Autumn Begins 立秋

“Autumn Begins” is the 13th solar term in the 24 solar terms. It’s on August 8 or 9 every year meaning the beginning of the fall."

立秋是24节气中的第十三个节气，通常是在8月8日或8月9日，立秋的到来意味着秋天的开始。

When it comes to this season, the leaves of the firmiana 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 passing away and the weather turns cold gradually. People can feel the wind is getting cool and see fogs in the morning sometimes. It’s also a season of harvest.

一到立秋，梧桐树就开始落叶，由此而来的一种说法就是“一叶知秋”。当太阳直射点到达天文经度135度的时候，夏季结束，天气开始转凉。人们可以感觉到风逐渐变冷，早上会出现雾，同时也到了丰收的季节。

Traditions around this time include “touch the autumn”, “get the autumn fat” and so on. “Touch the autumn” happens on the day of August 15,when all the married women who still haven’t got children go to the filed in the midnight, find and touch the melon seeds, with the accompany of her sister-in-law or other females. It’s also popular to “get the autumn fat”. Since people have little appetite during the hot summer and often lose some weight, the beginning of autumn will simulate appetite again.

中国传统习俗，入秋要“摸秋”“贴秋膘”等等，所谓“摸秋”是指在8月15日，在当天所有结婚了但还没有孩子的女人，要在午夜来到田中，在弟媳或其他女性的陪伴下摸瓜苗。“贴秋膘”在全国都很流行，在盛夏人们属于不振，体重通常都会有所下降，到了秋天又能刺激食欲了。

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

立秋是个转折，阳气减少，阴气加重，立秋是养肺的关键时期，人们不应该吃太多的小葱和姜。但芝麻，糯米，蜂蜜，琵琶和牛奶制品等食物是十分养胃的。