"They used to say if you took tonic food on winter's day it would set you up for the whole winter ahead," recalls Mrs. Ts'ao, 70. On winter's day in Hunan we ate chicken with herbal decoctions and ground glutinous rice "to make the soil soft and easy to plough the next year."
「以前長輩說立冬補一天，一個冬天都不必補了」，七十歲的曹太太回憶道，在湖南立冬，人們會吃中藥燉雞，還會吃粑，「吃了粑，來年土松好耕耘。」