Autumn Begins

Introduction
“Autumn Begin” is the 13th solar term in the 24 solar terms. It’s on August 8 or 9 everyyear meaning the beginning of the fall. When it comes to this season, the leaves of thefirmiana tree start to fall, thus there is a saying of “One leave falls, autumn arrives.”When the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 135 degrees, the summer is passingaway and the weather turns cold gradually. People can feel the wind is getting cool andsee fogs in the morning sometimes. It’s also a season of harvest.

Traditional Customs
Traditions around this time include “Autumn Begins” festival, “touch the autumn”, “getthe autumn fat” and so on. “Touch the autumn” happens on the day of August 15,where all the married women who still haven’t got children go to the filed in themidnight, find and touch the melon seeds, with the accompany of her sister-in-law orother females. It’s also popular to “get the autumn fat”. Since people have little appetiteduring the hot summer and often lose some weight, the beginning of autumn willsimulate appetite again. On the day of “Autumn Begins”, many people cook meatdishes.

Healthy Living Tips
“Autumn Begins” is the season of transformation. The Yang Qi gets less and Yin Qigrows. It’s the most important time to protect one’s lung. People should not eat toomuch spring onions and ginger. Food such as sesame, sticky rice, honey, loquat anddairy food will be very good to the stomach.