White Dew

Introduction to White Dew

White Dew is the fifteenth solar term among the twenty-four solar terms. The time point is from September 7th to 9th of the Gregorian calendar every year, when the sun reaches 165 degrees of the ecliptic longitude. As the weather gradually turns cooler, you will find many dewdrops on the ground and leaves in the early morning. This is because water vapor condenses on them at night, hence the name. White Dew actually represents that the weather has turned cooler. At this time, people will clearly feel that the hot summer has passed and the cool autumn has arrived.

White Dew customs

Drink White Dew tea. The tea picked before and after White Dew is called White Dew tea. After spring and summer, the tea leaves are boiled into a relatively rich and mellow taste in autumn. It is neither as delicate and unbrewing as spring tea, nor as dry and bitter as summer tea. Old Nanjing people prefer to drink White Dew tea.

Eating longan. There is a custom in Fuzhou that "longan must be eaten during White Dew". Longan itself has many functions such as invigorating qi and spleen, nourishing blood and calming the mind, and the longan before White Dew is large and sweet, so eating longan during White Dew is the best. It is best to peel the longan and soak it in cooked porridge or rice soup. Eat it for breakfast to strengthen the spleen, replenish water, and not easily get angry.

Eating sweet potatoes. In Wencheng, people believe that eating sweet potatoes during the White Dew Festival can prevent stomach acid after eating sweet potato shreds and sweet potato shreds throughout the year. Therefore, farmers used to eat sweet potatoes during the White Dew Festival. Chinese medicine believes that sweet potatoes are sweet and mild in nature, and can nourish the spleen and replenish qi.

White Dew Health Preservation

During the White Dew season, you should pay attention to your diet. It is advisable to eat light, easily digestible and vitamin-rich foods. During the White Dew season, autumn dryness hurts people and easily consumes body fluids, so people often have dry and bitter mouth and throat, dry stools, and cracked skin. This is because Chinese medicine believes that the lung qi and large intestine are the exterior and interior, and the lung governs the skin and hair. Therefore, from the perspective of diet, pay attention to nourishing yin and moistening the lungs. Eat more pears, white fungus, honey, lily, wolfberry, radish, soy products, etc., and eat more orange-yellow vegetables, such as pumpkin and yellow radish. It is also necessary to eat some green leafy vegetables to supplement vitamin C, such as kale, spinach, cauliflower, etc. Eat less or no fish, shrimp, seafood, raw and cold food, pickled dishes, and overly sweet, fatty and greasy food. Don't eat too much chili, etc., so as not to affect the lungs, stool and skin.