In the inheritance and development of the Dragon Boat Festival, various folk customs from many places have been integrated into one. The festival customs are rich in content, and there are differences in custom content or details due to different regions. Below is the special food and health knowledge of the Dragon Boat Festival that I have compiled for you. I hope it will be helpful to you.

Special foods of the Dragon Boat Festival

1. Zongzi

Zongzi is a traditional custom in my country during the Dragon Boat Festival. There are many shapes of zongzi. There are different varieties, generally there are various shapes such as equilateral triangle, equilateral square, pointed triangle, square, rectangular and so on. Due to the different flavors in different parts of China, there are mainly two types: sweet and salty.

2. Realgar wine

The custom of drinking realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival was very popular in the Yangtze River Basin in the past. White wine or yellow wine brewed with realgar ground into powder. Realgar can be used as an antidote and insecticide. Therefore, ancient people believed that realgar can restrain snakes, scorpions and other insects. "It is good at killing hundreds of poisons, warding off hundreds of evil spirits, and controlling poisonous poisons. When people wear it, tigers and wolves will lurk when they enter the mountains and forests, and hundreds of poisons will be avoided when entering rivers."

3. Five yellows

There is a custom of eating "five yellows" during the Dragon Boat Festival in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Wuhuang refers to yellow croaker, cucumber, eel, duck egg yolk, and realgar wine (realgar wine is toxic, so ordinary rice wine is generally consumed instead of realgar wine). There are also other opinions that salted duck eggs can be replaced with soybeans. The fifth month of the lunar calendar is called the Five Yellow Moon by people in Jiangnan.

4. Tea eggs

In the Nanchang area of ??Jiangxi Province, there is a custom of eating boiled tea eggs and salted eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival. Local people also dye eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs red, put them in colorful mesh bags, and hang them around the necks of children, hoping that the children will be safe and good luck will come.

5. Making cakes

The Dragon Boat Festival is a grand festival for the Korean people in Yanbian, Jilin Province. The most representative food on this day is the fragrant cake. Da Gao is a rice cake made by placing mugwort and glutinous rice in a large wooden trough carved from a single log and beating it with a long-handled wood. This kind of food is very ethnic and can add to the festive atmosphere.

6. Garlic eggs

Rural areas in Henan, Zhejiang and other places eat garlic eggs on the Dragon Boat Festival. It is eaten together with garlic and eggs for breakfast. In some places, a few pieces of mugwort leaves are added when cooking garlic eggs. Eating garlic, eggs and fried steamed buns for breakfast is said to avoid the "five poisons".

7. Jiandui

In the Jinjiang area of ??Fujian Province, every household also eats "Jiandui" during the Dragon Boat Festival, which is fried into a thick paste with flour, rice flour or sweet potato flour and other ingredients. become. Legend has it that in ancient times, it was the rainy season in southern Fujian before the Dragon Boat Festival, and it rained continuously. Folks said that God had penetrated a hole and wanted to "repair the sky." After eating "Jiandui" during the Dragon Boat Festival, the rain stopped, and people said that the sky was healed. This food custom comes from this.

8. Oil cakes

Eating oil cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. The oil cake is made of hot oiled noodles, stuffed with sugar, sweet-scented osmanthus, walnut kernels, roses and lard, and then fried in a pan. The fried oil cake is golden, crispy on the outside and sweet on the inside. One bite will make people salivate.

9. Eel

Around the Dragon Boat Festival is the time when eel meat is the most tender and nutritious of the year. It not only tastes good, but also has the best nourishing effect, so there is a folk saying "Dragon Boat Festival eel" Said to compete with ginseng.

10. Moxa moxa

Eat moxa during the Dragon Boat Festival, it can sterilize and repel insects, and has inhibitory effects on a variety of bacteria and skin fungi. Therefore, in many places, rice flour or flour is fermented and then steamed with mugwort to eat the buns, which have a sweet and soft texture.

11. Noodle fans

Eating noodle fans during the Dragon Boat Festival is popular in Gansu and Ningxia. The locals make the dough into a fan shape with multiple layers. Each layer is sprinkled with pepper, and the surface is kneaded into various shapes and patterns, and then dyed with colors, which makes it very beautiful.

12. Pancakes

In some areas of southern Fujian and Wenzhou, there is also the custom of eating pancakes during the Dragon Boat Festival. Pancakes are made by mixing flour into a paste, spreading them on a large, flat iron pot into a translucent pancake shaped like a full moon and as thin as a moon, and rolling them with fried bean sprouts, lean pork shreds, mushrooms and other fillings. It is eaten in tube shape, similar to spring rolls.

13. Mung bean cake

In Wuhan, Nanjing, Wuhu, Xi'an and other places, you will definitely eat mung bean cake on the Dragon Boat Festival. "Cake" has the same pronunciation as "高", which means rapid success. Eating it together with Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings also means "high school". It is a good wish for students who are preparing for reference.

14. Five reds

It is said that eating five reds during the Dragon Boat Festival can drive away the five poisons and ward off evil spirits and ward off heat throughout the summer. However, the contents of the five reds vary from place to place. The most common feature of these foods is that they turn red after being cooked. The five reds are generally red amaranth, lobster, duck eggs with red oil, roast duck, and eel.

15. Five whites

In the Jiangnan water towns represented by Suzhou, the characteristic of the Dragon Boat Festival is to eat five whites. The five whites usually only include wild rice, white chopped chicken, white tofu, white cut meat, and white vegetables. Garlic.

16. Salted duck eggs

Although many people eat them on a daily basis, eating salted duck eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival has a hidden meaning. In ancient times, May was reset as the poisonous month, and salted duck eggs were eaten to avoid the five poisons, which refer to snakes, centipedes, spiders, geckos and scorpions.

17. Twist twists

Crisp and crispy twists are also a must-have food for the Dragon Boat Festival. Because there are always five poisons in the Dragon Boat Festival, people have always spread the idea of ??making twists during the Dragon Boat Festival. This is a custom, because Mahua is also called Sesame Candy. On this day, children are allowed to eat Sesame Candy to stick their mouths to prevent them from saying unlucky words, so as to ensure their health, and to wish our lives a sweet and beautiful life.

18. Baigen

Baigen is the general name for various grass roots and barks that can only be eaten before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, including fennel root, chicken thorn root, small red garlic, Chonglou, Polygonum multiflorum, Lifei powder, manshanxiang, achyranthes root, angelica root, burdock root, asparagus... These "medicinal roots" with different shapes and colors and different curative effects form Yunnan's unique Dragon Boat Festival "100" root". Every Dragon Boat Festival, the streets and alleys in Pu'er and Simao areas of Yunnan begin to be filled with a wide variety of hundreds of roots.

The picked 100 roots and local chicken are stewed, and the flavor is unique. It does not have the bitter taste that is often found in medicinal materials, but is very delicious. The consumption of chicken soup at the Dragon Boat Festival should be related to the miasma environment in the southwest in ancient times. It is chosen to be eaten at the Dragon Boat Festival because the Dragon Boat Festival is the time of the year when the poisonous miasma is the most serious. It is the same as the need to drive away the five poisons in other places.

19. Distilled rice

Popular in some Jin-speaking areas, distilled rice is rice steamed from yellow rice (millet). Distilled rice is a well-known delicacy popular in Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Luliang and other areas of Shanxi, suitable for all ages. Due to its exquisite craftsmanship, rich nutrition, and profound culture, the people of the three Jin Dynasties have been serving guests at markets, temple fairs, and as breakfast for weddings and funerals for thousands of years. , the core delicacies of Dragon Boat Festival and Laba Festival.

20. Eating peaches, eggplants and beans

Sichuan folklore says that eating peaches, eggplants and beans during the Dragon Boat Festival is believed to be healthy and longevity. As the saying goes: Eat eggplant until it shakes, eat beans until you are old." Hakkas in the Miaoli area also eat eggplants, long beans, peaches and plums during the Dragon Boat Festival. However, the symbolic meanings of these foods may be different for southerners. Eat Eating plums means the growth of offspring, and some people also believe that eating long beans is to prevent being bitten by snakes (because the shape of long beans is like a snake), and eating eggplants can prevent mosquito bites. Eggplant is called "diacai" in Hakka, and "bite", the native pronunciation is "ㄉ一ㄠ", whichever is homophonic).

Dragon Boat Festival health knowledge

Eating rice dumplings can clear away heat and eliminate troubles

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that glutinous rice has the functions of replenishing qi, strengthening the spleen, appetizing and digesting food. The leaves used to wrap the rice dumplings are more particular. Reed leaves are mostly used in the north, while bamboo leaves or lotus leaves are used in the south. These leaves have good medicinal functions. For example: reed leaves can clear away heat and promote fluid production, relieve restlessness and quench thirst; bamboo leaves can clear away heat and relieve troubles, diuresis and detoxify; lotus leaves can clear away heat and dampness, soothe the stomach and calm the mind. Generally speaking, zongzi has the effect of clearing away heat and troubles, and helping the spleen and appetizing. It is especially suitable for consumption in early summer.

Please note when eating, glutinous rice, the raw material for making zongzi, is very sticky. Overeating may easily cause indigestion, so do not be gluttonous.

Mugwort and calamus drive away poison and eliminate plague

Folk proverb says: "Put willows during the Qingming Festival and moxa at the Dragon Boat Festival." During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household will insert calamus and moxa sticks on the lintel and hang them on the lintel. In the hall. Mugwort (also called mugwort) is a traditional Chinese medicine that is aromatic and turbid. It has a strong effect of expelling toxins and eliminating plague. Modern research shows that hanging and burning mugwort leaves do have the effect of sterilizing and preventing the spread of plague. Mugwort leaves and calamus also have the effect of repelling mosquitoes. Slowly burning the mugwort leaves has a better repellent effect.

Modern people rarely hang moxa leaves, calamus and other herbs at their doorsteps. For this problem, experts say that smoke and aerosol spray methods can be used to solve it. Ordinary families can choose to close the doors and windows before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, and then smoke with a mixture of calamus, mugwort leaves, and realgar for more than 2 to 4 hours, which can have a sterilizing effect. In addition, you can also go to the store to buy insecticide and mosquito repellent aerosols to achieve the purpose of killing pests

Apply realgar wine to kill insects and detoxify

Around the Dragon Boat Festival, many areas in southern my country have During the rainy season, weather conditions are conducive to the activity and reproduction of mosquitoes, flies and pests. Realgar is a traditional Chinese medicine used to detoxify and kill insects. It contains toxic arsenic salts. Pests will be poisoned if they smell it and eat it. People can avoid the poison by applying it. Many people also drink realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival. However, since the main component of realgar is arsenic disulfide, which can decompose into highly toxic arsenic when exposed to heat, it is not recommended to take it orally.

Sprinkling realgar wine is one of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. During the Dragon Boat Festival, realgar wine is made by mixing realgar into wine and sprinkled on the corners of the room and under the bed, which has a strong mosquito-killing and insecticidal effect. Since realgar can be absorbed from the skin, it should not be applied to a large area for external use to prevent poisoning.

Drinking Wujia wine to dispel dampness and ward off evil spirits

It is a folk custom to "pick Wujia on the fifth day of May and make Wujia wine". Acanthopanax refers to the bark of Acanthopanax, which has a bitter smell and aroma. The bark of the Acanthopanax tree has a strange fragrance and can nourish the liver and kidneys and strengthen the muscles and bones. Folks believe that drinking Wujia wine can ward off evil spirits. The medicinal uses of Acanthopanax bark are mainly used to treat hernia, abdominal pain, male infertility, residual urination, women's back pain, leg pain, etc. Located in a humid area, it is especially suitable for drinking Wujia wine during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Hanging sachets to disperse wind and cold

Many places in my country have the custom of hanging sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also a way to prevent infectious diseases. The Chinese medicines used in the homemade Dragon Boat Festival sachet are Atractylodes, Patchouli, Evodia, mugwort leaves, cinnamon, Amomum villosum and Angelica dahurica, two grams of each flavor, plus 1 gram of cloves.

Grind these Chinese medicines finely, then put them in a cloth bag and sew them up. It can be worn on the chest, waist or navel, or the sachet can be hung at the door, indoors or in the car. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that these traditional Chinese medicines have the functions of dispersing wind and cold, strengthening the spleen and stomach, regulating qi and relieving pain, and clearing the nine orifices, thereby preventing diseases.

Warm reminder: In the modern lifestyle, some ancient customs of the Dragon Boat Festival have been slowly abandoned. However, it turns out that our traditional customs contain many health-preserving secrets.

The custom of eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival

Zongzi is a must-have traditional food during the Dragon Boat Festival, just like dumplings are eaten during the Chinese New Year, yuanxiao is eaten during the Lantern Festival, and mooncakes are eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In ancient times, Zongzi was called Bo, Jiao Millet, Tube Zongzi, Sticky Millet, etc. Zongzi is called "Zongzi" because people wrap it in the shape of a palm leaf heart. "Brown" and "Brown" are homophonic. It looks like a palm leaf heart and is made of rice. Jiaomo is named after the angular shape of the rice dumplings, which are filled with sticky rice. It is called tube rice dumplings because the original rice dumplings were cooked and stored in bamboo tubes.

Regarding the origin of Zongzi, there is such a legend among the people: After Qu Yuan threw himself into the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and was martyred, the people of Chu State would drive boats and throw rice in bamboo tubes into the river on this day every year. Go to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. During the Jianwu period of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-55 years), a man named Ou Hui in Changsha said that he saw a man who claimed to be Sanlu doctor Qu Yuan during the day, and said to him: "You sacrifice to me every year." The rice in the bamboo tube has been eaten by the dragon. From now on, you can stuff the mouth of the bamboo tube with moxa leaves and tie it with five-color silk, because the dragon is most afraid of such things." After saying this, the man disappeared.

Later Ou Hui told everyone about it, and everyone spread the word to ten, and they all followed it, so Zongzi was born.

In fact, the emergence of zongzi is earlier than Qu Yuan’s lifetime. According to relevant literature, Zongzi was originally boiled glutinous rice and kneaded into balls, one for eating by oneself, and the other for throwing into the river to worship the dragon god.