For thousands of years, how has "eating moon cakes" become ceremonial step by step?
Beijing, Sept. 13 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) In people’s expectation, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming. Undoubtedly, "reunion" is an important connotation of Mid-Autumn Festival, and moon cakes are an effective connection point and carrier of this connotation. Since ancient times, people have long been used to buying some moon cakes when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes and sharing them with their families.
In fact, with the passage of time, moon cakes have gradually evolved from an ordinary food to a special seasonal delicacy of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and "eating moon cakes" has gradually been given a sense of ceremony.
Data map. Photo by Wang Zhongju
N possibilities about the origin of moon cakes
Moon cakes, the most famous "online celebrity" food in Mid-Autumn Festival, are a symbol of reunion.
However, there have been various legends about its origin. There is a saying that moon cakes originated from the food used by the Tang army to celebrate their achievements. At that time, general Li Jing led a great army to conquer the Huns, and the day when he returned victorious happened to be August 15th.
Knowing that the Tang army had won the battle, a business Tubo presented delicious cakes to Tang Gaozu Li Yuan to celebrate. Li Yuan was very happy. He took the round cake, looked at the bright moon in the sky and said, "We should invite toads to the Hu cake", and then shared it with the ministers. This is the embryonic form of the moon cake.
The other way of saying it is a little romantic. According to legend, during the reign of Xuanzong in the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji was enjoying the moon on an autumn night, and Taoist Luo Gongyuan used magic to invite Xuanzong to visit the Moon Palace with him.
When she arrived at Guanghan Palace, Chang ‘e asked the maids to hold sweet and delicious fairy cakes to entertain Tang Xuanzong, and asked the fairies to perform a rare dance for the guests. After returning to the world, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered people to copy them one by one according to what they saw and heard in the Moon Palace. Since then, there has been a "moon cake" in the shape of a full moon.
Of course, it is also said that the production of moon cakes is related to the legend of "the Goddess Chang’e flying to the moon". But basically, many related legends are just people’s guesses about the origin of moon cakes.
Data Map: People queue up in the rain to buy fresh meat moon cakes. Yin Liqin
"Moon cakes" with different shapes in history.
It is generally believed that the origin of moon cakes is related to people’s worship of the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival, which was passed down from generation to generation, and later formed the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Some data also show that during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, a kind of "Taishi cake" was popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, which was very similar to the embryonic form of early moon cakes: the edge was thin and the center was thick, to commemorate Taishi Wen Zhong.
However, until the Song Dynasty, moon cakes were not called "moon cakes". During the Northern Song Dynasty, when the royal family spent the Mid-Autumn Festival, they liked to eat a kind of "palace cake", commonly known as "small cake" and "moon group", which was round like the moon. According to Su Shi, the crust is wrapped in maltose and ghee, which tastes sweet and delicious.
The word "moon cake" appeared in Wu Zimu’s book "Dream Liang Lu" in the Southern Song Dynasty, but the moon cake in the Song Dynasty is actually quite ordinary, not a specific food for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and can be eaten at ordinary times. At that time, the moon cakes were rhombic, and existed at the same time as chrysanthemum cakes, plum cakes and five-kernel cakes.
The real description of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival was not recorded until the West Lake Tour Club in the Ming Dynasty: "August 15th is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the folks take moon cakes as a legacy to get together." The moon cakes of the Ming Dynasty are also fixed in the shape of the common prototype now. Gradually, it was given the meaning of "reunion".
In the Ming dynasty, the value of moon cakes was also rising. Ingenious bakers can make patterns of the Goddess Chang’e flying to the moon’s fairy tales and print them on moon cakes. Sometimes they make large moon cakes with a diameter of two feet.
Data map. Anyuan photo
The taste of moon cakes in Qing dynasty is better than before. For example, Yuan Mei mentioned a kind of crispy moon cake in Suiyuan Food List, which is filled with pine nuts, walnuts, melon seeds, rock sugar and lard. It tastes sweet and fragrant. Yang Guangfu, a Qing dynasty, wrote that "moon cakes are filled with peach stuffing and ice cream is made of sugar cream", which is a bit like modern moon cakes.
Fancy moon cakes: what about alternative fillings?
Nowadays, due to factors such as raw materials and preparation methods, moon cakes have gradually formed different types, such as Beijing style, Soviet style and Guangdong style. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival comes every year, all kinds of moon cakes on the market have become a special landscape.
Among them, stuffing and dough have long broken through the stereotype of people many years ago. In addition to the familiar fresh meat and cloud-legged moon cakes, there are durian moon cakes with skin and flowing milk yellow moon cakes. Some merchants will also make moon cakes into various flower shapes, which are no longer traditional circles.
In the above-mentioned moon cakes, some eye-catching types are occasionally mixed in, mainly reflected in the stuffing. For example, rattan pepper beef, spicy crayfish moon cakes, and "snail powder" moon cakes and so on.
Data Map: "Mask" moon cakes quickly became popular. Photo by Zhong Xin
Wenchuang moon cake is a popular type recently. Needless to say, all kinds of moon cakes produced by the Forbidden City, Suzhou Museum has a gift box of glutinous crystal moon cakes — — Mooncakes are made of five animal images, namely, three-legged toad, deer, too few lion, double badger and elephant. The "mask" moon cake produced by Sanxingdui Museum was once popular.
In terms of size, oversized moon cakes appear from time to time. Previously, in a business district in Chongqing, a huge moon cake attracted many people’s attention. It is reported that the moon cake weighs over 100 Jin and sells for 28,000 RMB.
Therefore, consumers will sigh, "Today’s moon cakes are really dazzling".
"Ritual Sense" in a Moon Cake
Although a variety of new moon cakes have been appearing in recent years, the report "Development Trend of China Moon Cake Industry in 2019" published earlier shows that traditional products and traditional tastes will still be the mainstream in terms of categories.
It has been said that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a cultural symbol of reunion in Chinese for thousands of years, and moon cakes are the connection point of reunion, which has irreplaceable symbolic significance. Throughout the ages, although the holiday customs may be slightly different, people have long been used to buying some moon cakes to taste with their families when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes.
Data map. Photo by Deng Longhua
For example, "Meditation on the Records" said: "In August, begonia and Hosta flowers were enjoyed in the palace. From the first day of the first lunar month, there are mooncake sellers, and on the 15th, every family offers mooncakes, melons and fruits. If there are any moon cakes left, they should be collected in a dry and cool place and used separately at the end of the year, which is called reunion cake. "
"The history of moon cakes is actually relatively short, and it was given ‘ Reunion ’ The theme is not long. " Wang Juan, an associate professor of Peking University and a folklore scholar, said that the Mid-Autumn Festival originally appeared late, and the content of festival customs was much less than that of Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Spring Festival. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that eating moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival was fixed as a custom.
As the years passed, "eating moon cakes" became quite ceremonial. Feng Jicai, a famous scholar, once said that the ancients created very complete and strict festivals and customs, such as ceremonies, celebrations, regulations, taboos, and even specific entertainment, decoration and food, to turn the festival day into a unique day.
"The ritual of eating moon cakes is new, but it conforms to China ‘ Family reunion ’ The traditional concept. Therefore, although compared with other festivals such as Qingming Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the custom of eating moon cakes are all compared ‘ New ’ However, because it expresses an ancient concept, the symbolic meaning has been established and is still of great significance today. " Wang Juan said. (End)