Children show the eggs they decorated on the day of Start of Summer in north China’s Hebei province, May 5, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]

Today marks the first day of summer in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, which divides the year into 24 solar terms. The Start of Summer, or立夏(lì xià) in Chinese, is the 7th term of the year, and it lasts between May 5 and May 19 this year.

The Start of Summer signals the transition of seasons. On this day, the sun's rays reach an angle of 45 degrees to the earth. The temperature will rise quickly during this period. Yet in northern China, the weather remains mild, not tropical.

As an old Chinese saying goes "hanging an egg on children's chest can prevent them from getting summer diseases", parents will prepare boiled eggs and put them in a knitted bag before hanging them on their child's neck.

At school, children gather together to decorate their eggs, similar to what people do when celebrating Easter. They then collide each other's eggs in pairs, and the one whose egg does not break wins the contest.

Eating eggs is also important on the Start of Summer. In ancient China, people believed a round egg symbolized a happy life and eating eggs on this day was a prayer for good health.

You may not like it, but you also have to check your weight on the day of Start of Summer. The custom originated from the Three Kingdoms Period (220-180) and prevails in southern China today. After lunch, people would suspend a stool or basket from a beam. The young and the old take turns to get weighed while the person calculating the weight would offer good wishes and auspicious words. It is said those who are weighed would stay healthy in the hot summer and those who aren't would suffer illnesses.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan