Holidays All Year Round

How Needle-Floating Rituals Bring out Patriarchy Practices in Chinese Holidays

If Chinese had a Valentine’s Day, it would be the Qixi Festival. Based on the legend between the Weaver Goddess and the cowhered––mythology of forbidden love, like that of Hades and Persephone––Qixi Festival provides an opportunity for young unwed women to gather together, worship the Weaver Goddess of love, and compete for dexterity. Qixi is unmistakably rooted in patriarchy: through the holiday, men could judge women’s ability to care for the house, subvert her to the role of homemaker, and value her only for her assets. Modern for a holiday yet traditional in its intention, Qixi is not only one of the earliest love festivals in the world, but a representation for the longing of women during this historical time period.

Romanticized illustrations of the Weaver Goddess, which young women often worship to. Illustration courtesy to Order of the White Moon

One of these arbitrary yet highly-implicit competitions engages women in needle-floating contests. This test of dexterity supposedly rules out daftness in the female entrants. This year, and approximately 4 centuries later, I decided to parttake on this contest to extrapolate my homemaker capabilities. Boys, listen up.

The Floating Needle Contest

The floating needle contest prevailed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties as a traditional Qixi custom, first recorded in Beijing Geographic 帝京景物略. The day before Qixi, young maidens concocted Yuan Yang water 鸳鸯水, a mix of water from different sources. They either poured half river water and half well water into a washbasin, or took halves from the same sources once in the morning and once at night. The water sat outdoors overnight and bathed under the sun the next morning. At noon of Qixi, awaiting hands tested their dexterity by taking turns to place an embroidery needle on the surface of Yuan Yang water. If the needle floated on top of the water, the woman flaunted a steady hand; if the needle sank, she was out of the game, and maybe even out of the waiting list of potential wives. But she shouldn’t lose her hope so soon: the needle created a shadow at the bottom of the washbasin that uncannily foreshadowed one’s future. If the shadow formed a pattern of clouds, flowers, birds, animals, or even elaborate objects such as a pair of shoes or scissors, she won prosperity and the blessing of happy marriage. Unfortunately, a simple straight line, whether thick as a club or thin as a string of silk, demonstrated insufficient dexterity to bring a promising future. Looks like I’m going to have to find my own means of socio economic self-efficiency.

At noon, I carried out bowls and several of my grandmother’s antique needles onto the patio floor. In order for the needle to cast a shadow in the water, the sun must directly shine over the bowl.

Balancing the needle on the water was more difficult than I expected. I’m uncertain if women were given the leeway to “cheat” a bit by using paper support underneath; ensuring that all the water molecules densify to create an elastic membrane for buoyancy is unattainable. So I caved and used paper, which was supposed to disintegrate and eventually fall into the water.

But even regular paper proved unworkable. I’m really not housewife material. I had to sneak 2-ply toilet paper out into the yard. Fortunately, toilet paper disintegrated while allowing the needle to remain on the surface of the water.

The shape of the shadow came out quite like amoebas or thick rods, despite multiple tries. I question how shadows forming into Nike Airforce 1s, Gucci handbags, clouds, tulips, and birds is biologically possible. Or maybe I’m just a sour loser for cheating and then losing the game.

This 21st-century pursuit of a 16th-century ritual served as an opportunity to reflect upon ancient patriarchal ideals and the draconian contests through which Chinese women could prove their worthiness. So meanwhile holidays demonstrate what’s celebrated by cultures, it also shows what isn’t. I think there’s some power to that.

Ancient “Gemistas” for the Greek Gods

By Evmorfia Kouri Vritzali, 11, Switzerland & Greece

For our fourth Holidays All World Round post, Grecian expat Evmorfia explores how Greek foods (ambrosias) intertwine with ancient mythology to produce the richest, most nutritious meals once only for gods. Then, she’ll lead you through one of these indulgent recipes herself, full––literally and figuratively––of flavor (nectar). Though cooked and consumed in Lefkadi, a small town on the west coast of Greece known best for its bluest beaches, Evmorfia’s grandmother’s gemistas will bring aromas of Greece anywhere in the world. Because in Greece, food isn’t simply fuel: it is culture, family, and blood––almost as sacrosanct as the gods.

Greeks love food and are definitely among the experts in the taste factor. This stems from their ancestors who connected food to gods. They loved their gods so much that they even made delicacies (ambrosia) to eat and drinks full of flavours (nectar) that only the gods could drink.

Many gods and goddesses had foods that they represented. Demeter and Persephone were the goddesses of bread. Ceres was the goddess of crops. Dionysus was the god of wine. Some of the ancient vegan Greek recipes have been passed on throughout the centuries so that the modern Greeks could proudly cook the delicious “ancient gemista,” a blend of tomatoes or big chubby green peppers stuffed with rice mixed with crops, leaves and spices or meat if you dare to break the vegan promise .

Below you will find the ingredients, ways of preparation, and baking times.

Gemista

INGREDIENTS:

Ripe tomatoes
6 peppers
Half kilo of minced meat
Tomato juice or tomato puree and water
2 teacups rice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 chopped onions
1 teaspoon chopped mint
One and a half teacups olive oil
Salt
Pepper

METHOD:

First wash the tomatoes and peppers. Then cut a thin round slice off the top of the tomatoes with a sharp knife and keep them aside. Scoop most of the tomato pulp out, with a teaspoon, and shred it finely. Cut the tops off the peppers and keep them aside. Then prepare the stuffing with the following way: Heat the oil in a cooking pan and saute the onions in it, until they look brown. Add the minced meat and let it saute for 10 minutes, stirring with a spoon all the time. Add the tomato pulp, the parsley, salt, pepper, the mint and some water and let them simmer for approximately one hour. Then wash and strain the rice. Add the rice to the stuffing mixture continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Fill the tomatoes and peppers, which you have arranged in a Pyrex dish or baking pan, with the prepared stuffing. Replace the previously saved tops of the tomatoes and peppers. Pour some tomato juice into the pan/dish and fill the gaps between the stuffed tomatoes and peppers with slices of potato. Bake it in a medium oven for approximately 40-45 minutes.

Bon appetite!

DIY Paper Lanterns: 3 ways

Despite the inexhaustible varieties of Chinese Holidays, one will always find a lantern hung up on a door frame or dancing underneath telephone lines. Bright red markers of Chinese celebration swing, lanterns customarily appear during Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and––omnipresently––during the Lantern Festival. It is the months between these imminent festivals that people scurry to purchase these lanterns on post-season sale or allot the time to make their own.

The History of Lanterns

Lanterns, the most significant custom of the Lantern and Mid-Autumn Festivals alike, are also the oldest. They began in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and were passed onto later generations. Lanterns beautify the streets with luminescent buds, provide a blank canvas for riddles, and utilize their own intimate language to allow loved ones to identify each other.

During ancient times, peasants held torches on the farm to drive out the insects and pests and pray for a good harvest. Ancient people also utilized “sky lanterns 放天灯” as war signals to signal peace after escaping from bandits. Gradually, the lanterns evolved into a folk activity to acknowledge one’s wishes. People fill the lanterns with prayers before releasing them into the sky, hoping for the lantern to reach heaven and receive infinite hope.

Materials

Glue and/or staple
Paper
Scissors
Optional: pens, colored pencils, or watercolor paint for decoration

Act 1: The Multicolored Monarch

Cut strip off side of paper. Reserve it: this will be the lantern handle later on.
Fold the larger piece in half.

2. Starting from the folded-crease-side, cut strips almost until you reach the end. The thinness of the strips will depend on your aesthetic preferences. In the picture depicted left, I aimed for skinny strips.

3. Open up the fold, and staple both ends of the page (portrait/hotdog).

4. To enliven the lantern with more multidimensionality, I inserted a tube of purple-colored paper, letting several inches hang underneath. I stapled the outer shell and the tube together.

5. Cut the leftover paper into strips to create the hanging lantern “string” effect.

Act 2: Rounded-Out Regal

This paper lantern takes on a less angular and stringy approach, but still can tussle in the wind.

Start out with two different colored pieces of paper. Cut one into roughly even strips. Roll the other one into a tube.
I glued two strips to the ends of the tube, but this step could be done at the end as well.

3. I added simple Chinese characters in the traditional top-to-bottom style. I wrote out roughly four festivals during which my family hangs up lanterns: Lantern Festival 元宵节, Chinese New Year 春节, The Winter Solstice 冬至, and Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节.

4. Glue the end of a strip to both ends of the tube. Continue until you finish all strips.

Once finished, for cleanliness, reserve two strips to glue over the uneven ends.

Act 3: Noodle Bowl Knight

This is the simplest, most basic version, but begs the most artistic creativity: noodle magic. This lantern mimics a classic noodle bowl you may find in any Asian restaurant, where the lantern slivers act as noodles pulling out of a bowl.

Alternate Noodle Bowl Knight with yellow-wer, let’s call it *with egg* noodles.

I hope you enjoyed making these minimal, yet dangerously delightful lanterns. Engage with you soon, my fellow asthetes!

Up Helly Aa (Up Holy Day)

by Ming Sandford, 20, Shetland Islands

For our third Holidays All World Round Post, we’ll voyage to the Shetland Islands, an isolated archipelago amid the tepid waters of the North Sea. Yes, this is the breeding ground for Shetland Terrier sheepdogs, but also the birthplace of something larger: Up Helly Aa, or Up Holy Day. Exploring her Asian-Scottish experience through the lense of holiday history and customs, Ming Sandford reevaluates her own connectivity with the Shetland Islands.

Every year, on the last Friday of February typically with sharp northerly wind and rain, twenty or so children trek along the single-track road of Cullivoe, bundled up in winter jackets, proudly holding their own handmade viking shields. A couple of teachers running around keeping the line orderly and chasing after any shield escaping in the wind. Rosy cheeks and bright smiles, they sing the old Norse ‘Up Helly Aa song’ on repeat until they reach the local bus garage where at long last the galley boat is revealed. This is how my Up Helly Aa day started for all my seven years of primary school.

The name Up Helly Aa (Up Holy Day) refers to the twelve fire festivals that are celebrated around Shetland to mark the end of the holiday season. One of these festivals takes place in the village I grew up in called Cullivoe located on an island of Shetland called Yell. Up Helly Aa consists of a viking squad, a galley, guizers and burning torches. Every year one man within the community is elected as the Jarl (the head viking). It is an honour to be the Jarl and a lot of time and money is spent in preparation of the squad’s costumes (commonly made from seal skins and feathers) along with their galley. The galley is built in secret and designed to the preferences of the Jarl but always has the signature dragons head proudly at the forefront. The Chinese dragon boat festival is comparable to this. However, unlike the Chinese dragon design which has been handed down for thousands of years. The Up Helly Aa version is more cartoonish and may have been inspired by the Chinese dragon more than the actual traditional Nordic viking ship.

Once we reached the garage, one by one, each of us would be lifted up into the brightly painted galley boat, chattering to each other and waving at our parents taking photos. We would ride on the galley back to school whereupon the viking squad and community were welcomed in for tea, coffee and fancies. The Jarl squad would also go around the elderly people’s houses to bring the celebration to them and take photos. The respect for old folk here is similar to that of the Chinese culture. The village atmosphere would always be buzzing with excitement for the long night of festivities ahead.

Cullivoe Up Helly Aa — School day celebrations in Cullivoe

The main event of Up Helly Aa begins with the torchlit procession. The guizers are people from all over Yell who participate in squads and perform comedic sketches to the Jarl squad and community at the local hall. The guizers each carry a lit torch and march behind the galley and Vikings toward the marina. Singing, chanting and cheering is echoed into the black night sky lit up by the burning torches. The galley is set free into the water and in turn the guizers throw their torch into the galley where it burns. I would be watching from the top of the road with my classmates at this impressive sight and it was always my favourite part of the day. The air would smell fresh and smoky and you would feel the huge heat of the torches as they would pass.

Lerwick Up Helly Aa | Shetland.org — An extrapolation of Ming’s view from the top of the hill, in the Lerwick Up Helly Aa galley-torching ceremony.

Scalloway Fire Festival — Smaller Shetland islands––such as Cullivoe––produce smaller scale galley-torching ceremonies such as the one above.

After the procession we would be whisked back to the school where preparations for our own children’s squad would begin. For a couple months beforehand, we would practise our own short performance usually based on aspects of the Jarls life. Our squad was simple and feel-good but was always a favourite. To give some idea of the kind of things our squad was about here is a list of some of my characters throughout the years. I’ve been Minnie Mouse, a sailor, Trixie from Lazy Town and a circus performer just to name a few! The guizers squads are made up of groups of families and friends with old and young people alike, each performing their own dances, sketches and satirical skits. Usually wearing masks portraying different members of the community with many inside jokes in very broad Shetland dialect would leave the tourists in the audience very confused. These acts would last long into the early hours of the morning but as soon as they were over the band would appear and the dance would begin. Supper would be served at 2 am with plenty of cold reestit mutton, lentil soup, bannocks, fancies and tea. After that more dancing and music until the last people standing may only leave the hall at 6-8 am. This endless night of celebrating is often fueled by lots and lots of alcohol.

Traditional Shetland Reestit Mutton Soup Recipe | Elizabeth's ... — Reestit mutton soup. Recipe by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.

Once leaving my primary school I only ever attended Up Helly Aa a couple more times. Perhaps for the reason because it is a very family-oriented festival rooted in Shetland tradition. For many families it brings back loved ones from studies and jobs all over the world. A reunion where time can be spent together having fun just like Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice. My family isn’t from Shetland and Up Helly Aa would reinforce to me that I wasn’t strongly tied to this festival like so many of my Shetland friends. I never felt out-cast, but I don’t have the emotional connection to it. Similarly, I most likely wouldn’t feel truly part of the Chinese festivals either. I suppose being from two different ethnic backgrounds I won’t ever feel like I belong to either one of them fully, but I am fortunate that I can experience a bit of both.

About the Author

Ming Sanford, daughter of proclaimed artists Meilo So and Ron Sandford, has found an art of her own: writing. The Hongkongnese-British 20-year-old currently resides in Cullivoe on Yell. Read more of her work on the New Shetlander, including a fantasy tale set in New York.

Slovak Easter

by John Petrik, Connecticut USA

For our second Holidays All World Round Post, let’s welcome John Petrik, a Slovakian immigrant now residing on the shores of Lake Zoar in Norwalk, Connecticut. Easter, a holiday popularized by easter egg hunts and retail clearance sales, diversify in regions of Europe. Slovak Easter brings an abundant of unique rituals richer than Cadbury chocolate eggs.

The Holy Days start on Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus, with Easter baskets filled with kolbasi, colored boiled eggs, smoked ham, and a special bread called paska.

Paska - Traditional Slovak Easter Bread | Delight Baking — Paska and colored boiled eggs

Easter in Slovakia: Whipping and Watering Women - Almost Bananas — A dish with kolbasi, boiled eggs, smoked ham, and paska.

On Saturday night, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, we would get up at about 11 PM to attend church at midnight. There would be a special parade through the isles of the church carrying various religious items and an icon of Jesus chanting “Christos Voskrest”. The priest would bless our Easter basket by sprinkling them with holy water. The priest would repeat “Christos Voskrest” meaning “Christ Is Risen” from the dead.

Christos Voskrest means Christ is Risen. The pronunciation diversifies from different Eastern European countries.

After the mass we would go home and “pig out,” eating all the blessed food. This includes more boiled eggs, deviled eggs, kolbasi, paska, cirak (Slovak Easter Cheese), and an assortment of desserts blessed by the priest.

Do not visit Slovakia during Easter before you read this! — Blessed midnight “pig out”

On Easter Monday, men supposedly throw pails of water on single women and proceed to whip them––that is, in the foreign imagination. In fact, when you first search up Slovak Easter, images and videos of this intriguing activity arise. However, having been raised in Slovakia during the mid-20th century, I never heard of Slovak men throwing water on single womens’ back and spanking them. I guess this shows that culture evolves over time acquire new traditions, loose old traditions, and even bring back old traditions that are antiquated and more absurd.

It was great to review my past, as I don’t celebrate my religion’s holidays any more. I still believe in the customs and traditions of Slovak Easter, though my children, who are now married and have their families, celebrate differently. I should mention this is a Slovak custom, so other Ethnic customs may be celebrated differently across different geographical regions.

Onam Festival

by Jen a.k.a. Haute Mommy, California USA

Onam: Discover What Makes It The Grandest Spectacle In India ... — Photo credits to Oyo

Welcome Jen, blogger owner of The Haute Mommy Handbook . Residing in California but native to Kerala, India, Jen writes on motherhood, culture, and raising culturally appreciative and aware children. For our first Holidays All World Round post, a column for guests of diverse cultures to discuss their traditional holidays, Jen will share the customs and origin of the Onam Festival.

An important cultural tradition in my family comes from the state of Kerala, located on the southwestern coast of India. It is known as Onam, and these 10 days are considered as the beginning of the New Year by the locals, according to the traditional calendar. On the Gregorian calendar, Onam falls somewhere between August and September every year.

According to Hindu mythology, King Mahabali was a kind, generous, and just ruler. He was a firm devotee of the god Vishnu, and so beloved by his people that even the gods began to feel jealous of the king’s popularity and began to scheme against him.

They approached Vishnu and asked him to test Mahabali’s devotion to him. Vishnu appeared to Mahabali as a dwarf, or Vamana. Generous Mahabali, when he asked Vamana what he wished for, was told that he only wanted “three paces of land”. When the king granted this, Vamana grew to an enormous height, placing one foot over the whole earth, and the second covering the sky.

“Where shall I put my foot next?” asked Vishnu, testing Mahabali’s loyalty.

Mahabali, without hesitation, lowered his head, offering himself to the god. Because the king kept his promise, Vishnu granted him immortality. As a special favor, he allowed the king to visit his beloved people once a year, which is celebrated with great fanfare, as Onam.

Every year during the Onam festival, the spirit of King Mahabali is said to arrive, and colorful festivities and events are carried out in his honor.

Shopping centers will be bustling as families shop for new clothes during this time. The men will wear kasavu mundu and the women will wear Kerala kasavu saree. Both forms of traditional dress are made of cream-colored silk with a wide border of gold thread.

5 Dressing Tips for the Festival of Onam | Indian Fashion Mantra

Back at home, women and girls in a family will work together to create beautiful designs for a pookkalam, which are first intricately drawn with chalk, and then filled in with dried flower petals. These circular floral designs will usually be found at the front door or courtyard of one’s home.

Other cultural activities include boat races cheered on by the locals from the riverbank, kathakali performances where mythological stories are enacted through hand gestures and facial expressions, and puli kali (tiger dance), where dancers will dress as tigers and perform for gathered crowds.

What Is India's Onam Festival? — Photo credits to Culture Trip

On the last day of the Onam holidays is when the Onasadya (Onam feast) takes place. This nine-course vegetarian meal is traditionally served on a banana leaf. Some food items include various vegetables, coconut chutney, papadam, lime pickle, and banana chips, served with a generous helping of rice. Dessert is typically payasam, a sweet liquid made with milk, vermicelli, and cashews and flavored with cardamom.

The Onam festival is one that the people of Kerala look forward to all year long. Although it has roots in Hinduism, people of all religious backgrounds enjoy coming together to celebrate this most auspicious holiday of the return of this most beloved king.

About the Author

Hi there, I’m Jen! I have always enjoyed visual communications and writing ever since my school spelling bee days. With a background in both English and graphic arts, I am passionate about both the written word and good design.

When I’m not blogging, playing wife, mom (to my daughters Pumpkin + Peanut), international politics aficionado, or wannabe fashionista, I can be found soaking in the natural beauty of the outdoors on walks as an avid nature lover. And yes, talking—a lot.

No-Steam, No-Bake Red Bean Cake: Summer Edition

Summers are hot, the canned tea sweating and the crickets screeching, sizzling, and hissing throughout the night. Summers bring the true, raw form of everyone; it is a time to tell stories of cooler, drier days while snacking on something chilled.

My mom still remembers my da da 大大(grandfather) and my da yi ye 大姨爷 (grand-uncle) returning home from a hot city day carrying a pastry box labeled Mei Li Hua, a vintage Cantonese bake shop in Chinatown Manhattan. It was this sight that cooled, calmed, and refreshed her: if eaten immediately, the bouncy red bean gao 糕 inside could avoid succumbing to room temperature, respite the 10 minute train-ride home. The restaurant shut down before I could even reach for the fork, so, for 17 years, my mother has attempted and failed to duplicate this Tang-beloved chill red bean gao. She could not make the magic happen before my da da and da yi ye passed, until, that is, today.

She encountered a Chinese cooking site called bilibili 哔哩哔哩, where Chinese home cooks post recipes and, unbeknownst to her, illegal piraters post episodes of anime and Chinese dramas. When a cook named Uncle Twelfth 十二叔 started mixing pea flour with red bean––lauding the dish for its refreshing qualities––euphoria flooded my mother, the thick and starchy blend hardening to cool thick squares, snacks of her childhood reappearing on the screen. After several trials of refining and remaking to cater to ingredients found in North America, my mother taste-tested the gao, swiftly sliced a huge piece, packed it, and drove straight to my Hao puo 好婆 grandma’s apartment. Da Da‘s definitely pecking on that slice, slicing off too much and getting scolded at by Da Yi Ye, in heaven. Here it is.

First, A Gastronomical Explanation of Pea Starch

Requiring no oven or steamer, this sweet red bean cake sets itself into an elastic gelatinous cake form and consistency all because of a magical ingredient enjoyed by thousands of five-year-old kids throughout the world: pea starch.

It is important to distinguish pea starch from pea flour and pea protein. Do not go blending a bag of dried peas in a food processor thinking you will attain a thin, sifty powder; you will instead receive more a pea-nut butter. Wear a mask, drive to your local or online Asian supermarket, and buy yourself a bag of “pea starch”. Pea starch is inexpensive yet essential for this recipe: pea starch’s viscosity facilitates gelatinization with its starch dosage. Because of its neutral taste and color, pea starch also provides the texture without the veggie-taste.

Pea starch is commonly used in glass noodles and gummy confectionaries because it can gelatinize at a higher temperature. Evidently in our recipe, pea starch helps to set our gao 糕 conveniently at room temperature.

Ingredients

Red bean 300 g
Water 1500 g (to cook red bean)
Pea Starch 150 G
Water 250 g (to mix with pea starch)
1 C Sugar
One 8″x8″ container
Oil to spray container

Preparation

1. Soak red beans in a big pot with 1500 g water overnight.

2. On the next day, cook the red bean until boil. Turn the flame on low, cook for 45 minutes until the red bean softens. To test: when you squeeze the fully cooked red bean between two fingers, it should be smashed very easily, though I caution that the beans may be hot. Preserve 1000 g red bean soup in the pot, add water if in deficit.

3. In a separate medium bowl, combine 150 g pea starch with 250 g cold water, stirring well. Pea starch thickens at the bottom of the bowl easily, so scoop wide rotations.

4. Make sure you stir the starchy batter before you carefully and slowly pouring it into the simmering pot of red bean and soup, stir the red bean at the same time, cook them for 1 minute. Add in sugar, stir and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, you will feel the red bean soup thicken and becomes sticky. Turn off the flame.

Sticky texture

5. Pour the sticky red bean mixture into a greased container. Place the container in a water bath to cool. When it completely cools, the batter turns bouncy, elastic, but firm to touch at surface, signifying that it is fully set. Separate the gao from the side of container, flip it out, slice it into the desired size.

6. Please leave a slice for Da Da.

Summer Self-Healing Tea

On our second Here’s The Tea post––exploring herbal medicine and its many holistic and clinical alleviations––we will be brewing a self-help book in a cup. Yes, the herb xià kū cǎo 夏枯草 directly translates to “self-heal”, or otherwise known as Prunella Vulgaris. Doesn’t this sound like some Disney princess movie villain, one with water and seaweed and involving an oppressed mermaid? Well, that movie is the Little Mermaid, and the villain’s name was none other than Ursulla. The self-heal herb actually looks like Ursulla’s garden of seaweed in the film. But you will sure be feeling under the sea with this tea.

Prunella Vulagaris falls under the fire-purging classification of Chinese herbal medicine because of its ability to treat redness and inflammation of the eyes or infections of the skin. It is also known for regulating the circulation of qi––or the Chinese holistic belief in your body’s inner vital energy––to reduce accumulations and masses; being of light nature, it is especially used for accumulations such as thyroids in the upper body (chest, throat, and head).

Ingredients

1.5 Cups of dried Self-heal herb
6 Cups of water
½ cup Rock candy

Rinse Self-heal herb clean, soak in water for 10 minutes. Drain.
In a big pot, combine self-heal herb and 6 cups of cold water, bringing to a boil. Then, turn to low flame, cook for 30 minutes.
Throw in the rock candy, turn off the flame, keep it covered for another 20 minutes.
Remove the self-heal herb from pot. Cool the pot of liquid in cold water bath. Pour it into jug when cools. Refrigerate.

A Melting Pot

HolidaysAllYearRound.com, as you know it, is evolving. Since our launch in 2019, I have focused on Chinese Holiday legends, dishes, and customs. Don’t worry––I will still be posting content, spilling rice everywhere in my kitchen and typing up recipes on my computer with red bean paste staining my keyboard. But now––especially during these times when cultural awareness is so important and ever the more intriguing––guest writers from all over the world are invited to write about their cultural traditions, celebrations, and identities. That includes you.

The website acts not only as a Chinese Holiday hub but a platform for broader cultural awareness. Cooking, eating, celebrating, and writing work in concert. Because holidays are subconscious practices of culture, you might not realize that they form a lot of our cultural embrace and understanding. But reflecting upon it on the page facilitates that realization.

I think it’s also important to mention that there’s been quite some drama on the online food scene. The Stew. The Kimchi. The New Way to Eat Ramen. These prolific, industry-defining titles highlighting the potency of cultural dishes have linked to all but white chefs. When the cultural food scene is dominated by mainstreamers and underrepresented with BIPOC chefs, the only aroma that comes through is white-washed content that tokenizes cultural ingredients and revels the praise. I want various people of color to stand up for themselves and canonize their ingredients.

This is a melting pot, a stew of diverse ingredients. It’s a lot of flavor and a lot of perspective. You’ll want to dig in.

Zongzi. (But you’re going to learn a little bit more than rice oragami.)

Part 1: Learn About the History

Two weeks ago, Adam Rapoport, the Editor-in-Chief and food media mogul of Bon Appetit, resigned from his position. While the apparent cause was the resurfacing of a culturally appropriating halloween costume, this minute fumble opened up a whole can of beans. It really cut the cheese not just for Rapoport, but other famous white chefs such as Alison Roman of the New York Times Cooking, as well as once beloved Bon Appetit Test Kitchen staff. Many chefs were accused of “Columbusing” cultural ingredients, connoting Christopher Colombus who happened to “discover” the Americas that had actually thrived centuries before without him. So why am I starting a Dragonboat zongzi recipe with the fresh roots of a rumor weed? Food is inherently political. Food––for many, a sense of relief––may subjugate marginalized groups. Though holiday foods reunite families over tables, it may also tear people apart.

Image may contain Bowl Plant Food Dish Meal Vegetable and Produce — The thumbnail of Bon Appetit’s rescinded pho video from 2017. The producers compared pho to ramen, the Japanese noodle soup that pho has nothing to do with. They then layered onto the title: “PSA: This Is How You Should Be Eating Pho.”

As a cultural anthropologist and Asian food writer, this is what I think: as long as we educate ourselves on the history of the ingredient and appreciate it for what it is rather than what is can do for us, we should only but constantly discover what other cultures have to offer. Food is a way to both understand how food has shaped humans and how humans have shaped it.

The History of Zongzi

Only during the Jin Dynasty were zongzi designated as the official festival food, though the custom fell to earlier and more frequent times. As early as the Spring & Autumn Period (770 – 476 BC), cooks wrapped rice with loquat leaves into a horn shape or filled bamboo tubes with rice. These envelopes compressed the ingredients, provided a non-stick surface, and fed the rice aromatic tones. During the Han Dynasty, people soaked millets in alkaline ash water and formed square shapes. Because of the alkaline millets’ popularity in the Guangdong Province, the region earned the title “Guangdong alkaline zongzi 广东碱水粽”. The Tang Dynasty used purely white rice and tapered the shape to a diamond. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material shifted from loquat leaves to bamboo leaves.

While shapes and materials evolved over time, so did the flavors. Innovators enhanced the simplicity by adding dense ingredients, juxtaposing the lightness of the rice with poultry meat and chestnuts, or the sweet notes of red dates and red beans.

Every year in early May, households gather to wrap Zongzi, a cultural experience and a delectable one for the mouth, and exchange these bundles of care and thoughtfulness as gifts. Zongzi now feature all dynastic shapes, including soft-edged and angular triangles and squares. Sweet and savory still dominate the flavors– but similar to how different time period favored particular forms, different regions now host distinct fillings. Jujube dates plug zongzi of the North, whereas mung bean, pork belly, bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms, and egg yolk spread Southern dining tables with a meal for the whole family, even your picky aunt. The only epidemic that spread around the country and occupied the stomach were zongzi, which has spread to North Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries.

Triangles of glutinous rice deliver soft fatty sensations to the tongue, encasing a rich history and variety.
a lyrical ode to zongzi, sung by me

Part 2: Understand the Ingredients

30-35 bamboo leaves or zongye. Don’t go Colombusing for bamboo leaves in your local Asian supermarket and call it the next Keto taco shell. It is often used as a wrapping for many Chinese dishes, specifically holiday ones such as the Green Dumpling of Qingming Festival; meanwhile, it also infuses the floral, fragrantly herbal aroma into sticky rice.
1 lb. pork belly, so fatty that the oil smothers the rice
3 links of sausages, again for the animal fat
3.5 oz chestnuts: a lionized nut from the Chinese. Once roasted, it sensationalizes the meaty flavor with a sweeter, nutty note.
1/2 cup of dried shrimp: used most often to flavor vegetable dishes.
1 cup of dried mushroom: once you soak these mushrooms, a whole new flavor forms. It gives the zongzi a stout chewiness that contrasts the pull-apart texture of the pork, as well as the qq_{Taiwanese term for chewy} texture of the rice.
3 C rice
1/2 cup dried shallots
2 tbs cane sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp five spice powder
1/4 C soy sauce

Part 3: Let’s do it

In order to achieve a soft, chewy texture without overcooked strings of meat, follow a sequential order. This timely mise-en-place will formalize and familiarize you with the recipe.

Prepare the bamboo leaves

Soak in water overnight, use a clean cloth to clean each of them.

Boil the leaves for 5 minutes in a pot water with salt. Rinse with cold water.

Trim off the stems, store in a seal plastic bag to keep them moist.
Make the sauce

Soak the dried shrimp in water.

After about an hour, mix 4 TBS of soaking water with the soy sauce, then add sugar, salt, and five spice powder. Stir well.

Give it a whirl!
Prepare the rice

Wash and rinse the rice. Soak it in water for 2 hours.

Soak

Rinse

Cook

Preheat non-stick pan on low heat. Add 2 TBS of oil, add rice, stir fry for 3 minutes; add water so rice won’t stick to the pan, transfer to a bowl.
Cook the filling

Brown the pork and sausages in the well-oiled pan.

After browning, add shrimp and shallots.

Add the sauce mixture, cook until a small amount of liquid remains.

Add mushroom and chestnuts, continuing to stir fry until the ingredients glisten, a signal of complete caramelization. Set aside in a bowl.
Prepare the strings

Cut 12 cotton strings 27 inch-long each.

Gather all 12 strings, tie a loop knot on one end, then securely hang them on a hook, a refrigerador door, or a cabinet knob.
Wrap the zongzi

Pick 2 leaves, overlap them one over the other––shiny side up, tip to stem, and small one on top. Fold the 2 leaves into a cone shape (think about the rainbow ice you purchase at the beach ice cream vending machine, that wide and deep of a cone).

Add 2 TBS rice, pack them down, then add 2 TBS pre-cooked fillings, top them with more rice. Pack everything them down with four flat fingers.

Rice

Filling

Rice

Carefully fold the top leaves over the rice, fold in the sides, and fold down the extra part of leave.

While holding the zongzi, go to the hanging string, place the zongzi half way of the string, wrapping the string around once, tug till it is snug, go around once more, them tie a knot.

Christmas wreath
Cook the zongzi

In a big pot with boiling water, drop the dozen of zong zi and their strings in the water, cover, boil for 1.5 hours, add water if needed. The zongzi should be submerged underneath the water level. Once done, take zongzi out on a plate to cool.
Serve & Store

Cut the string, peel off the bamboo leaves, and serve with chilly sauce if you like.

If you would like to store it, zongzi can be kept in the fridge up to one week, or freezer in freezer bag for up to one month.

Part 4: Review

I hope this experience was as culturally immersive as it was fun for all of you. From now on, and in tangent with my Celebrate Together Movement, I aim to reproduce this rich cultural history of ingredients and food. While holiday foods always accompany a story, it’s not only imperative but merely intellectually engaging to learn about these stories and better understand how food has shaped cultures and people.

What have you learned? Let me know in the comments section or contact me wang.v.michaela@gmail.com