There is a pair of physical zongzi unearthed from the tomb of the Southern Song Dynasty in the museum of Dean County, Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, which is 748 years ago and is called the oldest physical zongzi in the world. This pair of water chestnut-shaped zongzi is 6 cm long and 3 cm wide, which is as big as a fist. The skin is zongzi leaves, tied with natural reed leaves and hemp thread, and placed in a transparent rectangular box for tourists to visit.
1988 In September, a complete masonry tomb of the Southern Song Dynasty was unearthed in the suburb of Dean County, Jiangxi Province. The owner of the tomb is Zhou, a native of Wuning, Jiangxi. She was the wife of Wu Chou, an official in Pingzhou, Xintai, Southern Song Dynasty, and was buried in the tenth year of Xianchun (A.D. 1274).
The commentator of Dean County Museum told the reporter that Zongzi was unearthed in the "Tomb of Song and Zhou Family in the South of Taoyuan Mountain" excavated at 1988. The owner of the tomb, Zhou, held a peach branch 40 cm long in his right hand, and two zongzi were tied to it.
The two zongzi found in the tomb show that the owner of the tomb just missed the Dragon Boat Festival when he died. Narrator, her family wanted her to eat zongzi, so they took it to the coffin. The early zongzi also had commemorative meaning, so it was put in to express condolences. Two pairs of zongzi also symbolize good luck.
"From the weaving techniques and skills of zongzi, the local traditional characteristics are maintained, which is very similar to our modern method of making zongzi." The commentator pointed to a pair of physical zongzi in the showcase.
Zongzi history
The word "Zongzi" was also written as "zòng" in ancient times, and the written records related to Zongzi probably appeared in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in Han Dynasty, which was interpreted as "reed leaves wrapped in rice".
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, millet is wrapped in leaves and cooked in quadrangles, which is called Guangdong sour water zongzi. At the same time, a small number of stuffed zongzi appeared, and the most popular one was pork zongzi.
Zongzi, a kind of food, has been circulating for a long time. The word "copulation" was clearly mentioned in the Local Customs Annals written by the Xinping magistrate in the Western Jin Dynasty at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty: "The midsummer is the end of the fifth day, and Fang Bo is extremely harmonious. Enjoy the turtle scales in Shunde. "
Millet is produced in the north, and glutinous rice is wrapped in jiaozi, which is angular. In ancient north, it was called "corn millet". According to research, Zongzi appeared before the Spring and Autumn Period and was originally used to worship ancestors and gods. In the Jin Dynasty, zongzi became the festival food of the Dragon Boat Festival.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". Rice is mixed with chestnuts and so on. , increased the variety. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
The rice used for Zongzi in the Tang Dynasty is "white as jade", and the shape of Zongzi appears conical and rhombic. In the Song Dynasty, there was already a "candied jiaozi", that is, fruits entered jiaozi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, 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, rice dumplings wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, which made the varieties of rice dumplings more colorful.
Up to now, at the beginning of the fifth lunar month every year, every household in China has to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors.
In terms of fillings, there are many kinds of fillings in the north, such as Beijing Jujube Zongzi, which contains many dates, while there are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as mung bean, pork belly, red bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms and egg yolk, among which Guangdong bacon Zongzi and Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi are the representatives. Zongzi around the world are usually wrapped in glutinous rice shells, but the color contained in them depends on local specialties and customs.
Changjiang Daily-Visible or Invisible? Watch the "oldest" physical zongzi in the world.
Baidu encyclopedia-zongzi