Unique Zhuang Zongzi Culture

China people pay attention to relying on mountains and relying on the sea to eat the sea, that is, they can do whatever they want according to local conditions. In Zhuang culture, diet is closely related to geography. The place here produces glutinous rice, which is the most important material for making zongzi, so the Zhuang people have developed the habit of eating zongzi. Then let's study the zongzi culture of Zhuang nationality.

In Zhuang language, the pronunciation of "Bao Zongzi" is "Du Feng", which is similar to Bao's "Du Peng". The common Chinese New Year dumplings in Guangxi are generally made into square dumplings with slightly lower sides and bulging in the middle, which can be regarded as a symbol of pregnant women's abdomen.

From the agricultural point of view, the southwest region is rich in glutinous rice, and Zhuang, Yi, Miao, Dong and other ethnic groups have their own glutinous food culture. Eating rice dumplings, rice cakes, rice cakes and other foods made of glutinous rice on holidays is just like taking jiaozi in the North, which mainly produces wheat, as a matter of course. Not to mention the good color of "mid-year" in Chinese.

Zhuang people call zongzi Zongba, and there are many kinds of Zongba made by Zhuang people. In Ningming County, Guangxi, during the Spring Festival, Zhuang people often make a big and magical Zongba, which is made of banana leaves and has a boneless pickled pig leg, which is as big as the square table.

Such a big Zongba is used for ancestor worship on New Year's Eve. After the ancestor worship, people of the same family share this big bus to show their unity and happiness. In Wenshan, Yunnan, Zhuang people like to wrap "horseshoe zongzi" in festivals. This kind of zongzi is made of leaves 30 cm long and 10 to 15 cm wide. Its shape is thick at one end and thin at the other, much like horseshoe, so people call it "horseshoe pole zongzi".

When making horseshoe zongzi, glutinous rice should be washed and soaked for more than half an hour. The dead leaves of the first year are burned into grass ash, which is evenly mixed with the filtered glutinous rice, then mixed with shredded ham, dates, pork and salt (or sugar). Finally, it is wrapped with palm leaves and boiled in a pot. This horseshoe dumpling is grayish yellow in color, smooth in taste, delicious, hot and cold, and has a long shelf life. It is not only a necessary product for local Zhuang people to celebrate the holidays, but also a standing gift for young men and women to give to each other in fairs, fairs and flower streets.

In Guangxi, the culture of Zongzi is different. In Nanning and its surrounding areas, dumplings weighing more than two kilograms are often wrapped during the New Year. The palm leaves there will use banana leaves in winter, which are particularly wide, and the big zongzi in Hengxian County is particularly famous. Zhuang's zongzi have various shapes, including the above-mentioned "pregnant zongzi" and triangular zongzi, claw zongzi and hunchback zongzi, and there is also a dog-headed zongzi named after its shape in northern Guangxi. The material selection is also different from other regions. The biggest feature is that mung beans and chestnuts are used in zongzi. On this basis, various fillings were developed.