小暑,是中国传统二十四节气(the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms或简写为the 24 solar terms)中的第十一个节气。
暑,即“炎热”的意思。作为夏季第五个节气,小暑为小热,还不十分热。“小暑金将伏”,伏天将至,暑热如韩愈所说:“如坐深甑遭蒸炊”。“甑”是蒸锅,人在天地间大笼屜中蒸熟,臭汗淋漓,所谓云行都遗湿,独山谷才进风凉。这是夏三月最后一月,郁郁复郁郁难熬,但烦暑会隨步失,檐雨就会霏微来,转眼牵牛花将开,蟋蟀就将鸣秋了。
When the sun reaches the
celestial
longitude of 105 degrees, it
’
s the time for Slight Heat, usually happening on July 7th or July 8th. “Slight Heat” means that it
’
s hot but not the hottest. The continuous rainfall season for cities along the Yangtze River will soon stop and enter summer days. On the other hand, the north and northeast of China will enter the rain season. Therefore, when “Slight Heat” arrives, people in the north should pay attention to
waterlogging
,
but in the south, drought.
As mentioned earlier, three periods of the hot season come one by one after Summer Solstice. In Chinese, it
’
s called “the three Fu,” meaning that the weather is so hot and people better lie down than move. Around the “Slight Heat” period, it's the first “Fu” period. The wind comes with a
hot wave
, the cricket starts to
crawl
from the field into the yard, and the young eagle starts to learn how to fly and hunt.
In ancient times, emperors used to give out ice and fried noodles to their officials and people during the first “Fu” period. Nowadays, people eat dumplings on the first “Fu”, noodles on the second, and eggs with baked pancakes on the third. In some places, the tradition of eating
lamb
can be traced back thousands of years ago. At that time, there already had been the saying that “Having a bowl of lamp soup, no need to see the doctors.”