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mooncake
On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, it's just 8: 30 Sanqiu time, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional festival in China, has arrived. Moon cakes are essential food for Mid-Autumn Festival. The round moon cakes symbolize reunion and repose people's good wishes. So, when did moon cakes appear?
As a kind of pasta, cake appeared very early in China and was recorded in ancient books during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were many kinds of cakes, and a relatively large round cake appeared, which was called Hu cake because of adding flax (later called sesame). Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty likes eating Hu cakes very much, which attracted the popularity of Hu cakes in Luoyang, the capital. This kind of Hu cake can be regarded as the predecessor of moon cakes.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was formally formed, and the appearance of moon cakes was logical. Because festivals can't just enjoy the moon, there must be sacrifices to the moon and food, and round Hu cakes are the best choice. Japanese monk Yuanren came to China as an envoy during the Tang Wenzong period and lived in China for ten years. In his Travels of the Tang Dynasty, he wrote: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, a banquet was held in the temple, and cakes and food were set up. As a festival on August 15. " Although it is not explicitly said that the cakes here are round Hu cakes, they are definitely seasonal tributes and food for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
According to folklore, people in the Tang Dynasty began to eat moon cakes. It is said that when General Li Jing came back from the battlefield, it was on August 15, and a Turpan businessman presented Hu cakes to celebrate his victory. Tang Gaozu took the gorgeous cake box, took out the Hu cake, smiled at the bright moon in the sky and said, "We should invite toads to eat Hu cake." He shared Hu cakes with ministers. Since then, people have had the custom of eating Hu cakes, which are moon cakes. Another legend is that on August 15th of one year, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei enjoyed the moon while eating Hu cakes. Tang Xuanzong didn't like the name Hu Bing. Looking at the big round moon, Yang Guifei had a brainwave and said, "Let's call it a moon cake." Since then, Hu cake has been called "moon cake". The third legend, seen in Luo Zhong, said that Tang Xizong ate moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was delicious. He heard that the new Jinshi had a banquet in Qujiang, so he ordered the chef to wrap moon cakes in HongLing to reward them.
Although this legend is not a faithful history, it has a real shadow. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival appeared in the Tang Dynasty, people still eat cakes during festivals. Round Hu cake has long been a common food in the Central Plains, and Hu cake has become a moon cake.
Su Dongpo, a famous writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a poem, "A small cake is like chewing the moon, with crisp and glutinous inside". "Cookies are like chewing the moon" means that cookies are shaped like the moon and taste like biting the moon; "Crispy and caramel in the cake" means that there is butter and caramel in the cake, which is very delicious. Su Dongpo ate this kind of moon cake in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also evidence that moon cakes have appeared, although it has little to do with whether moon cakes appear as nouns or not. In the Ming Dynasty, mooncakes finally appeared in a large number of ancient books. At this time, the moon cakes are not only round, meaning round and round, but also eaten only during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They are a necessary tribute for people to sacrifice to the moon and a necessary food for gifts to relatives and friends.
According to the laws of nature, there is always a process of gradual growth and development before a phenomenon appears in large numbers. As a seasonal food for Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cakes appeared in a large number of ancient books in the Southern Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. But through historical records and folklore, it can be confirmed that the real thing appeared in the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and it is famous and real.