| |
provide three meals every day. After having union dinner, the elder or married family member gives red packets to the unmarried and younger ones.
|
| |
There are plenty of dishes which symbolize good luck. For example, black moss and lettuce symbolize good luck and wealth; fish symbolize remains at the end of every year; glutinous puddings symbolize improvement; tangerines symbolize gold and kumquats symbolize good luck; and preserved sausages mean that enough food is stored to provide three meals every day. After having union dinner, the elder or married family member gives red packets to the unmarried and younger ones.
|
| | |
| |
New Year Day - It is the beginning of a year. People visit relatives and friends to express greetings. When there are guests, the host will lead them to the grandly decorated living room and entertain them with sweets and snacks in the box. The guests will respond by saying some auspicious words. The sweets and snacks also symbolize good luck.
|
| | |
| |
The Second Day - On this day, businessmen worship the god by serving some food which symbolize good luck, like carp, lettuce, dried oyster and fruits. They hope that the coming year will be full of success.
|
| | |
| |
The Third day - It is not suitable to visit relatives and friends on this day or you may quarrel with others. You had better stay at home. The Seventh Day - It is commonly known as " Birthday of Man ". Mixing sashimi is the most important custom of that day and many restaurants serve "mixing sashimi" meals. Mixing sashimi together symbolizes success in business and made high profits.
|
| | |
| |
Some people like to eat "passing Congee" with pork liver and intestines which symbolize wealth and longevity.
|
| | |
| |
The Ninth Day - Tian Gong Festival is an important day to Fujiang people; it is even more important than the Chinese New Year. It is said that during the Qing dynasty, Fujiang people hid themselves in cane forest until the eighth day of the New Year to escape from Qing armies. Those who did not die thought that they were saved by the gods. As the ninth day is the birthday of Yu Wang Da Di, they decided to worship Tian Gong on that day. Among the sacrificial offerings, there was cane. On one hand , cane is their saviour and on the other hand , it symbolizes success. It also have the same pronunciation as "thank you" in Minese.
|
| | |
| |
The Fifteenth Day - It is also called the "Chinese " St. Valentine's Day. As early as during Han Dynasty, this festival already existed among the common people. At first, people worshipped the gods at this festival. Usually the king held the ceremony in the evening and unavoidably lanterns were lit. During Tang and Song dynasty, worshipping ceremonies were replaced by lanterns appreciation. Litting lanterns became a practice, so that day is also called Lantern Festival.
|
| | |
| |
In the past, people were conservative, Women seldom left home. They only went out at Lantern Festival and were dressed beautifully. Girls would throw tangerines hoping to get a good husband; while boys hit drums to show that they were single. At this cheerful occasion, many boys and girls became lovers. Besides, there were interesting customs, like "looking at the well water", "stealing spring onion". "worshipping the goddess for good skill in sewing" and "passing through the stands of lanterns". "Looking at the well water": It is said that on the night of the Lantern Festival, the water in the well can make the skin beautiful. Only by washing your face with the water or by looking at it, women could have beautiful skin.
|
| | |
| |
"Stealing spring onion": If those more mature women could steal spring onion on the night of Lantern Festival, it was an omen that they would find a good husband. "Worshipping the goddess for good sewing skill": It is said that the goddess was Dong Shi and she was good in sewing. Women worshipped her by burning jog sticks hoping to acquire good skill in sewing. "Passing through the Stand of Lanterns": Married women passed through the stands of lanterns in order to have baby boys.
|
| | |
| |
The Chinese New Year has been the most important occasion for family reunions in the Chinese culture. A mouth-watering delicious feast on this date reinforces the family bonding. Cooking for your family is also a subtle way to thank them for their care and hard work all year around.
|
| | |
| |
The Fifth day of May in the Chinese calender is called Dragon Boat Festival and is one of the four major Chinese festival. It has a long history and there have been many activities held by the people.
|
| | |
| |
Rowing dragon boats and eating glutinous rice dumpling - This custom commermorates the patriotic poet, Qu Yuan who killed himself by jumping into the river during Dynasty of Warring States. Therefore Dragon Boats Festival is also called Festival of the Poet.
|
| | |
| |
When the people learnt of Qu Yuan's death, they all rowed boats to retrieve his corpse. They also hit drums and gongs to frighten the fish away so that they would not bite him. They filled bamboo tubes with rice and threw them into the river to worship him. During Han Dynasty, people used moxa leaves instead of bamboo tubes to wrap glutinous rice, tied them with five-coloured threads and steamed them. It is believed that since then, making glutinous rice dumpling has become a custom.
|
| | |
| |
During Tang Dynasty, these dumplings began to be sold in markets and restaurants. There were a wide range of them, like Nine Seeds Dumpling of Tang dynasty and Moxa Dumplings of Song Dynasty. During Ming Dynasty, these dumplings were wrapped with Lu Dou leaves and fillings included red bean puree, fresh meat, pin nuts, honey, red dates and so on. There were even dumplings with ham during Qing dynasty.
|
| | |
| |
Nowadays, Chinese rice dumpling are basically glutinous rice wrapped with bamboo leaves into triangular shapes. They are eaten plain or filled, sweet or savoury. The ways in which these dumplings are prepared vary. People from different dialects have their own version of dumplings, most probably influenced by the differences in background, and hence, taste.
|
| | |
| |
The Hokkiens for example, make theirs savoury with fillings of stewed pork and shiitake mushrooms; chestnuts, dried shrimps and salted duck egg yolks. The prepared dumplings are usually brown in colour as they are marinated with light and dark soy sauce.
|
| | |
| |
The Cantonese fill their dumplings with kidney beans; pork, dried shrimps and shiitake mushrooms. The glutinous rice are in their natural colour as light and dark soy sauce are not use here. Some people like to substitute kidney beans with mashed green beans for variety.
|
| | |
| |
Another type of dumpling is eaten sweet. They are made plain and eaten with brown syrup, kaya or white sugar, or stuffed with red bean paste. These dumplings are usually slightly yellow in colour, as it is made with alkaline water, and are much smaller in size compared to savoury dumplings. Where once available only once a year, rice dumpling is now sold all year round by some food sellers. Still, nothing beats homemade food, and dumplings are no exception. After all, once you know the basics of cooking dumplings, adapting them to suit personal tastes will be a breeze. It is as simple as just adding in your favourite ingredients and eliminating those that you do not like.
|
| | |
| |
The Mid-autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. It is the best time to appreciate the moon in all her glory. a day which full of love and romantic legends.
|
| | |
| |
At this time, farmers usually have finished harvesting and were celebrating. Also, the weather is fine and sunny and the moon is especially clear for appreciating.
|
| | |
| |
The mooncake festival evolves around two legends: one signifying the end of the Mongol rule in China, and the other, a tale of the beautiful Moon Maiden named Chang-Er.
|
| | |
| |
Origin - There are different sayings about the origin of the festival. As early as during Western Zhou dynasty, there were already ceremonies to worship the sun and the moon respectively in spring and autumn. But the celebration at mid-autumn began only during Northern Song dynasty and was popular only among scholar-bureaucrats. Before Song dynasty, the people enjoyed "appreciating of the moon"; many schoolars liked to drink wine, appreciate the moon and write poems on the night of full moon. Famous poets of Tang dynasty like Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Ju Yi had written some great poems in the beautiful moonlight.
|
| | |
| |
In 1268 AD, the Chinese suffered much under the oppressive rule of the Mongols where China's population was segregated into four groups with the Han Chinese at the lowest of the hierarchy. The Han people then devised a plan to undermine the Mongols. Leader of the rebellion, Chu Yuan Chang, planted a message in mooncakes, uniting the people to revolt on a specified date. The cakes were then distributed only among the Han community. Record shows that in 1368, the Han Chinese succeeded in overthrowing the Mongol rules and established the Ming Dynasty.
|
| | |
| |
The other is apparently a myth spun by storytellers of the Tang Dynasty. It tells of a time when the earth was illuminated by 10 suns. One day, they decided to rise all at once, making it unbearably hot. To save the earth from being scorched, an expert archer named Hou Yi stepped out and saved the land by shooting down nine of the suns. He received the Elixir of life as a reward from the emperor and was duly promoted. With this turn of event and good fortune, he turned into a tyrant. Fearing the worst, his beautiful wife Chang Er , stole the potion and fled to the moon to escape his wrath. Some say that when you look closely at the moon today, you might still be able to catch a glimpse of the shadow of the beautiful moon maiden.
|
| | |
| |
Food for the festival - Mooncakes
|
| | |
| |
Usually mooncakes are made into round shapes to mean "union". There are Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and Su Zhou mooncakes and the Guangdong ones are most tasty. For example. Mooncakes with lotus seed puree, mooncakes with five nuts, mooncakes with red bean puree sell very well.
|
| | |
| |
Winter Solstice is the last solar term of a year. In the western calender, it is two or three days before Christmas. So there is the saying that "Christmas comes 3 days after Winter Solstice while New Year comes 10 days after".
|
| | |
| |
The whole country rejoiced - In ancient times, there were different names for Winter Solstice. Since the sun is in the southeast position on this day, it was called "Nam Zhi". Also, as this day is the shortest in winter, it was called "Duan Zhi". After Winter Solstice, the days are getting longer and longer while nights are becoming shorter and shorter. As early as during Han dynasty, Winter Solstice was considered the most important of the 24 solar terms of a year. The emperors ordered people who were very knowledgeable about astronomical calendric system to regulate sundials according to the length of the projection of objects under sunlight. Besides, ceremonies were held to worship the gods. The famous Temple of Heaven in Beijing was the place where Emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasty worshipped the gods.
|
| | |
| |
Winter Solstice originated from the reign of Han Wu emperor. On this day every year, the whole country celebrated; shops were closed for 3 days; every family butchered hens and ducks and temples were swarmed with people. Everyone enjoyed himself as if it was New Year.
|
| | |
| |
Special food - At Winter Solstice, family member gathered and shared the delight of glutinous rice flour dumplings which symbolize "Union". It is believed that the rounder the dumplings, the stronger the family ties are. In ancient times, Winter Solstice was also called Union Festival. Whenever they were, the family members would try every means to go home. To many people, Winter Solstice is therefore more important than Chinese New Year.
|
| | |
| |
Nowadays, Although people are not so keen on celebrating the festival, by tradition people still eat glutinous rice flour dumplings.
|
| | |
| |
|
