Shuangjiang Season - Frost Descent

In the Chinese calendar, this is the last season of autumn. Dew here is the background of yin energy. This is frost. In the season of Frost Descent, the weather is getting colder every day, the first frost is observed. There is a sign: "If there is no frost in Frost Fall, the next year will be a poor harvest."        

The Shuangjiang season 霜降 is the eighteenth of the 24 seasons of the Chinese calendar. It continues the third month of autumn, and the last autumn season, annually it begins on October 21-23 and corresponds to the second half of the month of the Dog. With the end of this season, around November 8-10, the Lidong season, "Beginning of Winter" will begin. With the appearance of the first frost, the last small season of the autumn period begins, it means that autumn is coming to an end and winter is approaching.

CLIMATE

In the eighteenth minor season of the Chinese agricultural calendar, the weather is getting colder every day, the temperature at night drops sharply below 0℃. Shuangjiang is the period of leaf fall, which residents of the central and northern regions of China do not have time to enjoy: strong winds from the north tear off absolutely all the leaves from the trees in just a few hours. It is in Shuangjiang that frost falls - this is a scent of winter.

The first frost appears in the area of ​​the Yellow River basin: water vapor contained in the air forms small ice needles on the ground and on plants, or hexagonal stars of frost, white in color and crumbly in structure. Moreover, water skips the liquid phase: from gaseous it immediately passes into solid. Favorable conditions for the appearance of frost include weak winds and the absence of a large number of clouds in the sky, even if the difference in air temperature and surface temperature is very insignificant, frost appears. Dew water accumulates and freezes, covering the surface of the earth in a thin layer of frost.

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The first frost in China is also called "chrysanthemum frost" because the season of admiring chrysanthemums and red leaves continues. Frost only forms on clear days, so the ancient Chinese proverb "Thick frost to the hot sun" (Chinese: 浓霜猛太阳) is true, at least in China.

TRADITIONS

Along with the spring All Souls' Day (清明节) and the summer Hungry Ghost Day (中元节), Frost Descent is the third most important period for honoring the dead. It is believed that with the onset of cold weather, souls in the afterlife begin to freeze. Therefore, new clothes and dumplings, which are considered the most warming food, are sent to the other world. The ceremony looks like this: fires are lit on the streets inside an incomplete circle drawn with chalk, on which multi-colored rags are burned (traditionally it should be five colors: red, yellow, blue, white and black), as well as dumplings. Prayers are held in houses, designed to scare away evil spirits for the whole winter.

But the main traditions of this season are associated with harvesting and preparing for winter.

There is a saying in Shandong: "When the end of heat comes — sorghum; when the white dew comes — grains; when the frost descents — radishes are uprooted" (Chinese: 处暑高粱, 白露谷, 霜降到了拔萝卜). It is believed that if the radish harvest is not collected by this time, its skin may freeze, which leads to weight loss and a deterioration in taste. In Shandong Province, people love and value radishes and daikon, and during this minor season, almost no meal is complete without them.

In the Gaoming region of Guangdong Province, there is a tradition of "seeing off the spirits of taro" (Chinese: 送芋鬼). According to tradition, on this day, the locals stack tiles or clods of earth in a pyramid, put brushwood inside this pyramid or tower and set it on fire. When the tiles or clods are already red-hot, the tower is torn down, and taro tubers are fried on the clods. The delicious baked taro is eaten with joy, and the tubers are carried outside the locality. All this action is done in order to drive away adversity and grief, to meet happiness and stability, health and prosperity.

Residents of Upu village, Zhili township, Huzhou city (Zhejiang province, eastern China) start making tea from tonka beans (Dipteryx fragrantis), the abundant harvest of which ripens by this time. Every year during the autumn harvest, locals collect the best pods from the harvest, peel them, and then, after salting them, lay the beans on sieves to dry and roast them over a charcoal fire to turn them into the famous Chinese delicacy, tonka beans.

HEALTH

As the cold weather intensifies, the amount of clothing worn can be increased, since over time the body's ability to withstand the cold gradually decreases. Autumn hardening is a good way to maintain health, but it requires a reasonable approach, especially in the Shuangjiang season.

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In autumn, the wind blows and rains more often. Flowers fade, leaves fall from the trees. The abomination of desolation reigns in nature. Such weather often gives rise to a feeling of loneliness, abandonment and depression. Therefore, you must carefully control your mood, try to be cheerful, open, show generosity, indulgence and tolerance in order to withstand the negative effects of autumn weather.

In autumn, the temperature drops sharply at night and in the morning. Sports bring favorable excitement to the human body, maintain the thermoregulatory mechanism of the human body in good shape, which helps to increase human adaptability to climate change, and improve the functions of the cardiovascular system. In this way, a person can easily adapt to climate changes after the onset of winter. It is recommended to engage in sports that do not involve sudden movements, such as walking, climbing a mountain, or the Tai Chi Chuan gymnastics complex. Before engaging in sports, you need to do preparatory exercises. You should not exhaust yourself, it is undesirable to sweat a lot, otherwise a significant amount of Yang energy is spent, as a result of which the resistance of the human body is weakened.

DIET

According to traditional Chinese medicine, in the Shuangjiang season, you should eat more food that helps to tone Yin energy and moisturize the lungs. Such foods also strengthen the immune system. For example, soybean broth, soybean sprouts, peanuts, sesame, sweet potato, yams, spinach, wax gourd, radish, Chinese cabbage, onions, apples, grapes, lycium, dates, olives, sweet almonds, chestnuts, duck eggs, carrots (liquid rice porridge boiled with pieces of carrot is especially recommended), walnuts, and leeks. You should not neglect bee honey, the properties of which are to replenish the Qi of the spleen and stomach, moisturize the lungs and stop coughing.

Taking preparations with ginseng root will be extremely useful, as it helps to replenish the Qi of the spleen and lungs, calms and harmonizes.

In addition, you can eat sour things in moderation, for example, persimmon, vinegar, hawthorn. They help to preserve yang energy. In windless, not very cold weather or in the absence of cold in the body, you should eat as little as possible or not at all food that causes increased sweating, such as green onions, ginger, pepper or mustard.

In some places in China, persimmons are eaten during this season. It is believed that this can protect against the cold, it helps protect the skin from chapping, protects against colds and strengthens bones and health in general. Chinese southerners also prevent runny noses by eating persimmons.