"Dou Zhixin is a mild summer heat, and the weather is already hot, so it has not yet reached the silt pole, hence the name". On a small summer day, the sun reached 105 degrees. At noon, measure the shadow of the sun with a standard measuring tool. The length of the shadow is 2 feet 4 inches, which is equivalent to 0.58 meters today. Compared with the solstice in summer, the days are getting shorter. At night, observation shows that the perch of the Big Dipper points in an unknown direction, that is, southwest. This stage is usually in June of the lunar calendar, also known as the last month. It's already very hot, but it's not the hottest time yet, so it's called Xiaoshu.

Little summer is the eleventh solar term among the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar and the fifth solar term in summer, which marks the official start of the last month of summer. On July 7th or 8th every year, when the sun reaches longitude 105, it is a summer solar term. "Twenty-four solar terms": "June Festival" ... It is also hot in summer, and it is small at the beginning of the month, big in the month, and still small today. "Summer heat" means heat, which means slight heat. The ancients thought that the summer heat period was not the hottest time of the year, so it was called summer heat. There is also a solar term ballad: "Little summer is not hot, big summer is three days." It is pointed out that the hottest period of the year has arrived, but it has not reached the extreme hot level. As the saying goes, "the heat is at three volts." The dog days in China generally appear in the summer to the next 28 days, which is the so-called "summer solstice is the first of the night"

The custom of hot summer

1, eat lotus root

People have always had the custom of eating lotus roots in summer. Lotus root has the functions of clearing away heat, nourishing blood and removing annoyance. Suitable for eating fresh lotus root in summer, simmering with low fire, adding appropriate amount of honey after slicing, which can be eaten at will, has the effect of calming the nerves and helping sleep, and can cure insomnia due to blood deficiency.

2. Painting and clothes

In summer, people also have the custom of drying pictures, calligraphy and clothes. There is a saying in the folk proverb: "On June 6th, people dry their clothes" and "On June 6th, people dry red and green". "Red and green" refers to all kinds of brightly colored clothes. This is the day with the highest temperature, the longest sunshine time and the strongest sunshine radiation in a year, so every household will choose this day to "bask in the sun" and hang the clothes stored in the cupboard outside to bask in order to remove moisture, moisture, mildew and moths.

3. Eat eel in summer.

As the saying goes: Monopterus albus participates in summer. Monopterus albus was born in a mud hole on the seashore, and the summer eel is the most nourishing and delicious one month before and after the summer heat. Summer is often the remission period of chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases, while Monopterus albus is warm and sweet, and has the functions of invigorating the middle warmer, benefiting qi, nourishing the liver and spleen, expelling wind and dampness, and strengthening bones and muscles.

4, summer heat "eat new"

The arrival of the light summer heat means that the hot weather in summer is about to begin. In order to cope with the coming hot climate and express gratitude for the first round of grain harvest, China society has gradually formed customs such as "eating new things" and "offering sacrifices to the god of five grains" for thousands of years.

"Eating fresh" means tasting new rice after the light summer. After grinding the newly cut rice into rice, farmers prepare meals to worship the grain gods and ancestors to show their gratitude to nature and ancestors, and then everyone tastes new wine. It is said that "eating new things" means "eating new things", which is the first new day after the summer festival. Cities generally buy a small amount of new rice for cooking in old rice, plus newly listed vegetables. Therefore, there is a folk saying that millet is eaten in summer and grain is eaten in summer.

5. Drink mutton soup

Northerners drink mutton soup in the heat of summer. First, they can nourish the body. Secondly, "sheep" and "yang" are homophonic. The ancients thought that the loss of yang in summer was more, which could increase yang.

6. Don't sit on the open wood for a long time.

There is a folk proverb: "Don't sit on a stone in winter, and don't sit on a tree in summer." Statement. After the summer heat, the temperature is high and the humidity is high. Wood placed in the open air for a long time, such as chairs and stools, contains more water when exposed to rain, and the surface looks dry. However, when exposed to the sun and the temperature rises, it will emit moisture, and sitting on it for a long time will induce diseases such as hemorrhoids, rheumatism and arthritis.