What do southerners eat on Mid-Autumn Festival?

Southerners always like light sweets. For the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, eating moon cakes is still the mainstream. So besides eating moon cakes, what other traditional foods do southerners have in the Mid-Autumn Festival? Use the old calendar book to have a look!

Eat moon cakes

Watching the moon and eating moon cakes is an essential custom in Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. As the saying goes, "Moon cakes are sweet and fragrant when they are full on August 15th". The word moon cake originated from Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty, when it was just a snack. Later, people gradually associated moon viewing with moon cakes, symbolizing family reunion and bearing their thoughts. At the same time, moon cakes are also an important gift for friends to contact their feelings during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Eat sesame cake

Sichuanese not only eat moon cakes, but also shoot and kill ducks, eat sesame cakes, candied cakes and so on. In some places, orange lanterns are also lit and hung at the door to celebrate. There are also children who burn incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor ball" Jiading County's Mid-Autumn Festival is called "Guanyin Club" for offering sacrifices to land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics.

Cooked glutinous rice is mashed into paste.

Eating Ciba in the Mid-Autumn Festival in August originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago, which is a traditional custom that has been passed down to this day to commemorate Wu Zixu, the general of Chu. In August, the Mid-Autumn Festival Ciba and eating Ciba and enjoying the moon represent the unity, happiness and auspiciousness of every household. Sticking together, Bazin symbolizes the harmony and unity of the whole family; The sweetness of Ciba symbolizes the sweetness and happiness of life; Even if it is an early morning nap, the earlier you get up, the greater the harvest in the coming year; Ciba is round in size, symbolizing people's "fate", happiness, auspiciousness and reunion; Eating round Ciba naturally symbolizes that the whole family is kind, round and round, and safe.

The steamer for steaming glutinous rice, the rice bowl for making rice cakes, the dustpan for putting rice cakes, and the soybeans, peanuts and sesame seeds for stuffing all exist with "roundness", which means "reunion". In some places in Sichuan, people also add osmanthus flowers to Ciba, mash it into laurel Ciba, dip it in fried soybeans and white sugar, and it tastes quiet and elegant, sweet and refreshing, and has a unique flavor.

Eating lotus root box

Eating lotus root in Mid-Autumn Festival is also a sign of reunion, especially eating "lotus root box". Most people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang slice the lotus root, connect the lower ends of each two pieces together, put stuffing made of meat and clams in the middle, and fry the noodles until golden. This is also called lotus root cake, which has the same effect as moon cakes. At present, there are two main varieties of lotus root on the market, seven-hole lotus root and nine-hole lotus root. Seven-hole lotus root is widely cultivated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. This variety has excellent texture and tender, crisp, sweet and white meat. Chinese medicine believes that lotus root changes from cool to warm after cooking, which is beneficial to the spleen and stomach, and has the effects of nourishing stomach, nourishing yin and benefiting blood.

Eat snails

Regarding eating snails in the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is recorded in the "Shunde County Records" during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty: "Looking at the sun in August, eating snails is still fragrant." People believe that eating snails in the Mid-Autumn Festival can improve eyesight. But why must the Mid-Autumn Festival be particularly keen on food? Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, when snails are empty, there are no snails in the abdomen, and the meat is particularly fat, which is the best time to eat snails. Nowadays, in Guangzhou, many families have the habit of frying snails in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Eat taro

There is a custom of Mid-Autumn Festival Yue Bai in Chaoshan, Guangdong, which is mainly aimed at women and children. As the saying goes, "men are dissatisfied with the moon, and women don't sacrifice stoves." There is also the custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival. There is a saying in Chaoshan: "River to mouth, taro to eat." August is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are used to using taro to worship their ancestors.

Although this diet custom is related to farming, there is another popular folk legend: 1279, Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han people. Mafa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan Dynasty. After the city was broken, the people were slaughtered. In order not to forget the suffering of Hu people's rule, later generations used taro as a homonym with "Hu tou", which looked like a human head, in order to pay homage to their ancestors and pass it on from generation to generation, and it still exists today. Burning towers on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very popular in some places.

Eat osmanthus duck

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk customs in Jiangnan are also varied. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, so they must eat osmanthus duck, a famous Jinling dish. "Sweet-scented osmanthus duck" should be listed in Gui Xiang. It is fat but not greasy and delicious.