Zongzi is a festive food of the Dragon Boat Festival. It was called "corner millet" in ancient times. Legend has it that it was invented to commemorate Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river. It is the traditional food with the deepest cultural heritage in Chinese history so far.
The historical record of zongzi was first seen in "Shuowen Jiezi" written by Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty. The original word "粽" is "糉", "Shuowen Xinfu Mibu" says "糉, rice wrapped in reed leaves. From rice, the sound of 荼." "Shuowen 夂" says: "荼, to hold back the feet." "The meaning is that the bird holds back its legs and claws when it is flying. "Ji Yun? Send Yun": "糉, horn millet. Or made into rice dumplings."
Zongzi is also known as "corner millet". The earliest record can be found in "Feng Tu Ji" written by Zhou Chu in the Western Jin Dynasty: "Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival" Fifth, Fang Bo Xie Ji. Enjoy the corn millet and turtle scales in Shunde. Note: Duan means the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. From spring to the summer solstice, they all eat it. On the first day of the second festival, they wrap glutinous rice with wild rice leaves, mix it with millet, and cook it with pure and thick ash juice. It is also eaten on the second festival... ...The rice wrapped in sticky rice is called '糉' and 'corn millet', which means that the yin and yang are still in contact with each other and are not dispersed."
In the "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty, it was clearly stated that wild rice should be used. The leaves are wrapped in millet and cooked into a horn or palm leaf-shaped food, so it is called "corner millet" or "zong".
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, rice dumplings were mostly wrapped in glutinous rice. At this time, they were not called Jiao Millet, but Zongzi.
Wu Jun (467-520) of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties wrote in "Xu Qi Xie Ji": "Qu Yuan threw himself into Miluo and died on May 5th. The people of Chu mourned him. Every time on this day, bamboo tubes are stored Rice was thrown into the water to offer sacrifices. During the Han Dynasty, when I was in Ouhui, Changsha, I suddenly saw a man who called himself Sanlu Dafu. If it is beneficial, you can stuff it with neem leaves and tie it with colorful silk. These two things are what Jiaolong is afraid of. "The people of the world make rice dumplings with colorful silk and neem leaves, which are all the legacy of Miluo." ”
Another theory is that the people were afraid that Qu Yuan’s body would be eaten by the fish in the river, so they wrapped rice dumplings and threw them into the river to feed the fish.
The theory that Zongzi is related to Qu Yuan is widely spread due to its romanticism. In 340 BC, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and official of the Chu State, faced the pain of subjugation. On May 5th, he angrily threw a large stone into the Miluo River. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from damaging his body, people packed rice in bamboo tubes and threw it into the river. middle. From then on, in order to express their respect and memory for Qu Yuan, on this day, people would pack rice in bamboo tubes and throw them into the river to pay homage. This is the origin of the earliest rice dumplings in my country - "Tong Zong".
Why were moxa leaves, reed leaves, and lotus leaves used to make rice dumplings later? There is such a record in "The Beginner's Notes": During the Jianwu period of the Han Dynasty, people in Changsha dreamed of a man at night who claimed to be Dr. Sanlu (Qu Yuan's official name) and said to him: "Everything you sacrifice has been destroyed by the dragon in the river." If it is stolen, it can be wrapped in mugwort leaves and tied with five-color silk threads. Jiaolong is most afraid of these two things. "So, people used "mug leaves to wrap millet" to make "corner millet", which was passed down from generation to generation and gradually developed into "corn millet". my country’s Dragon Boat Festival food. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, after eating Nine Rice Dumplings in the palace during the Dragon Boat Festival, Long Yan was overjoyed and full of praise. He happily composed a poem: "Flowers in four seasons are in coincidence, and Nine Rice Dumplings are competing for new ones."
< p>Jiuzi Zongzi is a kind of Zongzi, which is nine Zongzi connected in a string. Some are big and some are small. The big ones are on top and the small ones are on the bottom. They have different shapes and are very beautiful. They are tied with silk threads of nine colors. , colorful. Jiuzi Zong is mostly given as a gift to relatives and friends, such as a gift from a mother to her married daughter, a gift from a mother-in-law to a newlywed daughter-in-law, etc. Because "Zongzi" is homophonic to "neutral", there is a folk saying that eating "Zongzi" can lead to a son.