zongzi
China festival food. Also known as corn. Eat for the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi appeared in the Jin Dynasty. It has been recorded in the Records of Local Customs in the Jin and Zhou Dynasties that it was cooked with sticky rice wrapped in leaves of Zizania latifolia on May 5, which is called the horn millet. There are different opinions on the reasons, and the theory of offering sacrifices to Qu Yuan has a greater influence. According to records, there are many famous zongzi in ancient China. For example, there were educational zongzi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yujia Zongzi and Jiuzi Zongzi Zongzi in Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty, Qiaozong, Chestnut Zongzi and Fruit Zongzi in Bianjing and Lin 'an in the Song Dynasty, fruit-filled Zongzi in Suzhou and other places in the Ming Dynasty, ham Zongzi in Yangzhou in the Qing Dynasty, grey Zongzi, meat Zongzi and barrel Zongzi in Guangzhou, and meat Zongzi in Taiwan Province. Nowadays, the famous varieties of Zongzi are fresh meat Zongzi and Babao Zongzi from Wufangzhai in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, steamed Zongzi in Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province and jujube Zongzi in Beijing.
Method of making modern zongzi: Soak glutinous rice in water for two days, fold it into a funnel shape with several reed leaves, put the rice in, fold it into a triangular cone shape, tie it up with thread outside, put it in a pot, cover it tightly, and cook it over high fire. The packaging materials of zongzi can also be bamboo leaves, bamboo tubes, lotus leaves, corn husks and palm leaves. The stuffing can also be millet or jujube, chestnut and red beans, as well as fresh meat, ham, barbecued pork, salted eggs and bean paste. Its shape can also be wrapped into pillow shape, weight shape, water chestnut shape and so on. Zongzi is usually eaten hot after being cooked, or it can be eaten after being cooled or sliced and fried. Zongzi spread to Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other countries in ancient times.
Wen Yiduo's research shows that the Dragon Boat Festival had been held in wuyue long before Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River.
Dragon boat races and eating zongzi were originally not to commemorate Qu Yuan, but to please the water god, that is, the dragon.
It is also recorded in "Customs Tong" and "Records of Jingchu Years Old" that during the Dragon Boat Festival, women have to wrap colorful silk on their hands, insert symbols cut from colored paper on their heads and boil blue water to take a bath. In front of every house, they have to hang mugwort, make it into a tiger shape or a human figure, and drink calamus wine. All these are to avoid swords, evil spirits and plague.
People who have seen Border Town will never forget the Dragon Boat Festival in Xiangxi written by Shen Congwen. Dragon boat racing and eating zongzi are naturally essential, and you have to wear new clothes and draw the word "king" on your forehead with realgar wine. What's more special is watching young men catch "big male duck with green head and long neck" at the dock. This custom seems to be absent in other places. The first time Cuicui saw Nuo Song, it was on the night of Dragon Boat Festival. After watching the dragon boat race, she was waiting for her grandfather at the dock alone. The only one who accompanied her was a yellow dog who couldn't talk.
according to the record of "the harmony of the continuation of qi", people first used bamboo tubes to store rice and throw water to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan. In the martial arts of the Han Dynasty, Qu Yuan became a saint during the day, saying that all the sacrifices that everyone put into the water had been snatched by the dragon, so he would plug the mouth of the bamboo tube with neem leaves and tie it with colorful silk thread before throwing it into the water, because the dragon was afraid of neem leaves and colorful silk thread. This is naturally a novelist's statement and can't be believed.
The record of Zongzi in historical materials began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, zongzi was wrapped into a horn, which was called "horn millet". The local customs of the Western Jin Dynasty said: "The ancients cooked it with leaves wrapped in millet, with sharp corners, such as the shape of the heart of a zonglv leaf." He also said that this kind of food is eaten every year during the summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival. According to ancient records, millet and chicken were sacrificed to ancestors in the summer solstice as early as Yin and Zhou Dynasties. Later, Zongzi was sacrificed to Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival, but it was only the evolution and development of the original customs.