Solar Term - Lixia

Lixia is one of the 24 solar terms of China.

Li(立) means upright. Xia(夏) means summer. It marks the start of summer, a season when plants and animals have grown a lot compared with how they looked at the beginning of spring.

One of the traditions to celebrate the day is about eggs. Boiled eggs will be placed in carefully plaited net bags and hung to children’s necks like necklaces. This is because the shape of an egg looks like heart. Therefore, it is believed that taking in eggs can help protect one’s energy from being harmed by the hotness of summer.

In some places of China, children will then play egg-fighting. Two eggs hit each other at the same time, either using both of their tops or bottoms. The one whose top remains unbroken after all of such battles will be the big king, while the egg with an unbroken bottom will be the small king.