What are the most solemn and warm festivals of our Chinese nation? How did they come from? What traditional foods are there in these festivals?

Spring Festival Lantern Festival Spring Festival Dragon Boat Festival Double Ninth Festival

The origin of Lantern Festival is a festival for a woman to meet her parents in the palace.

The Spring Festival is a festival that people pay more attention to. People will eat pancakes on this day in order not to be stung by scorpions because they are engaged in agricultural work all the year round.

Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a patriot of Chu State. He threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. People haven't found his body for days. In memory of him, people feed fish in jiaozi, where the river is covered with five-color lines and reed leaves, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, so that the fish will not eat Qu Yuan's body. Double Ninth Festival Double Ninth Festival is a festival with a long history. Due to its long history, the formation of the festival is not easy to investigate. Therefore, there are different opinions about the origin of the Double Ninth Festival:

First of all:

The origin of Chongyang can be traced back to before the pre-Qin period. "Lu Chunqiu Qiu Ji Ji" says: "In September, the family was ordered to slaughter, and the fields were prepared for harvest, and five important things were listed. The Tibetan emperor's book is collected in the holy warehouse, and I only respect it. " "It's the day, Great Emperor. I'll taste the sacrifice and tell the son of heaven." It can be seen that at that time, when the crops were harvested in autumn and September, there were activities of offering sacrifices to the emperor and ancestors to thank them for their kindness.

Jia, the imperial secretary in Xijing Miscellanies of the Han Dynasty, said: "On September 9, Pei Yun ate the bait and drank chrysanthemum wine, and the clouds made people live longer." According to legend, since then, there has been the custom of seeking longevity on the Double Ninth Festival. This is influenced by the ancient wizards (later Taoist priests) who pursued immortality and collected drugs to take. At the same time, there are also large-scale banquet activities, which developed from the Qingfeng banquet in the pre-Qin period. The Chronicle of Jingchu Age said: "On September 9th, four people got together for a picnic." Duke Du of Sui wrote: "I don't know when the banquet on September 9 started, and it hasn't changed since I was stationed in the Song Dynasty." Longevity and feast form the basis of the Double Ninth Festival.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei Wen, wrote in Nine Days and Zhong You: "The New Year arrives in September, and then suddenly it returns to September 9th. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon coincide. Compared with its name, it is suitable for a long time, so it is a feast. " It can be seen that holiday customs have been finalized. The theme of the Double Ninth Festival is to seek longevity, wear dogwood, brew chrysanthemum wine, enjoy chrysanthemums, make wine and offer sacrifices to the gods. Spread to this day, it has increased the connotation of respecting the elderly and is more meaningful. In addition, there are hiking picnics and various games.

Second:

One of the prototypes of the Double Ninth Festival is the ancient fire sacrifice ceremony.

As a symbol of ancient seasonal stars, the "Fire of September" (Antares) retired, and it was called "Fire of September" in summer. The retreat of Mars not only made the ancients who had always regarded Mars as a symbol of seasonal production and life lose the coordinates of time, but also made the ancients who regarded fire as a god feel inexplicable fear. The dormancy of Vulcan means the arrival of the long East. Therefore, although the situation of ancient sacrificial ceremonies in Inner Fire is obscure, we can still find some traces of ancient customs from the utensils of the Double Ninth Festival in later generations. For example, in some places in the south of the Yangtze River, Chongyang has the custom of offering sacrifices to stoves, which is the fire god at home, thus showing the clue of offering sacrifices to "fire" in ancient September. The ancients regarded Chongyang, Shangsi or cold food, September 9 and March 3 as the corresponding spring and autumn festivals. Liu Hanxin's Miscellanies of Xijing said: "Go to the third grade in March, play the game of maids in September, and then climb the mountain." The correspondence among thinking, cold food and Chongyang is based on the appearance of "fire".

With the progress of people's livelihood science and technology, people have a new understanding of time, and the "fire calendar" has given way to the general calendar. The ritual of sacrificing fire in September declined, but people still have special feelings about the natural climate change caused by the decline of yang in September, so the ancient custom of climbing mountains and avoiding it still spread to cities, although the world has a new explanation.

Chongyang has become a landmark building in people's life after the return of Xia Dong. If thinking and cold food are the Spring Festival when people go out to swim after the long winter, then Chongyang is a ceremonial autumn outing when the autumn cold is coming and people are about to live in seclusion, so there are folk customs of thinking "walking" and Chongyang "resigning from office and eating Chongyang cake"

Gourmet: Besides drinking dogwood, chrysanthemum wine and eating chrysanthemum food mentioned above, Chongyang has many gourmet styles, the most famous of which is eating cakes. It is especially windy to eat Chongyang cake in the north. Chongyang cake

According to Xijing Miscellanies, in the Han Dynasty, September 9th was the custom of eating Peng bait, which was the original Double Ninth Festival cake. The bait is an ancient cake. "Zhou Li" has bait for sacrifice or banquet. There were millet cakes in the Han Dynasty, which may not be far from today's cakes. Peng bait, presumably similar to millet cake and so on. In the Song Dynasty, eating Chongyang cake was popular. Cake is homophonic with Gao, and eating cake is for good luck, so it is favored by people.

Chongyang cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, can be made at will, including "coarse flower cake", "fine flower cake" and "money flower cake".

Stick some coriander leaves as a sign, and put some rough dried fruits such as olives, dates and walnuts in the middle; There are three or two layers of fine flower cakes, each with fine candied dried fruits, such as preserved apples, peaches, apricots and dates. Money flower cake is basically the same as fine flower cake, but smaller, just like "money", which is mostly the food of the upper nobility.

It is said that in the early years, people did not put dates and chestnuts on flour cakes, or sticky cakes made of steamed glutinous rice and yellow wheat, which looked like "gold-plated" and "silver-plated" flower cakes.

There are poems describing the making of Chongyang cake:

Cai Yun:

The bonfire is ringing and the machine is busy at night.

As soon as the weaver drinks Gordon's wine,

It's still a storm,

The smell of steamed jujube cakes is everywhere in the shop.

It was the original intention of the ancients to make cakes at dawn on September 9. The child put a cake on his head and said a word in his mouth, wishing the child all the best. Exquisite Chongyang cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on it, which conforms to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Some people even put red paper flags on Chongyang cakes and light candles. This probably means "lighting a lamp" and "eating cakes" instead of "climbing", and using a red paper flag instead of dogwood. At present, there is still no fixed variety of Chongyang cake, and the soft cakes eaten around Chongyang Festival are called Chongyang cakes.

Chongyang cake is not only eaten at home, but also fed to relatives and friends, called "sending cake"; I also invited my married daughter to have a cake at home and called it "Ying Ning".

Drink chrysanthemum wine

Chrysanthemum, a famous flower in China, is also a famous flower with long life. During the first frost, only this kind of grass flourished. Because of its unique character, chrysanthemum has become a symbol of vitality.

As early as Qu Yuan's pen, there was a saying that "the autumn chrysanthemum leaves the English for dinner", that is, eating chrysanthemum petals. Chrysanthemum wine existed in the Han Dynasty. Wei Shi once gave chrysanthemum to Zhong Wu in Chongyang, wishing him a long life. Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty recorded in Bao Puzi that there was a family in Nanyang Mountain, Henan Province, who lived a long life because of drinking the sweet valley water full of chrysanthemums. In Liang's "Picking Chrysanthemums", there is a saying that "under the east fence of picking chrysanthemums, picking pearls tells each other, and the morning dew is wet", which is also a move of picking chrysanthemums to make wine. Until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, chrysanthemum wine was still very popular, and it was still recorded in Gao Lian's Eight Chapters of Respect for Life in the Ming Dynasty. This is a popular health drink.

On the Double Ninth Festival, China has the traditional custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine. Chrysanthemum wine, in ancient times, was regarded as the "auspicious wine" that Chongyang must drink to eliminate disasters and pray for blessings.

Chrysanthemum wine brewing in China was popular as early as the Han and Wei Dynasties. According to "Miscellanies of Xijing", "Chrysanthemums are suitable, stems and leaves are harvested, and miscellaneous millet is brewed. If you cook it on September 9 next year, you can drink it immediately, so it is called chrysanthemum wine. "

Tao Yuanming of Jin Dynasty also said that "wine can cure all diseases and chrysanthemum can cure aging". Later, drinking chrysanthemum wine gradually became a folk custom, especially on the Double Ninth Festival. "The Chronicle of Jingchu" records that "on September 9th, Pei Yun ate lotus ears and drank chrysanthemum wine, and lived a long life."

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, chrysanthemum wine was added with a variety of herbs, and the effect was better. The preparation method comprises juicing Flos Chrysanthemi, brewing with yeast and rice, or adding Radix Rehmanniae, Radix Angelicae Sinensis and Fructus Lycii.

Chrysanthemum wine has high medicinal value, because it can disperse wind and heat, nourish liver and improve eyesight, diminish inflammation and detoxify. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, pointed out that chrysanthemum has the efficacy of "treating head wind, clearing eyes and ears, removing fistula and treating all diseases".

In ancient times, chrysanthemum wine was specially brewed for the Double Ninth Festival in the first year. On September 9th, the budding chrysanthemums and a little green branches and leaves were picked, mixed with grain for brewing, and then used together to make wine for drinking on September 9th of the following year. It is said that drinking this wine can prolong life. From a medical point of view, chrysanthemum wine can improve eyesight, cure dizziness, lower blood pressure, lose weight, lose weight, tonify liver qi, regulate stomach and nourish blood. This is a festive season, autumn is crisp, chrysanthemums are in full bloom, and the windows are golden. In addition to climbing the mountain and inserting dogwood, relatives and friends also invited each other to drink chrysanthemum wine and enjoy yellow flowers. They really had a good time. Poets, in particular, admire chrysanthemums, drink wine and recite poems as a reward, leaving many good sentences for future generations.

Because of chrysanthemum wine, Chongyang became bacchanalia who offered sacrifices to Dionysus. For example, according to the introduction of "Shandong Folk Double Ninth Festival", Shandong Brewery worships the god of jars on the Double Ninth Festival, and the god of jars is Du Kang. In Maotai Town, Renhuai County, Guizhou Province, medicinal materials are used to make wine every year. Legend has it that good wine is brewed because of the strength of 1999 Yang. Whenever the wine is brewed for the first time, the boss lights incense sticks at the place where the "God of Du Kang's Ancestor" is affixed, and places offerings to pray for the smooth brewing (see "Folklore of China Taking Britain"). In Ningyuan, Hunan Province, on September 9th every year, "chong yang wine must compete for wine celebration". These customs show that Chongyang has a deep relationship with wine. "。 The custom of Double Ninth Festival revolves around people's feelings in this season.