It is a combination of the meaning of widow and red bean, because red bean represents acacia in ancient poetry, and the widow will definitely miss it after her husband's death, so she counts red beans.
It is said that there was a widow in a small village. Her husband died a long time ago, and neither of them left any children.
But this woman is also very faithful and has been widowed for her dead husband for thirty years. Later, when the local people saw her like this, they played on the court and applied for a chastity archway for her.
Later, the widow was seriously ill, and her sister-in-law came to see her and said, "You have been widowed for so many years, and it is worthwhile to get the chastity archway." The widow said nothing, pointed to a small jar at the head of the bed and motioned for her sister-in-law to bring it here.
When my sister-in-law opened it, she found it was a can of beans, and it was obvious that she had been looking at these beans for several years. My sister-in-law looked at the widow puzzled.
At this time, the widow spoke slowly and said, "I have come by counting these beans every day for these years."
This is probably the reason why widows count beans. Later, the ancients combined the meaning of red beans and acacia, because red beans represented acacia in many ancient poems, so they gradually became widows and counted red beans.
This is actually related to the social environment at that time, because in ancient times, the general way for women to relieve loneliness was to be a female red. But for widows, losing their husbands means losing their dependence, so their hearts will be even more sad. Moreover, the ancients paid attention to marrying a chicken and marrying a dog with a dog, so they generally did not remarry easily, so they could only miss their husbands over and over again for the rest of their lives.
Therefore, the widow's counting of red beans means that the widows miss their husbands, and it also reflects a lonely life state of the widows.