The Origin and Meaning of Ciba Eating Custom

Eating Ciba is an ancient custom developed more than 2,000 years ago in memory of Wu Zixu, the general guarding Chu. When Wu Zixu was built, a lot of glutinous rice was steamed, pressed into bricks and cooled. As the cornerstone of the city wall, it also stores food for famine relief. Later, every bumper year, people made glutinous rice into city brick-like Ciba to commemorate him.

Ciba is a kind of food representing reunion. Eating Ciba in the Mid-Autumn Festival in August indicates that every family can be happy and auspicious. Therefore, for thousands of years, people have a special liking for eating Ciba in Mid-Autumn Festival, which has been endowed with infinite sustenance and far-reaching significance.

Smash into a ball symbolizes the harmony and unity of the whole family; The sweetness of Ciba indicates that life can be sweet; In the early morning when the family is fighting together, the earlier they get up, the better the harvest in the coming year; Ciba is a big or small circle, symbolizing auspiciousness and reunion. So eating round Ciba symbolizes that the whole family can be kind, round and round, and safe.

In Meizhou, Guangdong, Longyan, Sanming and other Hakka areas, apart from the Mid-Autumn Festival, whenever there are various festivals or happy events at home, there is a custom of making Ciba. In addition, in Sichuan, Chongqing and other places, sweet-scented osmanthus is added to Ciba, which is made of laurel and dipped in fried soybeans and sugar. It tastes sweet and refreshing and has a unique flavor. Ciba is also an indispensable traditional food in various festivals in Fuzhou, Minqing, Hubei and other places where ancient dwellings gathered in the Qing Dynasty.