Who invented dumplings? The origin of the custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice
4hw.com.cn: the winter solstice in northern China has the custom of eating dumplings since ancient times. Many people know a little about why they eat dumplings at the winter solstice. In fact, the custom of eating dumplings at the winter solstice is widespread in the north, and dumplings are used instead in the south. Do you know why they eat dumplings at the winter solstice? Do you know where dumplings originated? Let's have a look!
Why eat dumplings at the winter solstice?
In the winter solstice festival, there is the custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice in northern China, and the custom of eating Tangyuan and fenciba on the winter solstice in some places in the south. Do you know why you eat dumplings in the northern winter solstice? How did the custom of eating dumplings at the winter solstice come from?
In ancient China, great importance was attached to the winter solstice. The winter solstice was regarded as a major festival. There was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as the year. There were customs of slaughtering sheep, eating dumplings and eating wonton in the north, while there were customs of eating rice balls and long-term noodles in the South on this day. The winter solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. "Qingjialu" even says that the winter solstice is as big as a year. This shows that the ancients attached great importance to the winter solstice. It is believed that the winter solstice is a natural transformation of yin and Yang and a blessing from heaven. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was regarded as the 'Winter Festival', and the government held a congratulatory ceremony called 'Hedong', a routine holiday. There is a record in the book of the later Han Dynasty: 'before and after the winter solstice, a gentleman settled down and calmed down, all officials did nothing, did not listen to politics, chose an auspicious hour, and then saved trouble.' Therefore, on this day, the court should have a holiday, the army is on standby, the frontier fortress is closed, business travel is closed, relatives and friends give each other delicious food, visit each other, and happily have a 'quiet' Festival.
It is said that when Zhang Zhongjing was the governor of Changsha, he often treated people's diseases. One year, the local plague prevailed. He built a big pot at the mouth of the Yamen and gave medicine to save people, which was deeply loved by the people of Changsha. After returning home from Changsha, Zhang Zhongjing happened to catch the winter solstice. When he walked to the Bank of his hometown Baihe, he saw many poor people suffering from hunger and cold, and his ears were frozen and rotten. It turned out that typhoid fever was prevalent at that time, and many people died. He was so upset that he was determined to treat them. When Zhang Zhongjing came home, there were a lot of people seeking medical treatment. He was busy, but he always remembered the poor people whose ears were frozen and rotten. Following the way in Changsha, he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed and a big pot in an open space in Dongguan, Nanyang, and open on the winter solstice to give medicine to the poor to heal their wounds.
Zhang Zhongjing gave up medicine until new year's Eve. On the first day of the new year, people celebrate the new year and the recovery of rotten ears. They make new year's food like Jiao ears and eat it on the morning of the first day of the new year. People call this food 'Jiaoer', 'jiaozi' or 'flat food', which is eaten on the winter solstice and the first day of the new year to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing's days of opening shed medicine and curing patients.
Zhang Zhongjing is nearly 1800 years old, but his story of "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction" has been widely spread among the people. Every winter solstice and new year's day, people eat dumplings and still remember Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. Today, we don't have to use delicate ears to treat frozen and rotten ears, but dumplings have become the most common and favorite food.
Zhang Zhongjing's medicine is called "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction", which is a summary of more than 300 years of clinical practice in the Han Dynasty. Its practice is to boil mutton, pepper and some Quhan herbs in a pot, take out and chop these things after cooking, wrap the dough into an ear like "Jiaoer", and give them to the patients begging for medicine after cooking in the pot. Each person has two jiao ears and a bowl of soup. After eating Quhan decoction, people have fever, unobstructed blood and warming ears. From the winter solstice to new year's Eve, the common people resisted typhoid fever and cured frozen ears.