(Text/Chen Da) originated from the Ula grass of the Tertiary period of the Paleozoic Era, and when the Quaternary Ice Age arrived, it resisted the tribulations of the earth's climate change and evolved into an ancient relict plant, which has survived to this day.
The reason why Ula grass can be called "Northeast Three Treasures" along with ginseng and mink, and it is famous side by side with Taiwanese grass in Fujian and Panama grass in South America, and enjoys the reputation of the world's "Three Treasure Grasses", all because of its miraculous effects and long-standing folk practice.
1. One of the Three Treasures of Northeast China
Ullah grass is now only distributed in China (Northeast), Russia (Siberia, Far East), Mongolia, North Korea, Japan and other countries and regions. Ula grass, also known as wax grass, or hairy root grass, red root grass, is a perennial root herb. In plant taxonomy it belongs to the order Sedges, the sedge family, the genus Bryophyllus. According to scientific investigations, the family members of the ura grass are large and numerous, with more than 200 different varieties and varieties, distributed in the vast land from the Daxing'an Ridge in the north to the Liao River Basin in the south.
Ulla sketch
Ulla grass, which belongs to swampy aquatic grass, has the characteristics of hydrophilic, and its living environment is mostly humid and watery places, and exists in rivers and their vast tributaries, lakes, moor, ponds, marsh banks and wet areas of forests and grasslands. The wild grass grows about 80 to 100 cm tall, has an unusually well-developed root system, slender and firm whiskers, and very lush root hairs, which are particularly strong in bonding to the soil. Each plant has five to six leaves, and the leaves are extremely slender, strong and erect, divided into broad and thin leaves.
The record of the grass being regarded as one of the Three Treasures of Northeast China began in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. In the "Jilin Waiji", which was written at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was published that "if the grass is established as three together with ginseng and mink, the treasure of the grass can be known." The coldest in the north, with deep ice and thick snow, and whoever wears a tartar or a tartar will pound the ura grass into it, and the winter and summer are properly cool, that is, the cold is not cold, so it is one of the three treasures."
Through hundreds of thousands of years of repeated practice, the ancestors of Northeast China have found that Ulla grass has extremely unique miraculous effects, when the temperature rises, it can decompose human sweat, when the temperature drops, it can also inhibit the volatilization of heat, with two-way regulation function, belonging to plant-type Chinese herbal medicine.
Ulla grass photo
The invention of the tartar shoe is inextricably linked to the special properties of the ura grass. According to folklore, the shoe was created by the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, King Lao Han (Nur Hachi), but this is not the case, and the tartar is indeed a great invention of the working peasants. In the northeast region with a cold and long winter, thousands of miles of ice and biting north winds, the local people in the process of fighting against the harsh natural conditions, found the best thermal filler - ura grass, so they successfully created a very affordable cold protection shoe - the squirrel.
Second, the processing and utilization of ura grass
The locals used to harvest the ura grass around the autumnal equinox of the old calendar, they used a scythe or sickle to cut the grass from the roots, the freshly cut grass roots are red, the new grass should be immediately placed on the ground to dry, and pick out the impurities, the grass can be dried and tied into a straw handle.
Dried ura grass should not be used unless reprocessed. The processing time of ura grass starts in early winter and ends in spring.
Traditionally, the processing of ura grass has been carried out by hand. The processing worker holds a handful of ura grass in his left hand, places it in a hard but not tough place, and repeatedly pounds the hay with a wooden coffin in his right hand, this process is commonly known as "pounding ura grass". It is necessary to pound the ura grass until only the fiber tube bundle remains, the rest is reduced to debris, and the grass is finely filamentous and soft as cotton before the processing task is completed.
The processed ura grass has excellent adsorption without being eroded, can absorb moisture, automatically adjust and maintain the degree of moisture, people put the ura grass in the "squirrage" (shoes sewn with cow and horse leather), under the feet wearing the stilt shoes with ura grass, not only can absorb the sweat on the feet, but also wipe off the dirt on the feet, so that the feet feel warm and comfortable. Even if you work in the field in the freezing cold of more than minus 40 degrees, the soles of your feet feel extremely warm, and you will not freeze your feet from morning to night in the snow.
In the long winter of Northeast China, the cold shoes of the ura grass - the squirrel is closely related to people's lives, is a cheap and indispensable warm product for everyone, and it plays an extremely important role in people's life and labor in the past.
Wu Dalan, who had supervised the border affairs of Jilin at the end of the Qing Dynasty, was ordered to go to Hunchun to survey the border in the 12th year of Guangxu (1886), passed by Ningguta, and wrote two poems on the Baojiang Tower of the Official Counselor Bureau, one of which is Zanula Grass, Poem Yun:
Mo Dao's whereabouts are like a turn, knowing the cold and warming and laughing at the country style.
Stepping on the ice weather, the family is at home, and the love of people is the same.
Ginseng can be diseased, and Kwai Nengwei is always ineffective.
He is like a sooksa carry-on, and spring is in Mr. Shu's staff.
Tartary shoes and ura grass
After processing, ura grass has the effects of foot warming, foot protection, sweat absorption, deodorization, etc., and has successfully protected the feet of generations of poor people from freezing in the harsh winter, so it is regarded as "the best product against the cold" by the ancestors of Northeast China, and has become a popular daily necessity in Northeast China. It is relying on the outstanding cost performance, light durability and good warmth, with its own strength to speak, firmly occupy the throne of the "Northeast Three Treasures".
Third, get to know Ulla grass again
Although Ulla grass has not been listed in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" and "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", contemporary research results confirm that the treasure of Ula grass belongs to plant traditional Chinese medicine, which is one of the only two natural plants in the world in the plant world that do not form mycorrhizae for life, and has a strong anti-fungal parasitic function, which is a natural attribute that ordinary animal and plant products do not have. Ula grass is rich in plant protein and iron, calcium, zinc and other inorganic elements, with the effect of activating the meridians, nourishing the mind and calming the mind, is a natural green health care products, long-term close use can promote the improvement of human microcirculation, make the human meridians smooth, skin moisturizing, play the role of toning skin. The free amino acids in Ula grass are extremely rich in free amino acids, which can be absorbed by human skin, and its nutrients play a good maintenance role in the skin. Ura grass has a fragrant smell, and after inhalation, it can benignly adjust people's sleep, eliminate human fatigue and restore vitality. Ula grass has a unique molecular structure and has a two-way regulating effect on air temperature.
Ura grass crafts
With the development of science and technology and the increasing improvement of people's living standards, the shoe, which was once regarded as a treasure against cold in the northeast, is now basically extinct, and the status of ura grass has also declined, and people used to say "Kanto Mountain, three treasures, ginseng, mink, ura grass", and was also replaced by the popular "ginseng, mink, antler horn", after all, modern people who have seen the world pay more attention to economic benefits and are more pragmatic.
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