The story of eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan. In 278 BC, General Qin led an army south, but failed to return, attacking Kyoto, Chu. Qu Yuan's political thoughts were shattered and he was desperate for the future. Although he wanted to serve his country, he was unable to return to heaven, and his heart was filled with grief and indignation. On May 5th, he jumped into the Luohe River with a big stone in his arms. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from harming Qu Yuan's body, people threw rice into the river.

Later, in order to show respect and memory for Qu Yuan, on this day, people put rice in bamboo tubes and threw it into the river to pay homage. Over time, it formed the custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival.

The implication of eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival

The record of Zongzi in history was first seen in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in Han Dynasty. The word "Zongzi" is called "Ba", and the leaves of Zongzi are covered with rice. From the meal, the voice is awkward. In the Western Han Dynasty, Zongzi was regarded as the earliest food of the Dragon Boat Festival, which should be an "owl soup".

Quote Records of the Historian and the Book of Filial Piety: "The Han Dynasty sent owls to Dong Jun to cook soup for the owls on May 5th. Eat it because of bad birds. " Probably because owls are difficult to catch, the custom of eating owl soup didn't last. Filing is the protagonist of the Dragon Boat Festival-Zongzi, which appeared after the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was not until the Jin Dynasty that zongzi became the festival food of the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi should be regarded as the traditional food with the deepest cultural accumulation so far in the history of China.