar wine on the ears and nose of children's faces, or write "Wang" on their foreheads, which is called "drawing forehead". It's also for exorcism.
Speaking of it, Taoism was the first to use realgar. Ge Hong mentioned that "Bao Pu Zi" used realgar to soak wine, and the recipe of "Immortal wine refining realgar" was collected. People think that drinking this wine can "bury the dead in their stomachs, open their eyes, make people mighty, and make them dragon in the water." Enter the mountains to conquer the tiger and the wolf, and enter the army to conquer the five soldiers. Later, the admiration for realgar wine was gradually formed among the people.
5. Glutinous rice dumplings tonify kidney and replenish qi
Of course, you should eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.
Zongzi is also known as corn millet, which was wrapped in leaves by the ancients and called "corn millet". Jia Sixie recorded the method of making "horn millet" in Qi Yao Min Shu. At that time, the main raw material was "millet", that is, yellow rice.
Zongzi in Tang Dynasty is "white as jade", the main ingredient is white glutinous rice, and its shape has become conical and diamond. In the Song Dynasty, people liked to eat "fruit zongzi", and Su Dongpo wrote a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". This is also the embryonic form of today's jujube jiaozi.
China stresses that "food is the most important thing for the people", and Zongzi embodies the wisdom of dietotherapy and health preservation in traditional Chinese medicine from the inside out.
For example, Zongzi leaves, common reed leaves and lotus leaves are all taken from natural plants. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, Zongye has the functions of clearing away heat, stopping bleeding, detoxifying and reducing swelling, and treating hematemesis, bleeding, dysuria and carbuncle.
The glutinous rice in zongzi is rich in protein and sugar, which has the effects of invigorating the middle energizer, strengthening the spleen, nourishing the stomach and stopping sweating. Later, people added red dates, candied fruit, chestnuts, ham, salted egg yolk and so on. It is also a good nutrient for people.
Finally, do you like to eat salty or sweet zongzi?