🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Grain Rains falls on June 6, with the sun’s ecliptic longitude at 75 degrees. The lunar calendar states: “When the constellation points to Sì, it is Grain Rains. This is the time to sow grains with awns; beyond this, it becomes ineffective, hence the name Grain Rains.” This means Grain Rains is the ideal time to plant grain crops with awns, such as late-maturing rice, millet, and foxtail millet. Grain Rains is also a turning point in agricultural timing. With rising temperatures, it has entered the typical summer season, and farming activities are defined by this period. After this solar term, crop survival rates gradually decline. Folk wisdom says: “Busy planting during Grain Rains,” reflecting this principle.
Due to China’s vast territory, climate features vary even within the same solar term. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, rainfall increases, temperatures rise, and the region enters the continuous rainy Meiyu season, with extremely humid air and unusually hot weather. Various clothes and items easily mold, so in the middle and lower Yangtze River area, this weather is called “Plum Rain Season.” Additionally, China’s Dragon Boat Festival often falls around Grain Rains, with a folk saying: “Until the Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings are eaten, you cannot discard your winter coat.” This reminds people not to remove warm clothing before the festival, to avoid catching cold. In Jiangxi Province, there is a saying: “Grain Rains and Summer Solstice days, walking requires assistance; those needing help must be pulled, those pulling must push.” These few lines reflect the common summer ailment—laziness. The reason is that rising temperatures and increased humidity prevent sweat from evaporating properly—heat and dampness pervade the air, and everything one touches and breathes is filled with damp heat. Thus, in summer, dampness dominates, leading to frequent infections, causing fatigue and listlessness. Therefore, during Grain Rains, besides managing farmland during the rainy season, one must also strengthen the body to avoid seasonal diseases and infectious diseases such as heatstroke, mumps, and chickenpox.
The health preservation focus during Grain Rains should be based on seasonal climate characteristics. Spiritually, one should maintain a light, happy mood—avoid anger, frustration, and depression—so that vital energy flows freely and elimination proceeds smoothly.
For daily routines, go to bed later and rise earlier, appropriately expose yourself to sunlight (avoid direct sun exposure, pay attention to heat protection) to align with the flourishing yang energy, promote blood and qi circulation, and invigorate the spirit. Summer days are long and nights short; a brief nap at noon helps recover from fatigue and promotes health. After Grain Rains, the midday heat is intense, and people easily sweat. Clothes should be washed and changed frequently. To prevent heatstroke, one should bathe regularly after Grain Rains, which helps open the skin pores, allowing “yang heat” to dissipate easily. However, one must note: do not bathe immediately after sweating. A Chinese proverb says: “Sweat should not be seen wet.” If “sweat meets dampness,” acne may develop.
Here are several methods for medicinal baths. A medicinal bath involves adding herbal decoctions or infusions to bathwater, or directly using boiled herbal solutions, applying them via steam bathing or full-body or localized washing to achieve health maintenance and disease prevention.
The practice of medicinal baths has a long history in China. Records show that since the Zhou Dynasty, people began using aromatic baths to cleanse the body. During the Song and Ming dynasties, this custom spread to the public, leading to specialized shops offering aromatic baths—“fragrance shops.” Over time, this evolved into a tradition. People would choose specific days to use different medicinal baths for cleansing and disease prevention. For example, on New Year’s Day, people used five-spice baths, leaving them refreshed and energized. On the second day of the second lunar month, known as “Zhong He Festival” or “Dragon Head Raising,” people often used a decoction of wolfberry to bathe, promoting radiant skin and preventing illness. In summer, people commonly used five-branch decoctions for bathing—clearing wind, removing toxins, and nourishing blood. During the Qing Dynasty, medicinal baths were not only used for health and longevity but also widely applied in treating and rehabilitating diseases.
During medicinal baths, apart from the physical and chemical effects of water (mainly thermal action), the primary influence comes from the herbs. Active components of the herbal solution enter the body through the skin and respiratory mucosa. Depending on the formulation, they can achieve effects such as unblocking meridians, activating blood circulation, dispelling wind and cold, clearing heat and detoxifying, and relieving itching.
There are various methods for medicinal baths—common ones include immersion, fumigation, and hot compresses. For health preservation, immersion baths are most commonly used.
For immersion baths, using the five-branch decoction (cinnamon twig, locust branch, peach branch, willow branch, hemp branch) as an example: first, place equal amounts of herbs in a cloth bag, add ten times the volume of water, soak for 20 minutes, then boil for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid into the bathwater and proceed with immersion. Ideally, do this once daily. This method is suitable for full-body immersion and can also be used for local soaking.
Female friends in middle age and older may choose a beauty and skincare formula: 10 grams each of mung beans, lily, and borneol, 30 grams each of talc, white atractylodes, white peony, white sandalwood, and frankincense, ground into coarse powder, placed in a cloth bag, decocted and used for bathing. This keeps the complexion and skin smooth, delicate, and fragrant while repelling pathogens.
For dietary care, ancient health practitioners believed that summer three months should focus on light tonification. The "Lü Shi Chun Qiu · Shu Shu Pian" states: “In all meals, avoid overly rich flavors and excessive alcohol.” Tang Dynasty’s Sun Simiao advocated: “It is always advisable to eat light, sweet, and bland foods—preferably wheat, barley, and japonica rice.” He also said: “Good health preservers often eat less meat and more rice.” Yuan Dynasty’s Zhu Danxi wrote in "Ru Tan Lun": “Eat less meat, more grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits—natural, balanced flavors.” From a nutritional standpoint, light diet plays an irreplaceable role in health preservation. Vegetables and legumes provide essential carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and abundant vitamins. Vitamins are indispensable in human metabolism and help prevent diseases and delay aging. Vitamin C in fruits and vegetables is crucial for oxidation-reduction reactions in the body, promoting oxygen uptake by cells and being essential in cell formation and hormone production. Moreover, vitamin C inhibits lesions, promotes antibody formation, and enhances the body’s resistance to disease. For the elderly, eating more fruits and vegetables provides vitamin C, which helps repair and maintain blood vessels, transferring cholesterol deposited in vessel walls to the liver for conversion into bile acids—this aids in preventing and treating atherosclerosis. Dietary fiber in vegetables maintains bowel regularity, reduces toxin absorption, prevents premature aging, and is vital in preventing colorectal cancer caused by constipation.
Additionally, while emphasizing light tonification, we caution against excessive salt or sweetness. Too much salt leads to excess sodium ions in the body. Elderly individuals with low activity levels may experience increased blood pressure, possibly causing cerebrovascular dysfunction. Excessive sweet consumption is also harmful to health. As age increases, the body’s carbohydrate metabolism capacity declines, leading to accumulation of intermediate products like sucrose, which can cause hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia, and severely, even induce diabetes. Clearly, diet is a crucial means of health preservation and disease prevention. Therefore, during summer, when metabolism is vigorous and sweat easily exudes, depleting qi and body fluids, one should eat more foods that clear heat, tonify qi, generate body fluids, and quench thirst. For the elderly, whose bodily functions have declined, heat reduces digestive fluid secretion, and the cardiovascular system shows varying degrees of sclerosis. Diet should primarily be light tonification, supplemented with foods that clear heat, relieve summer heat, protect the stomach and spleen, and have blood pressure-lowering and lipid-lowering effects. Women during menstruation or postpartum periods, even in warmer weather, should avoid raw, cold, and cooling foods to prevent triggering other diseases.
Specific dietary therapies and recipes for the Grain Rains solar term.
Tomatoes Stir-Fried with Eggs:
[Ingredients] 300 grams tomatoes, 3 eggs, appropriate amounts of refined salt, monosodium glutamate, and sugar.
[Preparation] Wash tomatoes, cut into slices. Beat eggs in a bowl.
Heat oil in a wok, first stir-fry eggs until cooked, then transfer to a bowl. Wash and dry the wok, heat oil, melt sugar, add tomatoes, stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add eggs and salt, stir-fry for 3 more minutes, add a little monosodium glutamate, and serve. (Diabetics omit sugar.)
[Efficacy] Generate body fluids, quench thirst, nourish the heart, calm the spirit.

Shiitake Mushroom and Winter Melon Balls:
[Ingredients] Shiitake mushrooms, chicken broth, starch, 300 grams winter melon, vegetable oil, refined salt, ginger, monosodium glutamate, sesame oil, etc.
[Preparation] Soak and wash shiitake mushrooms. Wash and peel winter melon, use a ball scoop to hollow out spherical balls. Wash and slice ginger.
Heat vegetable oil in a wok, sauté ginger slices until fragrant, add shiitake mushrooms and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add winter melon balls, cook until tender, thicken with starch, stir-fry briefly, add monosodium glutamate, drizzle with sesame oil, and serve.
[Efficacy] Tonify the gastrointestinal tract, generate body fluids, relieve irritability.

Five-Taste Goji Berry Drink:
[Formula] 5 grams vinegar-processed schisandra berries, 10 grams goji berries, appropriate amount of sugar.
[Preparation] Place schisandra berries and chopped goji berries in a ceramic cup, pour boiling water over them, steep for a moment, then add sugar, stir well, and drink.
[Efficacy] Nourish kidney yin, assist kidney yang. Suitable for “summer deficiency” conditions, this is an effective tonic for health preservation.