When did you start eating zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival?

1. On the origin of Zongzi in AD. In 340 BC, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and doctor of Chu State, faced with the pain of national subjugation, was filled with grief and indignation. On May 5, he threw a big stone into Guluo River. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from hurting his health, people put rice in bamboo tubes and put it into the river to attract fish and shrimp to eat. Later, in order to show respect and memory for Qu Yuan, people put rice in bamboo tubes and put it into memorial ceremonies on this day, which is the origin of China's earliest Zongzi-"Tongzong".

2. The origin of Zongzi in the Spring and Autumn Period. 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 zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, millet is wrapped in leaves and cooked in quadrangles, which is called Guangdong sour water zongzi.

3. There were "sugar dumplings" in Song Dynasty, that is, fruits were put into dumplings. The poet Su Dongpo has a 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.

Extended data

Traditional customs—

In traditional festivals, the diversity and complexity of folk customs, or only the Dragon Boat Festival can be compared with the Spring Festival, all have etiquette and custom themes such as praying for good fortune and eliminating disasters, which places people's desire to welcome auspicious blessings and ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters. The Dragon Boat Festival has integrated a variety of folk customs in its historical development and evolution. There are many customs of Dragon Boat Festival, with various forms, rich and colorful contents, and lively and festive.

Due to different regional cultures, the content or details of customs vary from place to place in China. The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival mainly include dragon boat picking, Dragon Boat Festival, herb picking, hanging wormwood and calamus, ancestor worship, washing herbal water, drinking water at noon, soaking in dragon boats, eating zongzi, flying kites, tying colorful silk thread, smoking Atractylodes lancea and wearing sachets.