Tanabata's Cold Knowledge: The Most Famous Festival Food "Qiaoguo"

In recent days, the Tanabata Festival is undoubtedly a hot topic, young people are happy to have a dating festival, and many merchants are also targeting business opportunities, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to make a lot of money.

Today, Tanabata is often seen as "Chinese Valentine's Day". Speaking of which, from ancient times to the present, it is indeed an incomparably romantic festival, including the theme of love, and its connotation is far more extensive than many people understand.

Cold knowledge 1: Why is Tanabata also called "Daughter's Day"?

The Tanabata Festival originated in China on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

The festival also has many names. In ancient times, the main participants of some of its activities were maidens, and the content of festival activities was mainly based on begging, so people called this day "Beggars Festival" or "Maiden's Day" and "Daughter's Day".

Due to the long history of the festival, various customs such as planting and asking for children have been formed. There are also many interesting riddles, such as a riddle titled "Moon Dew Good Night Worship kui star, old cow birthday is not too late", the mystery is "Tanabata Festival".

Trivia Two: What does it have to do with the legend of the Cowherd Weaver Girl?

Tanabata has a beautiful legend, that is, the love story of the cowherd weaver girl. In "Search for God", the double stars of the cowherd and the weaver girl in the sky are interpreted as the story of Dong Yong and his wife, the filial son of the Han Dynasty.

However, this legend occurs on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and is also related to the ancient people observing the actions of Vega and Niulang (Morning Glory), which the ancients could use to understand the arrival of autumn.

According to ancient records, at dusk in July at that time, Vega rose to the highest point of the year and was clearly visible. In addition, the position of the two darker stars next to Vega star resembles an opening to the east, and when you look to the east, you can see the "Cowboy Star".

Therefore, based on various data, some people believe that the legend of the meeting of cowherds and weavers and weavers on Tanabata is also related to the observation of seasonal and astronomical scenes.

Trivia Three: Is this a holiday for single women?

Today, Tanabata is known as "Chinese Valentine's Day". But there have also been views that this is a holiday for single women.

According to this view, in ancient China, the Tanabata Festival should be the happiest day for single women: at this time, they can go out to party and play with their sisters in a generous dress.

Wang Juan, a folklore expert, said that this statement is not very accurate. In ancient times, one of the main contents of the Tanabata Festival was begging, and most of the unmarried girls celebrated this festival. In some areas, the rite of passage is held for girls on this day.

Cold Knowledge Four: How to "Beggar" on "Beggars Festival"?

When it comes to the theme of Tanabata "begging", the more popular games are needle begging, spider and so on.

Needle begging began in the Han Dynasty and was particularly popular in later generations. The "Miscellaneous Records of Xijing" says: "Hancai women often wear seven-hole needles in the cardigan building on the seventh day of July, and people are accustomed to it. ”

Another method is "floating needle trick". Wang Juan introduced that the girls will prepare a basin of water in the courtyard one day in advance, and there will be floating dust on the surface of the water the next day. The girls then put the needle in and waited for the sun to come out to observe the projection of the needle.

Later, "beggars" gradually focused on female participation. Ancient girls worshiped weaver girls, and they were also "seeking cleverness". Sometimes the girls who are skilled are selected through some competitive activities.

Cold knowledge five: why dry books and clothes at this time?

In addition to various legends, there was also a custom of drying books and clothes at this time.

Liu Yiqing's "New Sayings of the World" records anecdotes of some famous scholars between the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin dynasties. It mentions an interesting story: on the seventh day of July, Hao Long, a famous soldier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, ran to lie down under the sun.

Someone asked him, why did he do this? Hao Long came to a sentence of "I dry books", and secretly poked and poked to show off his knowledge.

Drying books and clothes on the seventh day of July was originally just a custom. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, some wealthy families in Northern Nguyen would also take the opportunity to "show off their wealth", and the clothes they dried out were particularly good in texture and dazzling.

Ruan Xian is one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", and he also calmly picked up an old dress with a bamboo pole to dry, others were particularly curious when they saw it, but he said " Not exempt from vulgarity, talk about Fuerer".

Cold knowledge six: the most famous festival food "Qiaoguo"

Like dumplings on the winter solstice and green dumplings during the Qingming Dynasty, Tanabata also has seasonal foods, the most famous of which is called Qiaoguo. Qiaoguo is mainly made of oily molasses, etc., and there are many patterns.

In ancient times, Qiaoguo had many nice names, such as "laughing and tired", "fruit food pattern", and the patterns included incense and Fang Sheng. By the Song Dynasty, the Qixi Qiaoguo could already be bought on the market.

Mix the sugar syrup with flour and sesame seeds, mix well and spread it out on the board and thinly... After a series of processes such as frying, qiaoguo is ready. A woman with a clever mind can make a variety of shapes related to the legend of Tanabata.

Of course, different dynasties in history also had different food customs on the day of Qixi, and there is a saying in the "Tang Six Classics" that "adds besaked bread on the seventh day of July".

Cold Knowledge Seven: Can Tanabata say "Happy Holidays"?

In general, the connotation of Tanabata is far richer than that of "love", with a variety of contents such as asking for children, begging for a good harvest, and praying for a good harvest.

Tanabata is undoubtedly an auspicious festival, and people will send blessings to couples on this day. Perhaps considering the love theme of the holiday, some people joke that it is not suitable to say "happy holidays" to single people.

"On the day of Tanabata, it is okay to say happy holidays." Wang Juan believes that this is indeed a festival for some people, but it is needless to say. (Reporter Shangguan Yun)