Today is the first day of the sixth lunar month. When I talked to my friends, they had never heard of such a festival, let alone any celebration ceremonies and customs.
We attach great importance to the first day of June in our hometown. I remember that when I was a child, I looked forward to this day the most. It was as lively as the New Year, and I could also eat delicious food that I didn’t eat often.
Origin of the first day of June 1
June 1 is the "New Mai Festival", also known as " Half-year Festival ", which means celebrating the Little New Year . Because this season coincides with the bumper harvest of new wheat, corn and other crops have been planted, and half of the year has passed (strictly speaking, the first day of June is not the first half of the year). In order to celebrate the bumper harvest and be grateful to God, we also pray for good weather and full grain in the second half of the year.
However, through the understanding of friends around you, this festival has regional characteristics, and may only be present in some areas of Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu, so most friends do not know that the first day of June is also a festival.
How to celebrate the first day of June 4
There is a saying among the people that "Every family celebrates the Little New Year on June 1st, every family sends geese buns; every family makes six months in June, and the red balls sugar filling is greater than money." In the past, when the material was not very rich, people would use newly harvested wheat to ground flour to make buns of various zodiac shapes, and some are also made into the shape of geese, and then the wife brought it to her parents' home to let her family taste the newly harvested wheat. This is the origin of the custom of "sending geese buns".
Just as the fruits and melons are ripe, people will buy various fruits to celebrate the festival, such as watermelon, plums, peaches, apricots, etc., and they will also make buns, steamed buns, etc.
Of course, these things are not just for people to taste by themselves. They should be placed on the table in the yard to worship God, praying for God to bless the harvest, and expressing people’s expectations for the coming year.
