Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, why did women in northern Shaanxi prevail in dough modeling activities?

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as July 30th, is characterized by offering sacrifices to ancestors, setting off river lanterns, offering sacrifices to the dead, burning paper ingots and offering sacrifices to the ground. "Mid-Autumn Festival" is the name of Taoism, and it is called "July and a half" in folklore. Its appearance can be traced back to ancestor worship and related festivals in ancient times.

Festivals are related to the cycle of yin and yang in ancient culture. In the Book of Changes, "seven" is a changing number and a resurrected number. July is auspicious month and filial month, and July 30 is a festival for people to celebrate the harvest and repay the earth in early autumn. Some crops are ripe, so people need to worship their ancestors and report Qiu Cheng to them with new rice and other sacrifices. This festival is a traditional cultural festival to remember the ancestors, and its cultural core is to respect the ancestors and do filial piety.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, different regions have different customs, and women in northern Shanxi are very popular in dough modeling activities.

Before July 15th, dough sculpture activities were very popular among folk women, especially in northern Shanxi. A steamed stuffed bun shop, neighbors came to help. First of all, according to the actual number of families (including married daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren, other sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, etc. ), give everyone a big bag first. The steamed stuffed bun for the younger generation should be kneaded into a flat shape, which is called a noodle sheep. I hope that the younger generation will not forget the kindness of their parents. The steamed stuffed bun for the older generation should be made into the shape of a noodle, which means that children and grandchildren are full of happiness and longevity; Steamed buns for peers should be shaped like fish, called noodle fish, which means more than one year.

It's not so strict now. It's entirely based on the owner. There are buns of various shapes, including sheep, tigers, cows, fish, rabbits and people. After each animal's steamed bread is kneaded, there will be many steamed bread in the shape of melon, fruit, peach, plum, lotus, chrysanthemum and plum, which are decorated with flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies and squirrels.

Smaller than before, as a gift for visiting relatives and friends. These dough sculptures look lifelike after being steamed and colored in five colors, and each piece is an excellent handicraft. Watching dough figurines on July 15 has become a program for peasant women to show off their dexterity.