Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "corn millet" and "zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped in leaves of Zizania latifolia (Zizania latifolia) into a horn shape, which was called "horn millet"; Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and roasted, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the millet was soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contained alkali, the millet was wrapped in leaves to form a quadrangle, and cooked, which became Guangdong Suanshui Zongzi.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the raw materials for dumplings are also added with Alpinia oxyphylla, and the cooked dumplings are called "educational dumplings". According to the Records of Yueyang Local Customs written by Zhou Ren, "It is customary to wrap millet with leaves, cook it, and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the summer solstice, there is a dumpling and a millet." During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnut, red dates, red beans, etc., and the variety is increasing. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
By the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade" and its shape appeared cone and diamond. There is a record of "Datang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "candied zongzi", that is, fruit was put into zongzi. Su Dongpo, a poet, has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements made of zongzi piled into pavilions and wooden carts and horses, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped with reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates, walnuts and so on appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
Until today, every year in early May, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many Beijing jujube dumplings with small dates in the north; In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Introduction to Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a traditional folk festival in China-Dragon Boat Festival, which is one of the ancient traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. Dragon Boat Festival is also called Duanwu and Duanyang. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Noon Festival, Chongwu Festival, May Festival, Yulan Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day, Dragon Day and so on. Although the names are different, on the whole, the customs of people around the country are more similar than different.
Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of China people for more than 2,000 years. Due to the vast territory, numerous nationalities and many stories and legends, not only many different festival names have emerged, but also different customs exist in different places. Its contents mainly include: the daughter returns to her mother's house, hangs a statue of Zhong Kui, greets the ghost boat, hides in the afternoon, sticks leaves in the afternoon, hangs calamus and wormwood, swims in all diseases, wears sachets, prepares sacrificial bowls, races dragon boats, contests, hits the ball, swings, paints children with realgar, drinks realgar wine, calamus wine, eats poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, have achieved new development, breaking through the time and geographical boundaries and becoming international sports events.
There are many opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; In memory of Wu Zixu's theory; In memory of Cao E; From the three generations of summer solstice festival; The theory of driving away the evil moon and the evil day, the theory of national totem sacrifice in Wuyue and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 100 ancient books and archaeological research by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Examination of the Dragon Boat Festival and Historical Education of the Dragon Boat Festival, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival was a totem festival held by the southern wuyue people in ancient China, earlier than Qu Yuan. However, for thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so people "cherish and mourn them, and discuss their words in the world, so as to tell them from generation to generation". Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate the dragon boat race and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with the commemoration of Qu Yuan.
Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival among the people of China.
Origin and legend of Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. There are many origins and legends of the Dragon Boat Festival. Here are only the following four:
From commemorating Qu Yuan
According to Records of the Historian "Biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng", Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the promotion of talents and empowerment, made Qiang Bing rich, and urged the joint efforts against Qin, which was strongly opposed by Zilan and others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital, and was exiled to Yuan and Xiang basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which are of unique style and far-reaching influence (hence, Dragon Boat Festival is also called Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto, Chu. Qu Yuan's heart ached at the sight of his motherland being invaded, but he couldn't bear to give up his motherland all the time. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he threw himself into the Miluo River and died, writing a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. Fishermen rowed boats and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that the ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor's body. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that it was necessary to stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, for fear that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and wrapping them with colored silk to develop them into brown seeds.
After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
From commemorating Wu Zixu.
The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is widely spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC). Wu Zixu, a famous member of the State of Chu, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to the State of Wu to help Wu cut Chu, and entered the city of Ying, the capital of Chu, in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was dead, and Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 corpses to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of Prince Helu of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high, and he was defeated by the state of Yue. The king of Yue Gou Jian asked for peace, and Fu Cha promised it. Zi Xu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely destroyed, but Fu Cha refused to listen. Wu was slaughtered by the state of Yue, and was bribed by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers, and Fu Cha believed him, giving him a sword, and Zi Xu died. Zi Xu, a loyal man, regarded death as death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wujing to watch the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." He then committed suicide. Fu Cha was furious when he heard this, so he took Zi Xu's body in leather and put it into the river on May 5. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
From commemorating the filial daughter Cao E.
The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220) when Cao E, a filial daughter, rescued her father from drowning in the river. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old and was crying along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and took out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed on to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument and let his disciple Han Danchun make a eulogy.
The tomb of Cao E, a dutiful daughter, was in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and later Cao E tablet was written by Jin Wangyi. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built in the place where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
Totem Sacrifice Originated from Ancient Yue Nationality
A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that in the Neolithic Age, there was a kind of cultural relic with geometric prints and Tao Wei characteristics in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the remaining clan is a clan that worships the dragon totem-Baiyue clan in history. The decorative patterns on the unearthed pottery and historical legends show that they have the custom of continuously tattoo, live in a water town, and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Its production tools, a large number of stone tools, but also shovel, chisel and other small pieces of bronze. As daily necessities, the printed pottery tripod for cooking food is unique to them and is one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still more than 100 Yue people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival they founded to worship their ancestors. In thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have been integrated into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival for the whole Chinese nation.
The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival
In China, the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in a grand way, and there are various activities to celebrate it. The common activities are as follows:
Dragon boat race:
Dragon boat race is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient state of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of Qu Yuan, a sage, and many people rowed to catch up and save. They scrambled to catch up with each other and disappeared when they reached Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Dispel the fish in the river by rowing dragon boats, so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of racing is prevalent in Wu, Yue and Chu.
In fact, "Dragon Boat Race" existed as early as the Warring States Period. Carving a dragon-shaped canoe in the drums and playing a race game are semi-religious and semi-entertaining programs in the ceremony to entertain the gods and people.
Later, in addition to commemorating Qu Yuan, people in various places also gave different meanings to dragon boat races.
Dragon boat rowing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is of great significance to commemorate Qiu Jin, a local-born modern female democratic revolutionary. On the night dragon boat, the lights are decorated, the shuttle is going back and forth, and the scene is moving and interesting. The Miao people in Guizhou hold "Dragon Boat Festival" from May 25th to 28th in the lunar calendar to celebrate the success of transplanting rice seedlings and wish a bumper harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots are racing dragon boats at the Songkran Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo. Different nationalities and regions have different legends about dragon boat rowing. Until today, in many areas in the south that face rivers, lakes and seas, dragon boat races with their own characteristics are held every year.
In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang Yuanjun, the magistrate of Taiwan Province, hosted a friendly match in Banyuechi, Hokkeji, Tainan City. Now Taiwan Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held.
In addition, dragon boat rowing was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain. 1980, the dragon boat race was included in the national sports competition in China, and the "Qu Yuan Cup" dragon boat race was held every year. 199 1 June16th (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the first International Dragon Boat Festival was held in Yueyang, China, the second hometown of Qu Yuan. Before the race, a "dragon head festival" was held, which not only preserved the traditional ceremony but also injected new modern factors. The "dragon head" was carried into the Quzi Temple, and after the athletes "painted red" the dragon head (wearing a red ribbon), the priest read out the sacrificial rites and "lit up" the dragon head (that is, lit it up). Then, all the people who participated in the dragon festival bowed three times, and the dragon head was carried to the Guluo River and rushed to the dragon boat race. More than 600,000 people participated in the competitions, fairs and party activities, which is unprecedented. Since then, Hunan has regularly held the International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat race will be widely spread all over the world.
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "corn millet" and "zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped in leaves of Zizania latifolia (Zizania latifolia) into a horn shape, which was called "horn millet"; Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and roasted, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the millet was soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contained alkali, the millet was wrapped in leaves to form a quadrangle, and cooked, which became Guangdong Suanshui Zongzi.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the raw materials for dumplings are also added with Alpinia oxyphylla, and the cooked dumplings are called "educational dumplings". According to the Records of Yueyang Local Customs written by Zhou Ren, "It is customary to wrap millet with leaves, cook it, and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the summer solstice, there is a dumpling and a millet." During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnut, red dates, red beans, etc., and the variety is increasing. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
By the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade" and its shape appeared cone and diamond. There is a record of "Datang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "candied zongzi", that is, fruit was put into zongzi. Su Dongpo, a poet, has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements made of zongzi piled into pavilions and wooden carts and horses, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped with reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates, walnuts and so on appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
Until today, every year in early May, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many Beijing jujube dumplings with small dates in the north; In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Pei sachet:
Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to have the meaning of avoiding evil spirits and expelling plague. In fact, it is used to decorate the inner head. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped with silk cloth, which is full of fragrance, and then tied with five-color silk threads to form a rope, making a string of different shapes, all kinds of exquisite and lovely.
Acorus calamus:
A folk proverb says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, putting calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows and hanging them in the hall. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liuhua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and ornaments, which are beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear them to drive away evil.
Ai, also known as Ai and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves all contain volatile aromatic oils. Its peculiar fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. In traditional Chinese medicine, moxa is used as medicine, which has the functions of qi and blood, warming uterus and eliminating cold and dampness. Processing mugwort leaves into "moxa wool" is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment.
Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a medicine for refreshing, invigorating bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing.
It can be seen that the ancients inserted Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect. Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" handed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang mugwort, hang calamus, sprinkle realgar water, drink realgar wine, stir up turbidity, remove rot, sterilize and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. Collecting herbs on the mountain during the Dragon Boat Festival is a custom shared by all countries and nationalities in our country.