Li Chun, commonly known as Playing Spring, "Li" means "beginning", marking the beginning of spring of the year, and is the first of the twenty-four solar terms.
Spring is divided from astronomy, spring is warm, birds and flowers are fragrant; spring is growth, cultivation and sowing.
The period from the day of the Spring Festival to the period before the Summer Festival is called Spring.
In the eyes of modern people, Li Chun is just one of the twenty-four solar terms, in addition to eating spring cakes, Li Chun and Li Xia, Li Qiu, Li Dong, Da Xia, Da Han... There is no essential difference.
In ancient China, however, Lichun was one of the most important festivals in an agrarian society.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, on the day of Lichun, from the Heavenly Son down to the officials, a grand spring ceremony will be held.
The Book of Rites and the Moon Order records: "The Son of Heaven led the princes and princes to welcome the spring in the eastern suburbs. ”
The Book of Etiquette of the Later Han Dynasty also says: "On the day of the spring, the night leak was not exhausted for five minutes, and the hundred officials of the Beijing Division were dressed in green clothes, and the county magistrates of the county and county were all dressed in green clothes, and the officials of the county and county were all dressed in qingyi, and the qing banner was erected, and the earth cattle were cultivated outside the door to show the people." ”
Since then, in all dynasties, whether in the imperial court or in the people, Lichun has been a very important festival, and it was also known as "Spring Festival" in ancient times.
The so-called "fighting spring" is to beat the spring cow, the earliest spring cow is made of clay, after breaking, people have snatched the fragments of the spring cow home as an auspicious thing.
On the day of Lichun, in the temple fairs of old Beijing, while selling the imperial calendar, they will also carry out the sale of spring cattle, and the people in the city, even if they no longer farm, will invite the spring cattle home.
In the Republic of China, in 1912, Sun Yat-sen changed the first day of the first lunar month to the Spring Festival in order to "line the Xia Zheng, so when shunned the peasants, from the Western calendar, so it was counted", and january 1 of the Gregorian calendar was called "New Year's Day", and the importance of Lichun gradually declined from then on.
Chinese the greatest respect for a festival is to arrange a unique meal for it. And Chinese's love for spring also begins with eating.
Spring cake is the most common and intuitive way to greet spring in Chinese.
Spring cake originated from the ancient spring plate, and the custom of eating spring plate originated in the Jin Dynasty, originally named "Wuxin Plate". The five spice plates contain five kinds of spiced vegetables, such as garlic, garlic, leeks, coriander, brassica and so on.
Perhaps eating these spicy vegetables alone is too spicy, and people in the Tang Dynasty have begun to roll these vegetables up and eat them with cakes.
The Guanzhong Chronicle says: "Spring cakes are made on a spring day, and they are wrapped in spring artemisia, yellow leeks, and indigo buds." ”
And in the Tang Dynasty, eating spring plates has become a spring trend. The "Relics of Kaiyuan Tianbao" once recorded: "In the spring of Chang'an, when the tour is enjoyed, every time after the first half of the first month, the ladies and ladies ride across the horse, bring the 'spring plate', and offer the account and the garden or in the countryside, which is called 'the feast of exploring spring'".
In the Song Dynasty, when cooking skills burst forth, spring cakes were also made more and more exquisite. In The "Past Affairs of Wulin" written by Zhou Mi, it is recorded: "On the day before spring, Houyuan made spring plates, green red silk, golden chickens and jade swallows, extremely exquisitely prepared, and each plate was worth ten thousand dollars. ”
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, spring cakes had become a common snack on the market, and during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, shops specializing in spring cakes appeared. At that time, the spring cake was the most famous made by the people of Nanjing, and Yuan Mei believed that it was "as thin as a Zen wing, as big as a tea pot, and soft and exquisite".
Spring cakes are also called "lotus leaf cakes" because they are shaped like lotus leaves floating in water. It is not a complex and profound food, but to make spring cakes must use hot noodles, that is, to use boiling water and noodles, because hot water will affect the gluten nature of flour, so that the spring cakes are strong enough.
The steamed spring cake crust is thin and translucent, but full of toughness, and is also called "tendon cake" in many places; the baked crust is slightly thicker, with a hint of pyrotechnics.
In Beijing, the most classic is the "combination dish" made of bean sprouts, leeks, vermicelli and shredded meat, and then rolled up with sauce meat, which is the expectation of welcoming spring.
There are many seasonal vegetables in spring, different times and different regions can breed different flavors, spring leeks, spring shoots, toon buds, young artemisia, cabbage, elm leaves... These are the flavors of spring that can be wrapped in spring cakes.
For example, Xiamen people like to put oysters, dried tofu, cabbage, celery, carrots and other ingredients, stir-fry them once and then wrap them together with a thin spring roll skin, so simple to make but can be called delicious in the world!
Today is Li Chun, hurry up and ask your family to take action together!
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Text/Tea Tea; Three Cookers
Figure/Source network