Basketball-sized inside! 22 super big fried dates brightly the same as Andong Mountain

[News Page-Taiwan Straits Network]

■ Tongan large fried dates

According to the Xiamen Evening News on February 10, a fried date is the size of a basketball, and what is even more amazing is that "there are dates in the dates", and there are also small fried dates inside the big fried dates. Yesterday, 22 super large fried dates were unveiled in the Dongshan Community of Datong Street, Tong'an. It is understood that every year on the eleventh day of the first lunar month, in the Dongshan Ancient Temple of Dongshan Community, there is a custom of making large jujubes (large fried dates) to honor the Heavenly Gong, and at present, the "Tong'an Dongshan Ancient Temple Worshiping Heavenly Customs" has been selected as a district-level intangible cultural heritage.

At noon yesterday, the Dongshan community gathered more than 20 people who made fried dates, and after more than 5 hours of production, 22 large fried dates were "baked". The average diameter of these dates is about 25 centimeters, and the large fried dates are placed in a tray with hot oil, and after absorbing and expanding, they are the size of a basketball and have a fragrant aroma.

As early as 2018, this newspaper had a title of "After 60 years, the big fried dates with Andong Mountain reappeared!" ", the exclusive report on the news of the restoration of customs in the ancient temple of Dongshan has aroused widespread concern. In January 2021, the "Custom of Respecting Heaven in the Ancient Temple of Tong'an Dongshan" was included in the list of district-level intangible cultural heritage, and it is actively applying for the municipal "Intangible Cultural Heritage".

Chen Xishi, director of the Management Committee of Dongshan Ancient Temple, introduced that this year is 2022, so 22 large fried dates were specially made, and the fried dates had sesame seeds, peanuts, mung beans and other fillings, and there were salty and sweet flavors. Different from previous years, there are also small fried dates in the big fried dates, which takes the beautiful meaning of "people are prosperous".

Chen Xishi said that the Dongshan Ancient Temple holds a temple fair every year, of which the custom of respecting the heavens on the eleventh day of the first lunar month is the highlight. According to legend, in the 40th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1561), on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the Wokou invaded Tong'an, and the ancient temple of Tong'an Dongshan was active in a non-governmental society called "Gongze Society", as one of the forces fighting against the Wokou in Tong'an, heroically resisted the Wokou, and expelled the Wokou from the wokou on the tenth day of the first lunar month. The custom of blowing up large jujubes to honor Tiangong continued until the early 1960s, when for objective reasons this folklore disappeared and was revived in February 2018.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Cultural Affairs Center of Tong'an District, the custom of paying homage to the heavens in the ancient temple of Dongshan is being declared as a municipal intangible cultural heritage, which has strong local traditional characteristics, is deeply loved by the general public, and is the carrier of cross-strait exchanges, attracting the participation of believers in Taiwan and people in Southeast Asia and other places. (Text/Reporter Huang Wenshui Photo/Xia Haibin)