According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube dumplings". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". The "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people at that time recorded: "It is customary to wrap millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the solstice in summer, there is a zongzi and a millet. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
The rice used for zongzi in the Tang Dynasty is "white as jade", and its shape appears conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. There was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. The poet Su Dongpo wrote the poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Every year on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there are customs of eating zongzi and racing dragon boats all over China.
As we all know, this ancient custom handed down from generation to generation is to commemorate Qu Yuan. But why should we commemorate Qu Yuan in this way? It turns out that there is such an interesting story circulating in Qu Yuan's hometown.
One night after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, people in Qu Yuan's hometown suddenly dreamed that Qu Yuan was back. As before his death, his face was slightly sad and haggard. The villagers were so happy that they rushed forward to pay tribute to him. Qu Yuan replied with a smile: "Thank you for your kindness. Chu people have a clear love and hate, and I will die without forgetting me. " Let's not talk about the old room. Everyone found that Qu Yuan's health was much worse than in the past, so they asked with concern, "Dr. Qu, have you eaten the food we sent you?" "Thank you", Qu Yuan was grateful at first, then sighed and said, "What a pity. The rice you gave me was eaten by fish, shrimp, turtles and clams. " The villagers were very anxious after listening: "How can you not let fish and shrimp eat?" Qu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "If rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves and made into sharp corn, the aquarium will think it is water chestnut and dare not eat it."
The following year, during the Dragon Boat Festival, villagers wrapped a lot of corn in bamboo leaves and threw it into the river. However, after the Dragon Boat Festival, Qu Yuan said in his dream, "I ate a lot of corn you gave me, but many of it was taken away by the aquarium." Everyone asked him again, "Is there any other good way?" Qu Yuan said, "There is a way. You can just put the dragon label on the boat with the corn. Because the aquarium belongs to the Dragon King, drums and horns will ring and oars will turn over. They thought it was from the Dragon King, and they never dared to rob it again. " Horn millet is the present zongzi.
Since then, the custom of making zongzi and rowing dragon boats has spread from Qu Yuan's hometown to the whole country, from ancient times to the present.