What are the traditional foods of the寒yi Festival?
Eat Ziba (Glutinous Rice Cake) on the寒yi Festival"The first day of the tenth lunar month, Ziba is cooked and burned." It means that every year on the first day of the tenth lunar month, every household will make Ziba. The first day of the tenth lunar month coincides with the end of the autumn harvest, and hardworking Hakka people will use the newly harvested glutinous rice to make powder, stir into paste, steam it, and then make Ziba with glutinous rice skin and fillings such as peanuts, sesame, and sugar as seasonal food to comfort the whole family and celebrate the harvest.
Eat dumplings on the寒yi Festival
There is a saying in Luoyang: "On the first day of the tenth month, it is oily." This means that on this day, people will fry food, chop meat, and make dumplings to prepare offerings for ancestors. People in Hantai often use "fried food" to worship ancestors.
There is a folk saying, "Eat dumplings on Winter Solstice to avoid frozen ears." This comes from the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing, who saw that people's ears were damaged by the cold. Therefore, he wrapped some warming herbs in bread and made "Jiao'er Soup" to cure the people's ears. Usually, dumpling fillings are both meat and vegetable, which can provide a balanced nutrition and help nourish and strengthen the body. In addition to the necessary meat and vegetables, seasonings like garlic can also help improve the body's resistance.
Eat Red Bean Rice on the寒yi Festival
When later generations regarded the first day of the tenth lunar month as a mourning festival, they used red bean rice as an offering. To this day, there is a legend in Dafeng, Jiangsu: A poor boy once fought against a landlord and was killed by the landlord, his blood dyed the rice on the ground red. That day was the first day of the tenth lunar month. Since then, the poor people have eaten red bean rice on the first day of the tenth lunar month to commemorate him. There is even a children's rhyme: "The first day of the tenth month, the cowherd boy runs home; if he refuses to go, the landlord will beat him with three plows and a thin knife."
Eat Nici (a kind of sticky rice cake) on the寒yi Festival
In the traditional customs of Huizhou, "the first day of the tenth month" is a traditional festival, the birthday of oxen, and also the traditional ox worship festival. On this day, people in Huizhou eat a traditional food called "Nici". The people of Huizhou believe that oxen have worked hard all year, and they should reward them. In addition to making Nici to offer to the ox god, some farmers also wrap Nici with vegetable leaves to feed the oxen, hoping that they will be healthy and strong. The remaining Nici is not only eaten by themselves but also given to relatives and friends. Over time, this Nici has become one of the most representative traditional local foods in Huizhou.
Eat noodles on the寒yi Festival
In the folk tradition, on the first day of the tenth lunar month, people not only send warm clothes to the dead for winter, but also perform some symbolic activities for the living to prepare for winter. In mountainous areas, people eat buckwheat noodles and millet noodles. The custom of eating noodles on the寒yi Festival has a long history. Eating a bowl of nutritious noodles at noon in winter is a good choice. For those who often have social engagements, eating a bowl of Yangchun noodles after drinking alcohol is especially suitable, not only to relieve the hangover but also to nourish the stomach and strengthen the body.
What is the significance of the寒yi Festival?
Sending warm clothes on the寒yi Festival embodies and expresses the humanistic values of the descendants of Yan and Huang - the clan concept of kinship, the filial piety of seeking ancestors, and the worldview of respecting life and caring for death.The Analects of Confucius, "Learning and Practice," records: "Be careful in the end and remember the past, and the people's morals will return to sincerity." In the process of memorial and remembrance, gratitude and moral consciousness are nurtured and triggered. Therefore, regardless of whether it is the寒yi Festival or other festivals, no matter what specific way of worship is used, everyone should give up impure thoughts and purify their mind and body, maintain a sincere heart and mind, and communicate and integrate with nature and the universe through the heart. This is the spirit and soul of the寒yi Festival, and also the meaning worth promoting today.
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