Shanghai World Expo exhibited an edible folk art from Shanxi. Do you know what it is?

This "edible folk art" is the dough sculpture in Shanxi. The world's pasta is in China, and China's pasta is in Shanxi. Shanxi's pasta is known as "one side eats all kinds", and dough sculpture is a work of art that is eaten.

dough figurines, called flour flowers in folk, are tokens or symbols used for gifts, sacrifices and decorations in folk festivals such as ceremonies and New Year's Eve. They are a very representative local culture. Specifically, it is a comprehensive condensate of nature worship, religious thought, psychological consciousness and modeling language.

in order to commemorate meson tui, hundreds of kinds of cold swallow pasta have been made by Shanxi people, which is actually a manifestation of people's worship of nature when they feel that spring is coming and everything is reborn. The sculpted animals are similar in spirit and beautiful in shape, and have anthropomorphic effects, which make the viewers feel * * * and feel the joy of all things. Shanxi dough figurines are mainly used for offering sacrifices and prayers to heaven, earth and gods, and are the embodiment of the ideal of seeking ample food and clothing and all the best in life.

For example, during the Spring Festival, the rice mountain and the flower cake, which are offered to the kitchen god, are relatively large, which means that rice and flour become mountains. In memory of Dayu's flood control, a goat was offered in front of the ancestral spirit as a sign of piety. The elders send "Qian Long" to their children and grandchildren in order to attract Qian Long into the government and make money into treasures. There are also various kinds of colorful steamed buns with flowers, which are exquisite gifts for entertaining guests and visiting relatives and friends. Dough figurines play an important role in the custom of the New Year, and play an irreplaceable role in some ceremonies at important stages of life.

When the child is full moon, the elders should make a food called "Kun Kun" with a diameter of more than one foot, and it has a fine shape of twelve zodiac signs. If the child belongs to anything, just click a red dot on that zodiac sign, which is called "point the brain". A beautiful dragon, phoenix or tiger head is placed in the middle of the "completed", which means that the dragon and phoenix are auspicious or the tiger drives away evil spirits. Major festivals such as weddings, birthday celebrations, building beams and so on all have corresponding dough sculptures with rich cultural connotations. Summary:

After more than a thousand years' development from the Eastern Han Dynasty with historical records, various methods such as rolling, stretching, pulling, cutting, pressing, stir-frying, boiling, steaming, frying and so on have gradually formed in the production of Shanxi pasta. However, Shanxi folk dough figurines, as folk artworks, have attracted people's attention in recent years. Therefore, it is a great pity that there are no works recorded or treasures handed down from generation to generation in history.