What is the origin of zongzi? You may know that the origin of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is related to commemorating Qu Yuan, but do you know why zongzi is wrapped in leaves? Why do people throw zongzi into the water? In fact, these origins have a beautiful legend. Here I will tell you the origin and legend of Zongzi.
Zongzi originated from sacrificial food.
Zongzi has a very long history. It was originally used as sacrificial food. Zongzi is used for sacrifice, not for the original Qu Yuan. Zongzi was originally used to worship ancestors and gods. Commenting on the Temple System in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Fan said, "Recommend millet in midsummer." This shows that there is a custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods during the summer solstice. Horn millet, that is, trumpet-shaped zongzi. The so-called "horn" means that the highest sacrifice in ancient times was cattle, and the shape of zongzi represented the horn; "Millet" is a yellow glutinous rice. The "corn millet" made of five grains represents "Yang"; The "leaf" used in millet is "yin", and the combination of yin and yang means to exorcise evil spirits and pray for peace.
The folklore of the origin of zongzi
According to Tang Shenyaji's Biography of Qu Yuan, people miss Qu Yuan very much after he jumped into the river. On the fifth day of May, he puts food in a bamboo tube and throws it into the water for sacrifice. During the Jianwu period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Qu Hui in Changsha. In broad daylight, he suddenly met Qu Yuan, a doctor in San Lv, and told him that the food for sacrifice had been stolen by the dragon, and that if he threw it again, he would wrap it with Polygonum hydropiper leaves and five-color thread. Dragons are afraid of these things and don't eat them. District Hui told the villagers about this adventure, and the villagers made zongzi carefully according to Qu Yuan's instructions. This custom has been passed down to this day. This magical legend was first written by Wu Yun, a writer in the Liang Dynasty, and was included in Continued Harmony. It shows that Zongzi is a sacrificial food for people to commemorate Qu Yuan, and later it became the most important holiday food for the Dragon Boat Festival. As for why it was thrown into the water, one said it was for Qu Yuan, and the other said it was thrown into the river to feed the dragons. That is to say, Zongzi is specially used to feed Xiaolong, lest it hurt Qu Yuan's body.
Why do you wrap zongzi with mugwort leaves, reed leaves and lotus leaves? There is such a record in the Elementary Book: During the Jianwu period of the Han Dynasty, Changsha people dreamed of a man who claimed to be Dr. San Lv (the official name of Qu Yuan) at night and said to him: Everything you sacrificed was stolen by the dragon in the river, so you can wrap it with mugwort leaves and tie colorful silk thread in the future. Dragons are most afraid of these two things. As a result, people wrapped millet in leaves and made it into corn millet, which was passed down from generation to generation and gradually developed into the Dragon Boat Festival food in China.
Another way of saying the origin of zongzi: in memory of Taiwan Province tapir.
Folklorists in Shanxi believe that the origin of zongzi is related to the story of the ancestors governing water in the ancient Sanjin Dynasty. As an ancient historical figure, according to the textual research of Shanxi historians, Taiqian was a water conservancy official in the era of Emperor Zhuan Xu before Dayu. At that time, the front of the stage was fighting for water control, and the north and south rushed to divert water, and all the way to Lingshi Mountain was blocked. Tai Qian led his troops to fight on Lingshi Mountain, and the drainage project was extremely difficult. People eat and live in the mountains day and night and dig mountains.
At that time, the water was full and there was no boat. When Wang Yu was in charge of water control, he walked around on foot, so he didn't enter the house three times. According to textual research, the water control in front of the stage was earlier than that in Dayu, and the water control in front of the stage was mainly based on water division. The history and legend of water control are only circulated in Shanxi, and Dayu is in charge of the Yellow River, so Dayu's footprint and achievements in water control are greater than Taiqian's. Every household on both sides of the Fenhe River has laborers working with Taiwan Province to control water. In order to ensure the timely delivery of grain to the construction site and not delay and affect people's food safety, people have come up with a way to transport grain by water. The grain is wrapped in bamboo barrels and reed leaves, boarded a raft and sent downstream to the water conservancy workers. On the way, many foods were also eaten by fish and shrimp in the water. With the flow of population, this kind of food soon spread to the Han nationality.
Now in Shanxi, on May 5th, people pay homage to Fenshentai, and Zongzi is among the sacrifices.