In less than a month, Chinese people are about to celebrate one ofthe most important traditional festivals—the Mid-Autumn. Back in my childhood,I would have been expecting it for months by now. What I would truly be expecting is the Moon Cake, a delicate Chinese Dim Sum made for the mid-autumn festival, a special treat that comes only oncea year.
Now that economic growth and technological development has made our lives much better than before, and commodities are produced in great abundance, moon cakes are no longer precious rarities, its origin forgotten.
It might sound counter-intuitive that many of thetraditional foods were originally made for Gods instead of the mortals. Ancient Chinese people are fully aware of the significance of the sun and the moon to our lives. We track and record their movements in the sky and their correspondent influential power on earth. The soli-lunar calendar, better known as the Traditional Chinese Calendar, as its name suggests, is a sophisticated timing system which reflects the movements of both of the celestial bodies.
As a result, we worship the Sun God and the Moon God, and make sacrifices to ensure good harvests. Moon cake, for instance, was originally offered as sacrifice to the Moon God. The mid-autumn day comes with the last full moon before the harvest season, which gives people a perfect reason to make the sacrifice. We use a rich variety of ingredients for the stuffing of the cake and offer them to Moon God for her blessing on a bumper harvest of all the corps. That’s why originally the stuffing of moon cake was WU REN (literally means “five seeds”), which actually stands for all kinds of corps.It feels sad to hear that WU REN moon cake was being accused by some ignorant young people for its humble appearance and “unbearable” taste. Surely the MoonGod would have a different saying.
The next traditional food I’d like to talk about is ZONGZI.
As a tradition, Chinese people eat ZONGZI on May the fifth (according to the Chinese Soli-lunar calendar), the Duanwu Festival,also known as the Double Fives’ Day. Wrapped within bamboo (or reed) leaves and cooked in boiling water, it’s made of mainly pre-soaked glutinous rice, along with a variety of ingredients such as meat, beans and date. The bamboo leaf creates a woody, sweet, and aromatically herby base on which the rice and other ingredients unfold their varied fragrance and flavor in different dimensions.
For quite a while I had believed, so as my teacher told, that people in China eat ZONGZI and race dragon boat to memorize and honor a great person lived in the history—Qu Yuan. Legend has it that Qu Yuan, a versatile poet, a noble gentleman, and a faithful patriot, was respected and loved by the king and the people. He was set up by someone who envied his talents, and was forced into exile. Humiliated, he plunged to his death in the Miluo River. Not being able to find his body, the local people worried that his flesh might be consumed by fish, so they race dragon boats to deter the water creatures in the river, and offer them ZONGZI so that they would spare the body.
It didn’t take me too long to realize that the story is a complete fabrication! Chinese people had been celebrating the Double Fives’ Day long before Qu Yuan’s epic death.
Ancient people are pragmatic utilitarians to whom ceremonies and celebrations are not just entertainment. On the fifthday of the fifth lunar month, about two weeks before the summersolstice, and about the time for harvesting winter wheat, we hold ceremonies to worship Sun God.
But why don’t we worship Sun God at the summer solstice, when the sun is considered to be at its strongest and the daytime the longest? The reason is a bit complicated. Ancient Chinese people live by balancing Yin and Yang, two opposing forces that dominate the universe. Yang is the positive energy, the masculine matters, and the sun; while Ying, the negative energy, the famine substances, and the moon. These two forces are in constant circling of competition: when Yin progresses, Yang would regress, and vice versa. When either one of the forces climaxes, it starts to fall, and its counterpart would begin to revive from death. The summer solstice actually marks the decline of Yang and the resurrection of Yin, apparently not a good time to worship Sun God.
The best time is somewhat earlier than the solstice, when Yang is about to peak but still on the rising. The Double Fives’ Day (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month) isjust perfect because the Chinese word for “five” is “五”, which ishomophonic to “午”—the noon, when Yang force is at its summit. Double Five is the daywhen Sun God is of his utmost power in a year.
How then do we celebrate? In Chinese culture, dragon represents the sun and the Yang force. That’s why people race dragon boat on this day. ZONGZI is offered as the sacrifice to SunGod. As a matter of fact, glutinous rice is widely used as sacrifices to deitiesin almost all festivals in ancient time. In addition, we also drink realgar wine and burn moxa, in order to, with the blessing of Sun God, promoting Yang forcein the body.
PS:
Whenever I look at the empty faces of mystudents when I ask them something about our tradition, I feel sad. I have no doubt that it’s very important to study English and study overseas to have aglobal view. But at the same time,don’t forget about our tradition, about who we are, and where we come from!!!