Summer

Greater Heat

Jul 23–Aug 6

Major Heat (Dashu) is the twelfth solar term of the twenty‑four solar terms and the final solar term of summer. The sun reaches the celestial longitude of 120°, and it marks the extreme of scorching heat in the year. This article explains in detail its three pentads (decayed grass turns into fireflies, the earth grows moist and humid‑hot, heavy rains occur frequently), the climatic characteristics of high temperatures and thunderstorms, the key farming management points in both the north and the south (irrigation to prevent drought, draining waterlogging and preventing diseases), as well as folk customs such as sending off the Major Heat boat, sun‑drying ginger, eating mutton in the summer heat, and eating herbal jelly (Xiancao). It emphasizes that health preservation during this period focuses on "preventing heatstroke" and "dispelling dampness".