rice cake.

There is a legend that rice cakes were first used to worship ancestors, and later evolved into Spring Festival food. In some places, rice cakes are also called "nian rice cakes", which means "every year is high", indicating that people expect to live a year. Even better than a year ago.

In the literal sense, rice cake is full of auspiciousness. "Nian" and "stick" have the same pronunciation, so the word "stick" can be understood as meaning New Year or reunion and cohesion, while "cake" has the same pronunciation as "gao", which means rising step by step. In addition, rice cake has a variety of flavors, which has almost become a household name. A must-have food for the occasion.

The legend of the origin of rice cake

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in ancient times, Suzhou was the capital of the State of Wu. At that time, the princes were dominant and wars raged for years. Wu Zixu, a senior official of Chu State, defected to Wu State to avenge his father, intending to borrow troops to attack Chu. The King of Wu did not agree, so Wu Zixu killed the King of Wu, led his troops to attack Yingdu, the capital of Chu State, and installed a new King of Wu on the throne. Wu Zixu was also granted the title of Shendi.

In order to prevent invasion, Wu Zixu led people to build the famous Helu City. After the city was repaired, he said to his confidants: "After my death, if the country is in trouble and the people are hungry, you can dig a few feet of earth under the city gate and you can find food." Soon, Wu Zixu was trapped and committed suicide.

The State of Yue took the opportunity to attack Wu, and the war continued, causing starvation and death all over the land. During the crisis, someone remembered Wu Zixu's instructions during his lifetime, so he secretly demolished the city wall and dug the ground. It turned out that the city foundation was made of bricks and stones made of glutinous rice. People used it to make a kind of food and survived the crisis. This food was later called rice cake. Later, in the twelfth lunar month, people used glutinous rice to make rice cakes to worship Wu Zixu. At the same time, they also took the auspicious meaning of "climbing higher step by step every year".