What does light snow pickles and heavy snow bacon mean?

"Pickled vegetables in light snow, bacon in heavy snow" means that there were few fresh vegetables in winter and the price was expensive because of the restrictions of conditions in the past. Therefore, people are used to pickling vegetables before and after "light snow" and bacon before and after "heavy snow", and eating in winter depends on these pickles.

As the saying goes, "heavy snow will cure meat", because after the solar term of "heavy snow", the cold winter is coming. For thousands of years, people have long been used to pickling some fish for winter. In order to look forward to the good days in the coming year, farmers not only hang bacon with cloth ropes, but also string it with short bamboo, which means a bumper harvest this year and even higher next year.

The custom of pickling vegetables with light snow has a long history. Because the first frost weather is easy to appear before and after the light snow solar terms, the frosted vegetables are easy to soften, and the temperature is lower at this time, which is more suitable for pickling pickles. Therefore, people usually choose to marinate at this time in order to enjoy it when the fresh vegetables decrease in winter.

Light snow custom:

1. Bacon: After the light snow, every household began to pickle and air-dry all kinds of vegetables for winter consumption. Hangzhou people often use this solar term to start pickling salted duck and bacon. Because after the light snow solar term, the temperature will drop sharply and the weather will become drier and drier. This is a good time to process bacon.

2. Eating Ciba: In some places in the south, there is also the custom of eating Ciba in October of the lunar calendar. In ancient times, Ciba was a traditional festival sacrifice in the south of China, which was first used by farmers to worship the cow god. As the saying goes, "In October, Ciba Lulu burned" refers to sacrificial events.

3. Brewing: The stored liquor brewed in Pinghu area on the tenth day of the first lunar month is called October White, and the liquor brewed with pure white flour, white rice and spring water is called Sanjiu Liquor. Add a few peach petals in spring, also called peach blossom wine. In Changxing area, Xiaoxue Day makes wine, which is called Xiaoxue Liquor. Stored until the next year, the color is clear and crisp. This is because when it snows lightly, the water is unusually clear, comparable to snow water.