Many people are surprised as to why they eat rice dumplings during the Mid-Autumn Festival!

Yongzhou, Chenzhou and other cities in southern Hunan have this kind of custom.

We didn’t eat meat rice dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival, but on the Mid-Autumn Festival!

What are these customs and habits all about?

My thirst for knowledge prompted me to inquire about it. It happened to be the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival this year, so I had plenty of time.

If you have such doubts, go to the local elderly for help.

The Yongzhou area was very desolate in ancient times. Only the ancient capital of Lingling was relatively prosperous. Huang Gai during the Three Kingdoms period was from here.

The geographical shape of Yongzhou is rectangular, from north to south, so there is a long distance between the southern Hunan area and the ancient capital of Lingling.

The same goes for Chenzhou, the southern gate. It is close to the Nanling Mountain Peak and some distance away from Hengyang.

The area in southern Hunan was indeed very barren in ancient times, a place of southern barbarians.

There were basically not many declared residents of this generation during the Spring and Autumn Period, and most of them were tribal.

As time went by, in order to consolidate the southern region, the ancient dynasties banished officials who had done wrong here.

Gradually, the local cultural atmosphere is deepened.

It can be said that since the Spring and Autumn Period, all dynasties have been sending talents to the south.

This is particularly evident in Yongzhou, where many writers appeared.

For example: Liu Zongyuan, Zhou Dunyi, etc. There are also famous calligraphers such as Huai Su and He Shaoji.

A place where talents gather.

After communicating with several elderly people, I learned that food crops in the area were not abundant in ancient times. It was located in a place where karst and hilly topography were accumulated, and there were no wide plains.

Because the Nanling peak cuts off the heat flow in Guangdong, it retains the cold northwest wind.

As a result, the sunshine time here is relatively short and the calorific value is not very high.

In ancient times, rice was grown locally. Archeology in Yongzhou and Chenzhou newly discovered the earliest rice.

The local seed harvest here is not very high, and local taxes were required to be paid in ancient times.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qu Yuan turned to the Miluo River, and the whole country commemorated him, especially the Chu State who paid great attention to it.

The custom of long-term commemoration gradually improved, and finally the fifth day of May was included as Qu Yuan's commemoration day.

Because the southern Hunan area was dominated by tribes in ancient times, they paid less attention to Qu Yuan's commemoration day. In addition, the harvest in southern Hunan was not very high, and there was no surplus grain to make dumplings as a souvenir. Another very important reason is that the rice of that year was celebrated during the Dragon Boat Festival.

The processing stage is not perfect and sodium hydroxide cannot be produced.

Generally speaking, the Mid-Autumn Zongzi Festival in southern Hunan is very unique.

Analyzed with modern knowledge, it is usually caused by the following aspects: 1. It has been several months since the news of Qu Yuan jumping into the river reached southern Hunan; 2. There are not enough grain crops to commemorate with zongzi; 3. Sodium hydroxide and new glutinous rice cannot be used in May.

The month is completed; 4. The ethnic groups whose descendants migrated to the southern Hunan area are all from the Central Plains and Jiangxi areas, and the commemorative date is chosen according to the current conditions.

Do I know anything about the Xiangnan region of Hunan?

Are you familiar with this unique Mid-Autumn Festival rice dumpling, maybe you know more answers!

The Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year coincide with National Day, the National Day of great blessings.

Warmly welcome to leave your comments.