Lixia

From Wiki China org cn
the beginning of the summer

Lixia (Chinese: 立夏) reflects the changing of seasons. After Lixia, with a noticeable increase in temperature, all lives become vigorous in a warm climate and summer begins.

Weather:

Since China has a vast area, the temperature in different regions could vary greatly. When the southern regions of China enter summer, the other areas are still in early or late spring.

Rainfall is vital to agricultural production in this period. Statistics show that heavy rain starts from mid-April to the end of April in southern China, from mid-May to the end of May in central China, and from the end of May in western China. In this period, farmers have to be very careful to protect crops from wet, drought and low temperature.

Custom:

As a folk custom, people weigh themselves on the day of Lixia since they believe that after weighing they won't lose weight due to the summer heat. Another custom is to drink tea on Lixia to dispel heat during the whole summer. A more popular custom of the Han people is to eat boiled eggs or salted eggs on Lixia, because they believe that eggs can help build up their bodies. Mother or sisters of the family may knit colorful egg nets to put eggs and be worn on the necks of the children. Lixia can be translated word by word as "the establishment of summer", it is the time point when summer arrives.