Rural elders often say that you cannot pick up pheasants in spring and hares in winter. Why is this?

Let’s first talk about why we don’t pick up pheasants in spring?

Spring is a sunny season, with flowers blooming, spring returning to the earth, and all things reviving, creating a scene of prosperity. After a period of food shortage in winter, various small animals begin to become active.

At the same time, the temperature in this season is also extremely unstable. As the old saying goes: spring is cold and cold, and then warm and cold again. Weather that alternates between hot and cold is most likely to cause the occurrence of some diseases, especially the high incidence period of some viral diseases. For example, birds are most likely to cause avian influenza. As a kind of bird, pheasants are no exception.

In addition, farmers have also begun to be busy in the fields, spraying pesticides and insecticides on various crops and fruit trees.

Due to the existence of these factors, if pheasants are found dead at this time, most of them are caused by viral diseases or eating poisonous bugs and poisonous food. How can one eat a dead chicken like this?

In addition to these reasons, there is another saying that "chicken" and "hunger" are homophonic. As the saying goes: the plan for the year lies in spring. If you pick up pheasants and eat them in spring, you will easily get famine. Of course, this is just a superstitious statement and cannot be accepted, but from another level, it is also people's longing for a better life. Let’s talk about why we don’t pick up hares in winter?

Although the winter here in the small farm is not as icy and snowy as in Heijiliao in the far north, there will still be snowflakes flying. In the snowy world, Uncle Xu Ernuo, who is in his 40s in the village, will Carrying his homemade long-barreled shotgun, he wandered around the fields looking for hares. Sometimes we kids would run around with him for a long time. Uncle Ernao's marksmanship was pretty good, and he often hit hares when he encountered them.

One time we little kids found a dead rabbit and picked it up. Uncle Ernao saw it and said quickly: You can’t pick up this rabbit. "Why can't you pick it up? Why are you afraid of freezing to death?" a friend said in response, and Uncle Er Nao answered: "How can a rabbit freeze to death?" At the end of autumn, rabbits will put on thick winter clothes and grow a thick layer of down on their skin to resist the cold.

"Then how did this rabbit die?", the friend asked in confusion.

Uncle Ernuo said calmly: Some of the hares that died in winter may have died of disease and hunger, and some may have been shot by hunters. They were not dead at the time. A few days later, If the Queen of Heaven dies, no matter which way it dies, it cannot be picked up and eaten. The weather is cold in winter, and you don’t know how long it has been dead. There will be a lot of bacteria lurking in the body. Eating it will affect your health. of.

Childhood is a wonderful time. Decades have passed. Nowadays, hares are rare in rural areas. Guns have been controlled for a long time. Homemade guns are no longer allowed. People carry guns to shoot rabbits in winter. The scene can no longer be seen. What can be seen occasionally is the scene of some farmers leading a few thin dogs in the winter nights and wandering in the fields.

Those scenes from my childhood still occasionally come to mind. The old sayings circulating in the countryside, such as "Don't pick up pheasants in spring, don't pick up hares in winter" have also taken root in my heart. As I grow older, I have a deeper understanding of the meaning of those old sayings.