The custom of white deer
Dedicated to Yu Wang.
Speaking of this sentence, we all know that Dayu controls water. He is also called "water god" by fishermen on Taihu Lake. Every year on the eighth day of the first month, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Tanabata and the Millennium, Taihu Lake will hold incense parties to commemorate Yu Wang. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Bailuyuan were the largest, with a scale of one week.
Eat longan
There is a folk saying that "white deer must eat longan". People think that eating longan on the Millennium day can supplement the body. Eating an longan on this day is equivalent to eating a chicken. Of course, this statement is a bit exaggerated! But a thousand years ago, longan was big and full, and the core was small, sweet and delicious. It was the best day to eat longan in 1000 years!
Drink Bailu tea
Old people in Nanjing like Bailu tea very much. At this time, tea trees have experienced extreme heat in summer, and the Millennium is the best time for their growth. Bailu tea is not as tender as spring tea, nor as soaked as spring tea, nor as bitter as summer tea. On the contrary, it has a unique sweet fragrance, which is especially loved by old tea drinkers. Moreover, the spring tea stored at home has basically been "used up". At this time, Millennium tea is being picked, so around the Millennium, some tea drinkers will ask people to buy some Millennium tea.
Drink Bailu wine
Old Nanjing in southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang has the custom of brewing Bailu rice wine. In the past, thousands of people went to the countryside around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and every family made wine to entertain guests. Some people often brought Millennium rice wine into the city. Hunan Bailu has the custom of drinking rice wine. Every year on Bailuyuan Festival, every household treats guests with Bailuyuan rice wine, which is called "local wine", which is sweet and moist and most suitable for autumn. Bailu wine takes glutinous rice, sorghum and other grains as raw materials and is slightly sweet, so it is called "Bailu rice wine".
Braised black-bone chicken with "ten kinds of white"
On the day of the Millennium, people will gather "ten kinds of whites" to stew black-bone chicken. It is said that eating it can nourish the body and disperse qi. The "Ten Whites" are ten kinds of medicinal materials with the word "White", such as hibiscus flower, white peony root, bletilla striata, Atractylodes macrocephala, white hyacinth bean, white lotus, cogongrass rhizome, white yam and poria cocos.
Eat sweet potatoes
Folk Bailuyuan believes that eating sweet potatoes all year round, and eating sweet potatoes after shredding can prevent stomach acid, so it is a custom for farmers to eat sweet potatoes at Bailuyuan Festival in the old days.
Eat eels
The eels in Bailuyuan period are the most beautiful and the best time to taste them, so there is a folk saying that "Bailuyuan eels are the first frost crabs". In the south, the most authentic way to eat is rock-sugar eel, with lard embedded in eel segments cut into two inches, ginger slices stuck at both ends, a little water in the pot, boiling to remove floating foam, adding yellow wine, wrapping with lard, adding oil sauce, adding rock sugar, and then slowly cooking!