There is another legend about moon cakes. According to legend, in order to strengthen the rule of the Han people, the Yuan Dynasty stipulated that there should be one for every ten households. Butler? , by the Mongols, these people bullying, provoked boiling public grievances. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Jinhua, Chuzhou, Wenzhou and other places, and the local people demanded that Zhu Yuanzhang get rid of the housekeeper.
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to send troops to kill these people at first, but strategist Liu Bowen said that there were so many butlers in three counties that even if we sent troops, it would be impossible to get rid of them at once. Let me handle this matter and get rid of them in ten days. . Therefore, Liu Bowen ordered people to dress up as Yin and Yang teachers and spread nursery rhymes in various counties. Don't laugh, value nine; Nine days before noon, the head fell to the ground? . The people panicked when they heard that there was going to be a disaster, and then Liu Bowen let people spread the news everywhere, saying that the gods gave people dreams, and eating moon cakes in the middle of the Mid-Autumn Festival could avoid disaster. People rushed to the pastry shop to buy moon cakes. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, people open moon cakes and prepare to taste them. They found a note in it that said, Kill the housekeeper in the middle of the Mid-Autumn Festival? So I assumed that this was the guidance of the gods, and the anger in my heart finally broke out on weekdays. I killed my family overnight.
These legends are folk explanations of the origin of moon cakes. Although it is not completely credible, some contents in the story are consistent with the conclusions drawn by scholars: first, moon cakes are indeed evolved from Hu cakes; Secondly, moon cakes should become symbolic food of Mid-Autumn Festival only in the Ming Dynasty.
From Hu Bing to moon cakes.
For most of the time in ancient China? Cake? It is the general name of all pasta. The western Han dynasty's collection of nine articles listed cakes and bait as the first food, and Yan Shigu in the Tang dynasty commented? The noodles are cooked. Is it a cake? Mix the noodles with water, steam them and make cakes.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the types of cakes began to increase. The book Interpretation of Drinking lists seven kinds of pasta, such as Hu Bing, and the original records show that? Hu Bing, as a big man, is also said to be on hemp? . Iman, right? No edges and corners, vague? The meaning of (later the word transliterated into meaning? Sloppy? ), and Hu cake is a relatively large round sesame cake, which is cooked by putting flax, that is, sesame, on the flour cake.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Hu cakes and steamed cakes were popular pasta. Hu cake was still called Hu cake in Tang Dynasty, but there was another way to add stuffing. Rich people make big chunks of Hu cakes, which are filled with layers of mutton, with peppers and black beans between each layer, dipped in ghee, baked in the furnace, and taken out when the meat is half cooked. It's called. Gu Luer? .
By the Song Dynasty, cake food had reached a relatively mature level, with unprecedented varieties and colors, and the technology tended to be refined. At this time? Cake? Or pasta. At that time, many wheaten foods were recorded in Zhou Mi's Old Stories of Wulin in the Southern Song Dynasty, all of which were steamed cakes, including moon cakes. Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty is also a book describing the product of Lin 'an customs, which mentioned that? Snacks are always available in the city, so you can order them at will. Don't miss the customers. And if steamed noodles sell four-color steamed bread, moon cakes with fine stuffing and plum cakes? That is to say, although it is not the seasonal food of Mid-Autumn Festival, as a daily pasta, moon cakes have already appeared in the Song Dynasty.
From above? Cake? In the process of development, we can see how moon cakes are formed. Before the Song Dynasty, cake food laid the foundation for the appearance of moon cakes in terms of materials, production methods and techniques. Hu cake is a cake made of butter, honey and sugar, or a round cake filled with nuts, bean paste, sugar and minced meat. Its appearance and practice are similar to those of the later Mid-Autumn moon cakes.
Mooncakes became the symbolic food of Mid-Autumn Festival in Ming Dynasty.
First of all, there is conclusive evidence that the Mid-Autumn Festival was formally produced in the Tang Dynasty, and it is also recognized by the academic circles that there is no exact record of the Mid-Autumn Festival before the Tang Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival was formed in the early Tang Dynasty, so did the Tang Dynasty have the custom of eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival? The custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in Tang Dynasty is mainly found in a large number of moon-appreciating poems and some note novels. These written records rarely talk about Mid-Autumn Festival diet, and some places only talk about preparation? Wine and food? , not specifically mentioned? Mooncakes? This food
As mentioned above, in the Song Dynasty, it was indeed mentioned in Old Wulin and Dream of Liang Lu? Mooncakes? But the problem is, according to the records of these two books, moon cakes were only pasta eaten on weekdays at that time, not seasonal food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Chef, written by Zheng Wang in Song Dynasty, lists the delicacies of various festivals in a year. Among them, what is the symbolic food of Mid-Autumn Festival? Play moon soup? , not moon cakes.
It should be noted that the technology of making cakes in the Song Dynasty has been very developed, with a wide variety and various colors. There should be a lot of cakes similar to Mid-Autumn moon cakes, and the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has been very prosperous. It can be said that it is possible to eat Mid-Autumn moon cakes at this time. However, there is no reliable record of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Song Dynasty, so there is no basis for saying that there is a custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival at this time. At least, there is no obvious habit of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival at this time, so that there is no record of the customs of the Song Dynasty.
There are a lot of records about Mid-Autumn moon cakes in Ming Dynasty literature. Ten thousand miscellanies written by Shen Bang? "Folk Custom" records,? Literati's furniture is called moon cakes, which come in different sizes. Those cakes filled with fruit in the mall are worth hundreds of dollars. ? It can be seen that the moon cakes at this time are specially made for the Mid-Autumn Festival in August and become gifts given by every household.