Source: Taizhou Building 19
The ancient festivals and customs are the longtime heritage of the history and culture of Linhai, of which the retained can be seen as the living fossils of the Linghai culture.
There is an old saying, “Ask about the customs first when in another town.” Most of the customs of Linhai, especially the festival customs, are related to the diet, embodying the old maxim of “Food is a matter of heaven for the people, or bread is the staff of life.”
The celebrations of the spring festival or the Chinese New Year, the nation’s most important festival, last from the first to the eighth of the first month of the lunar year in Linhai. Firecrackers are set off before dawn on the first of the first lunar month. In the early morning, the heaven, the earth and the ancestors are worshiped with candles, joss sticks, and offerings. Long travels are not in the custom that day with visits and good wishes exchanged among the neighbors and relatives. The guests are usually entertained with sugar tea with red dates, fruits, pastries and desserts. “Baisuiguo” (New Year snacks) includes fried rice candies, sesame candies, peanut candies, water chestnuts, red oranges, fried peanuts, fried beans, etc., which are offered to the visiting children and wrapped in cloth for them to take home. The neighbors will give each other a copper plate of baisuiguo as gifts to show the good will. It is the custom to have the breakfast of porridge of glutinous rice and red dates, the lunch of tangyuan (rice dumpling) and supper of steamed buns and niangao (rice cake). Rice is said to be a symbol of poverty leading to bad luck for the whole year and should be avoided on the lunch table. There are quite a few taboos on the Chinese New Year’s day, such as sweeping the floor, using knives, using needles or thread, laboring, fetching water at the well, trading, cursing, and fighting, etc. Even the foes should get along in peace on that day. The whole family usually visits the Donghu Lake, climbs Mount Jinzi or has fun on the streets that day. On the eighth, it is prevalent for women to “travel the eight major local temples” to pray for a peaceful life with luck and no disasters.
The Linhai natives observe the Yuanxiao Festival on the fourteenth of the first lunar month instead of the fifteenth. There are many tales about its origin: Fang Guozhen, the leader of the peasant uprising in the Ming Dynasty, knew his mother ate as a vegetarian on the first and the fifteenth of each lunar month according to the Buddhist creed, so he changed the date of the Yuanxiao Festival from the fifteenth of the first lunar month to the fourteenth and the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival from the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month to the sixteenth to enable his Buddhist mother to taste the delicacies at the festival. So did Qin Minglei, No. 1 Scholar in Linhai, for his Buddhist aunt since she had to have vegetarian diet on the first and the fifteenth of every lunar month. At the Yuanxiao Festival, zaogeng (mixed thick soup) is eaten in every household. Zaogeng is prepared by boiling the ingredients into thick soup such as mustard leaves, bamboo shoots, pork, dried bean curd, beans, bean flour, mushrooms, jelly ears, and dried razor clam, etc., which are made into fine pieces, as well as sweet potato flour or rice flour. There is also a tale about the origin of zaogeng. On the fourteenth of the first lunar month one year, a group of foreign pirates landed on the beach. The soldiers began to build fortifications to defend the town. Since there was a snow storm that night, the residents decided to make a soup by mixing the liquor with distillers’ grains, vegetables and rice flour, which brought strength and warmth to the soldiers. Since then, the custom has been passed down, but the water is used instead of the liquor with distillers’ grains. On the fifteenth of the first lunar month, a sweet thick soup is made from glutinous rice flour balls, beans, red dates, brown sugar or white sugar, cumquat powder, lotus root starch or sweet potato flour. The soup symbolizes success and sweetness. After the delicious meals, it is time to view the lanterns on the streets.
Though the Qingming Festival is a one-day festival, the activities may extend to the Duanwu Festival. According to the custom, the period of the three days before and the four days after the Qingming Festival is the most suitable for tomb sweeping. The sacrificial offerings include qingbing (sweet food), qingtuan (salty food), six or nine dishes (heated by the burning charcoal in copper pot), yellow rice wine, candles, joss sticks and joss paper. After the memorial ceremony, the participants would worship on bended knees in front of the tomb and pray to the ancestors for blessing. After that, the food as offerings would be shared, which is said to keep the people healthy and safe.
At the Beginning of Summer, Linhai people like to eat maiyouzhi (a scroll-shaped cake). In addition, the green plums cut into pieces, which are called “sharpen-eye-plum”, are eaten with white sugar, giving a sweet and sour taste. Boiled eggs in tea are also eaten that day. It is said that the plums and the eggs may make one’s sight better.
The Duanwu Festival follows the Beginning of Summer. It is the custom to eat zongzi or zong (rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves). According to the stuffing, the zong includes rice zong, meat zong, cowpea zong and black date zong. According to the shapes, there are hexagonal zong, triangle zong and quadrangle zong. Accompanying the zongzi, six or nine dishes should be prepared, traditionally including large yellow croaker and braised pork in brown sauce, etc. The adults and children also drink realgar liquor. The liquor is also used to draw a Chinese character “王” (king) on the children’s foreheads or applied to the children’s ears, which is said to have the power of avoiding evil spirits and insects’ bites. The sword made of calamus and wormwood hang on every door to ward off evils and bad luck. Clam powder and realgar liquor are cast in the corners of the house to fend off bad luck and the poisonous animals like snakes or scorpions. It was the custom to give perfume sachets at the Duanwu Festival in the past. Women would embroider the patterns of flowers, birds, animals, insects, fishes and figures, etc on the sachets in the shapes of fruits, heart or circle and with fragrant herbs in. There were also sachets with only a camphor ball inside. The sachets are taken by the children or hang on the mosquito net to prevent insects and clean the air.
When it is getting scorching, it is the custom to eat yanggao cakes on the sixth of the sixth lunar month. Yanggao cakes are made from wheat flour or rice flour. It is more common to use wheat flour and brown sugar in the household. When the yanggao is ready, it is like a big plate with aroma, softness and good taste. The whole family would feast on the yanggao together with the dishes and soup.
The fifteenth of the seventh lunar month is said to be the spirit festival with the strong feature of superstition. Among the urban residents, the deceased and the ancestors would be worshiped by offering nine dishes, burning joss paper, lighting candles and joss sticks, and casting some offerings. After the ceremony, the family would share the offerings.
After the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, the Mid-autumn is just around the corner. The festival is observed on the sixteenth of the eighth lunar month in Linhai, when in addition to the moon cakes eaten all over the country, “soft cakes” would be steamed to be served as the staple food, which would be tasted together with nine dishes to celebrate the family’s reunion and the festival. The “soft cakes” are steamed with layers of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar featuring softness and sweetness.
On the ninth of the ninth lunar month, known as the Chongyang Festival or the Double Ninth Festival, Linhai natives would have chongyang cakes, which are made by steaming nine layers of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar with steamed Chinese chestnuts put inside and brown sugar syrup spread on the top. It will be served after being cut into pieces.
After the Double Ninth Festival, there are no festivals until the winter solstice. On the day, it is the custom to eat leiyuan balls in every household. The balls of the glutinous rice flour and the size of a small cup are steamed and then rolled in the mixture of fried bean flour and brown sugar. It is tasty and filling when eaten with various dishes.
Following the winter solstice is the Chinese New Year eve, when the rites of thanking the year are performed. The offerings usually include pig’s head, pork, fish (or died fish), chicken, shuijin cakes, steamed buns, dayubao (made of glutinous rice flour and weighing over 2.5 kg), bean noodles, rice, peanuts, and red dates, etc. The offerings will be consumed in the following days. On the day, the spring festival scrolls will be put up at the door of every household.
The staple food at the dinners on the New Year’s Eve may be different in each household, such as maiyouzi, shuijin cakes, zongzi, and steamed buns, but it is universal to prepare over ten dishes. The ancestors are worshiped before the family’s reunion dinner, which should be attended by all the family members without exception. After the dinner, another dish should be prepared with red dates put on the top for the beginning of the new year, which symbolizes the abundance in the whole year. The senior member of the family will give the children gift money to celebrate their being one year older. Next, the firecrackers will be set off in front of the door to bid farewell to the old year with the windows shut, which is called the “closing firecracker”. The lights should be kept on till dawn. The family usually sits around the stove to do “shousui” or stay up late or all night to show their cherishing the old year and the good wishes for the new year.
The unique festival diet is a reflection of the time-honored folk ways of primitive simplicity and the moral principles of worshiping and adoring ancestors, which have been strengthening the cohesion among the Linhai people, and the unique and abundant diet embodies the Linhai people’s diligence and intelligence.
