The Festival and Food of China
Chinese festivals are an important part of Chinese culture and history. Almost every festival has its own customs, which could reflect the traditional customs and morals of China. The most popular festivals are the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Each Chinese festival includes eating specific foods in its customs. Let's dive into these popular festivals.
Spring Festival
Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most famous festival in China. As the most colorful annual event, the traditional Chinese New Year celebration lasts the longest, almost two weeks, and the climax comes around Chinese New Year's Eva. In China, food and festival are always go together. The Spring Festival will definitely bring you the best food from all over China. For people from northern China, dumplings are must-have dish on the New Year's Eva table. The shape of dumplings resembles ancient Chinese gold ingots. Therefore, eating dumplings mean a desire for wealth and good luck.
Lantern Festival
Tangyuan, stuffed with sweet or salty fillings. It's not only food for Lantern Festival, but also food for any occasions during the winter solstice or family reunion. Nowadays, Tangyuan often has multiple colors and is full of various flavors, such as canned fruits, black sesame paste. Yuanxiao in northern China is actually completely different. In addition to wrapping the filling in the dough, you need to roll the diced filling in the flour until they become white particles.
Dragon Boat Festival
People eat Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan. In 278 B.C., the general Bai Qi of Qin state led his troops to the south to break through the capital of Chu state. Qu Yuan, a politician of Chu state, his political thoughts were shattered, and he was desperate for the future. Although he tried out to serving the country, he was unable to defend his country. On May 5th, he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo river with a big stone in his arms. People throw rice into the river to protect Qu Yuan from eaten by fish. To commemorate him, people used bamboo tubes to hold rice and throw them to the river for a memorial ceremony. As years passed, the custom of eating Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival was formed.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The origin of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history. It is about the Yuan Dynasty, when the Mongols ruled the whole country, and they were cruel and miserable. Where there is oppression, there is resistance. As a result, there is the red scarf army and Zhu Yuanzhang, who is the leader of the army. They fought a grand battle with the Mongolian army. The day of victory for red scarf army happened to be August 15th, and the tool used to deliver the letter was the little round cake. Since then, there has been a day from the imperial court to commemorate the victory, and a special meaning of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival.
Source: Unsplash
Written by Sistercuisine
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