Grain Rain is the sixth solar term, which is also the last solar term in spring, signaling the end of cold weather and a rapid rise in temperatures. Grain Rain originates from the old saying, Rain gives life to all grains, which shows that in this period, rainfall is extremely important for the growth of crops.
In ancient China, Grain Rain is the period when duckweeds begin to grow, hoopoes hop in mulberry trees and cuckoos chirp to remind people of sowin. Nowadays, people in different places in China have different ways to celebrate this solar term. There is an old custom in southern China that people drink tea on the day of Grain Rain, which helps remove body heat and improve eyesight. People in northern China have the tradition to eat a vegetable called toona sinensis at Grain Rain. An old Chinese saying goes, Toona sinensis before the rain is as tender as silk. The vegetable contains rich nutrition and can help to strengthen the immune system. It is also good for the stomach and skin.
Bgm:Home for the Holidays - TrackTribe
Read by: Pan Huirui and Zou Minghao
To the Cuckoo
BY William Wordsworth
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near.
Though babbling only to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;
The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
