Liqiu Season – The Beginning of Autumn

Although the weather is still hot, the air temperature is gradually decreasing. At times a cool wind blows. This is what people say: “A cool breeze appears from the first day of the beginning of autumn” (立秋之日凉风至). But this is only the very beginning of a gradual transition from summer heat to autumn coolness. Autumn is just getting ready to fully come into its own rights. Although autumn reminds everyone of the inexorable approach of the winter withering of nature, people don’t want to think about it, as long as the sun still shines quite brightly in the autumn months, and the onset of real winter cold is far away. In China, autumn is considered a blessed time of year. It not only relieves the summer heat and annoying insects, but also brings harvest, the main result of all human agricultural activities. The fruits are ready for picking.

Liqiu Season 立秋 is the thirteenth of the 24 seasons of the Chinese calendar. "Li" means "beginning" and "qiu" translates as "time of crops ripening." In Russian, this season is most often called: “The Beginning of Autumn.” This is the first autumn month, and the first of the autumn seasons, it comes annually on August 7-9 and coincides with the first half of the month of the Monkey. The Liqiu season ends around August 22-23, showing the way to the  Chushu season, the End of heat..

The beginning of Liqiu season does not mean the end of the heat. Traditionally, at least the last ten days of summer heat falls during the small season of Liqiu.

CLIMAT

The beginning of the thirteenth minor season of the Chinese agricultural calendar means that the hot summer is over and autumn, the time of harvest is coming.

Summer says goodbye to the Chinese with the suffocating, humid heat that is still across much of China. In Russia, the “summer in autumn” is called “Indian summer,” and in China the name “autumn tiger” was invented for similar weather, because the heat is as sudden and merciless as a striped predator. It usually lasts about 30 days, after which more or less cool weather sets in.

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Since the very beginning of the season, the sky becomes increasingly transparent and blue at day, the moonlight becomes brighter and the wind becomes cooler at night. The air temperature is gradually decreasing. People say: “A cool breeze blows from the first day of the beginning of autumn.” But this is only the very beginning of a gradual transition from summer heat to autumn coolness. Autumn is just getting ready to fully come into its own.

TRADITION

The first day of the Beginning of Autumn is especially important for peasants. According to common belief, if thunder rumbles on this day, there will be a bad harvest in winter; if this day is sunny and clear, the whole year will pass without floods or droughts, and one can expect a good harvest. Moreover, people say: if this day falls on the seventh month of the lunar calendar, then one can hope for a good harvest; if on the sixth, then a poor harvest and unripe grain will be inevitable. If the north wind blows before the beginning of autumn, the weather will be rainy in the following days; if the north wind blows after the first day of the Liqiu season, there will be drought in winter.

In the feudal era, people celebrated the Beginning of Autumn with a special ritual. On the first day of the Liqiu season, the emperor, surrounded by high-ranking officials, went out of town to hold a special autumn welcoming, when those gathered asked to the deities and souls of their ancestors for a rich harvest; special ceremonies in honor of the onset of autumn were also held in temples.

With the onset of the Liqiu season, military exercises also began. The fighting and raids of nomads were usually linked to the end of the harvest, so at this time the troops had to be in constant combat readiness.

The beginning of autumn for Chinese amateur photographers is the time of village tourism. During this season, farmers begin to dry their crops in the sun. Red peppers and corn laid out figuratively to dry create amazing pictures. The village of Huangling (篁岭) in Jiangxi province is especially famous for this. For the wonderful views of the autumn harvest, the Ministry of Culture awarded this village the unofficial title of “the most beautiful symbol of China.”

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Liqiu is also a very important period when people worship food. The Chinese say that the most important thing for a person is food. It is popular among the population on this day to weigh themselves in order to compare their weight with the Liхya season (beginning of summer): if weight loss occurred, then it was “kusya” - “heavy summer”. Of course, in ancient times, the state of health was often assessed primitively - “thin” and “fat”. If you have lost weight, you need to “replenish your reserve.” The way to replenish is to eat delicious food. And this ritual – “accumulating fat for autumn” – is something the Chinese happily follow to this day. It is preferable to choose meat so “fat comes from eating meat.”

HEALT

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, autumn is associated with the Metal element, inward movement, fruiting, melancholy, lungs, large intestine, skin, nose and nasal discharge.

To improve health in the autumn season, it is necessary to follow the principle of moderation in everything: in emotions, nutrition, daily life and sports. During this period, we should not violate the laws of nature while improving health.

In the field of mental self-regulation: given that in the autumn period each of us often experiences a sentimental mood, we should pay special attention to positive emotions and try in every possible way to avoid sad and heavy thoughts, we should keep mental and emotional calmness, and have a joyful mood. When faced with something unpleasant, you need to actively work to eliminate the bad mood.

In the area of ​​everyday life: from the first day of the beginning of autumn, the weather gradually becomes cooler, so you should go to bed early and get up early. The weather during this season is the most changeable. In one and the same place during the day, the weather can change very often and abruptly, and in different parts of an area of ​​10 square li there can be different weather at the same time. Based on this, you don’t need to dress too warm, otherwise you will have a decreasing effect on the body’s ability to adequately respond to the oncoming cold, which will lead to a quick catching cold.

In the field of sports: Liqiu is a great season for playing various sports. Each person can choose the sport that is suitable for themselves.

NUTRITIO

As already noted, the climatic factor of autumn is the Metal element, which corresponds to dryness. Indeed, autumn is the dry season in China. It is in the fall that there is a high probability of experiencing external pathogenic dryness and the appearance of lung yin deficiency syndrome. Pathogenic dryness has drying properties, easily damaging body fluids, which leads to dry mouth, nose, throat, thirst, dry skin, cracked skin, dull hair, dry feces, scanty urination and other symptoms of fluid depletion.

In autumn, the weather gradually becomes cooler, and we often feel dry, both in the air and inside us. Therefore, from the beginning of August, Chinese medicine recommends eating more succulent foods that nourish yin energy. But the intake of spicy foods, such as onions and ginger, can be reduced at this time. The same can be said about fried food - this is not food for August.

  In general, during the beginning of Chinese autumn, you should give preference to low-fat but nutritious dishes, and also indulge in sweet and sour foods, such as fruits and vegetables. It is better if it is cold food to calm the internal heat. Sweet foods are usually very nutritious and have excellent properties to relieve irritability and calm