All groups
29 groupsAwakening of InsectsAs spring thunder sounds and ploughing begins, folk custom is to eat pears.FTLB145Grain RainIn late spring people drink Grain Rain tea and eat toon shoots.FTLB146Beginning of SummerEggs are eaten at this term and knocked against each other in a game of egg fighting.FTLB147Summer SolsticeNorthern households eat noodles on this day, matching the saying that pairs winter dumplings with summer noodles.FTLB148Minor HeatFolk custom calls for tasting the new: eating the first rice of the year.FTLB149Major HeatIn Guangdong people eat grass jelly at this time, a folk way of getting through the heat.FTLB150Beginning of AutumnPeople put on autumn fat with meat and bite autumn by eating watermelon.FTLB151White DewWhen dew forms on the grass, people drink White Dew tea.FTLB152Cold DewEating sesame is the food custom of this term, which falls in the busy autumn harvest and sowing.FTLB153Frost DescentWhen night frost begins to form, people keep the custom of eating persimmons.FTLB154Beginning of WinterAs winter begins, folk custom calls for bu dong, mending winter, and northern households eat dumplings.FTLB155Minor SnowAs the first light snow falls, people pickle vegetables and cure pork, and some places make glutinous rice cakes.FTLB156Major SnowWhile snow covers the northern wheat fields, folk custom is to cure meat.FTLB157Winter SolsticeOn the day the counting of the nines begins, the north eats dumplings and the south glutinous rice balls.FTLB158Minor ColdThe Laba day often falls near this term, and people eat Laba congee.FTLB159Lantern FestivalGlutinous rice balls called yuanxiao or tangyuan are eaten on the fifteenth; in the Liang, bean porridge was offered at the gates.FTLB160Dragon Raises Its Head FestivalDragon-whisker noodles and spring pancakes are eaten, and Ming Beijing fried the cakes left from New Year offerings.FTLB161Cold Food FestivalMeals were eaten cold with no fire lit, and a Liang text records malt sugar and barley gruel for the three fireless days.FTLB162Dragon Boat FestivalZongzi are eaten on the fifth of the fifth month; a Liang text tells of rice in bamboo tubes cast into the river.FTLB163Mid-Autumn FestivalMooncakes are eaten on the fifteenth of the eighth month, and Northern Song Kaifeng markets had new crabs, pomegranates, pears and dates.FTLB164Double Ninth FestivalChrysanthemum wine is drunk on the ninth of the ninth month, and Northern Song Kaifeng exchanged steamed cakes before the day.FTLB165Laba FestivalLaba congee is cooked and Laba garlic pickled, and Northern Song temples sent seven-treasure, five-flavour congee to followers.FTLB166Little New YearSticky sweets are offered at the stove rite, and Ming Beijing offered sugar cakes, millet cakes, dates and chestnuts.FTLB167New Year's EveFamilies gather for the reunion dinner, and in the Liang every household laid out dishes at year's end to greet the new year.FTLB168She Day (Earth God Festival)Tang and Song neighbours shared offering meat and she wine, with she cakes in the Song; western Hunan still eats she rice.FTLB169Birthday FeastsFeasts for elders' birthdays and a child's growing up, with Song gatherings at one month, a hundred days and the first year.FTLB226Wedding FeastsThe couple share a meal and sip from nuptial cups, and the bride brings dates, chestnuts and spiced dried meat to her in-laws.FTLB227Ritual OfferingsThree-animal offerings and grain for ancestors and gods, baskets of peaches, hazelnuts and rice cakes, and a shared meal after the rite.FTLB228Daily MealsShang large and small meals, the Zhou king's three a day, and two meals in the countryside into the Ming and Qing.FTLB229