Dragon Boat Festival
On Dragon Boat Festival, which is on 5th day of the 5th month according to Chinese lunar calendar, we will have a Dragon Boat Race and a typical food called Rice Dumplings. There is also a sad story behind the Dragon Boat Festival. Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet in the Chu Dynasty and was admired by a lot of people then by his talent, tried to warn his king from doing something wrong, but failed to do so. He was so sad that he ended up drowned himself in the Miluo river although there are people around him telling him not to suicide. People at that time are very sorry for his death and threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. Although we are not sure whether this story is made up or not, one thing is for sure, that is there is something interesting behind the Dragon Boat Festival. Rice dumpling, also called Zong zi, is a typical Chinese food and is closely related to the Dragon Boat festival.
Rice dumplings are made of glutinous rice, and are stuffed with different fillings, such as red beans, Chinese sausage, salted duck eggs, and pure sugar etc. Among these, the favorite stuffing that I like is salted duck eggs, which are so delicious and the glutinous rice have a taste of salty duck eggs as well.
Rice dumplings are tetrahedral in northern China and are tended to be of cone shapes in southern. Wrapping rice dumplings using bamboo or other large flat leaves actually needs skills because the shape of the rice dumpling actually based on it. Bamboo leaves actually adds to both the appearance of the rice dumplings and the rice because they add unique smell and flavor. After rice dumplings are made, they need to be steamed or boiled for several hours depending on how the glutinous rice are made and stuffed inside the rice dumplings. Making rice dumplings is actually a traditional family event because people in one family actually gather together and make the rice dumplings together, helping each other out.
Mid-Autumn Festival is 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar; it is a time to celebrate the full moon. However, nowadays, the Mid-Autumn Festival is more kind of a day for families and friends to get to together and have meals together. We celebrate this festival by carrying around brightly lit lanterns and have a typical food called the mooncake, which originated from the southern part of China.
Unlike rice dumplings, which are made of sticky rice, the crusts of the mooncake are made from jelly. The shapes of rice dumplings include such shapes as rectangular and circular and some other shapes of course. Sometimes people might put some special words on top of the mooncake to give the costumer a special feeling and give mooncake a special meaning as well, such as wish the person who have it live longer and be happier everyday, or wish the costumer could earn more money in the future.
Mid-Autumn Festival