You must have heard of Sanfu days. Well, Sanfu days, also known as the Chinese dog days of summer, mark the hottest days of summer.
Sanfu days has three periods: Toufu, Zhongfu and Mofu . In Chinese, "fu" has the meaning of "hiding". So the word is also a suggestion (建议) for people to stay at home to "hide" from the strong heat outdoors in summer.
Sanfu days usually come between mid-July and mid-August. During this time, people follow different customs to deal with the heat and stay healthy. Now let's have a look at some traditional Chinese ways of spending the dog days of summer.
In Changsha, local people usually eat roosters (公鸡) during Sanfu days, especially during Toufu. That's because it is always hot with heavy rainfall in summer. Local people believe that eating roosters can clear the wet in the body. And there is even an old saying that goes, "A rooster at the start of Sanfu days, a healthy body the whole year."
Besides, the practice of receiving Sanfutie, a kind of Sanfu medicinal patch (药用贴片), is also common in China during Sanfu days. Sanfutie is a bandage made of traditional Chinese herbal medicine (中草药). Many people use Sanfutie because it can fight some winter illnesses like coughing during the hottest summer days.
