Duck Mother at Dragon Boat Festival

Many of the Dragon Boat Festival customs in my hometown are the same as those in other places. ——Wang Zengqi

? The Gaoyou duck eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival written by Mr. Wang Zengqi are so salty yet fine and not too oily. The tenderness of Gaoyou duck eggs is refreshing to read, as if I am in Gaoyou, tasting double yellow duck eggs; the saliva of "Twelve Reds" is gurgling; "I am honored to have a reader like me".

? During the Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown, many customs are the same as those in other places. My hometown is Suixi, Guangdong, in southern Guangdong. The Dragon Boat Festival custom in Suixi is to plant mugwort leaves. The folk proverb says: "Putting willows during the Qingming Festival and planting mugwort at the Dragon Boat Festival." This makes sense. During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household must insert "Cornus" to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters.

Ai, also known as mugwort. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. The peculiar aroma it produces can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants, and purify the air. What's more, in the villages in the countryside of Suixi, at the dawn of the Dragon Boat Festival, the adults would always put some mugwort leaves and calamus in a small washbasin to wash the little boy's face. I recall that when I was a child, on that day, my mother would always "force" me to draw a "big painted face" in the basin. Then, as I trotted to the door, I would want to reach out and touch the moxa leaves that were just out of reach. I was curious. The moxa leaves were hanging in the small smoke stove next to the two door gods.

According to the "Suixi County Chronicles": "On the Dragon Boat Festival, people eat wine and eat corn millet to recommend their ancestors, hang moxa and tiger on the door, and drink realgar and calamus wine, which is called to ward off evil spirits." The Dragon Boat Festival in Leizhou Peninsula has a hot climate Miasma is easy to occur, and realgar is a traditional Chinese medicinal material that has the effect of detoxifying and sterilizing, so drinking realgar wine became a Suixi Dragon Boat Festival custom at that time. ?

However, as time has changed, the old customs have been blown away by the spring breeze. The childlike atmosphere of that time has also passed away with the popularity of smart phones and the increasing popularity of the Internet.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, in addition to inserting mugwort leaves, there is also Suixi’s own unique custom of stuffing rice dumplings. However, this year, many areas already have it, especially the famous Zhongshan Ludou Zongzi. , but Suixi people like to write different things in the stuffing. This is the difference of Suixi Ludou Zong.

The most popular name for Ludou Zongzi in Suixi is "Duck Mother" Zongzi. The "Duck Mother" of the Dragon Boat Festival can walk. The "Duck Mother" in Suixi is smaller in stature, with a square front and a sharp horn at the back. It has a unique shape, like an awl.

? In the corners of every village in Suixi, you can see reed bags growing everywhere. Therefore, on the fourth day of May, young men and aunts in the hometown will go to the roadside where cattle are grazing to collect this pure reed bag. Natural and pollution-free "pandan", it is said that when you meet a big farmer driving cattle, you will always exchange a few words, and the song will spread far away:

Hold a cowboy Beibibi,

Rush to the head of the field to raise the tail.

Passers-by ask how much it costs,

No one asks for money when they come to cook.

? Let go of the cowboy's burden and bite the fragrant reed dumplings with your mouth. A strong fragrance floats out along the eaves of the wall, and the neighbor's geese wail one after another, making the weather better. From top to bottom, the hot midsummer and sunny evenings are not so irritating. At that time, he would always meet Uncle who came back from the fields to ask for a drink of water. The cool air in the water in the well made his throat smoother.

? The crow of the rooster must be the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival, and it’s time for every household to get up and make rice dumplings.

? Ludou Zong has thorns and is difficult to carry. Use a knife to cut off the thorns on both sides into long strips. Each leaf can be divided into two small pieces, which can make about one reedou rice dumpling, except for other shapes. When you were a child, you had to learn how to make reedou rice dumplings as adults. The reed pockets need to be lightly dried for half a day, otherwise the reed pockets will have too much water and will break easily. Ludou rice dumplings are wrapped in a typical "pyramid triangle" shape. That's why we call it "duck mother" because it looks like a mother duck.

There are also bags in the shape of a "school bag", but they are shoulder bags. They need to fold the reed bag repeatedly, which requires skilled bag making skills, but according to the old man, it is not difficult. Laughing at myself, I haven't learned this easy method of making rice dumplings yet.

The "duck mother" needs to be cylindrical, with two ends staggered, a straight mouth, half of the corners, about 60 degrees, turning and moving, stretching and flexing, with reed leaves dancing lightly on the fingertips of adults, and its tail swaying gently , the "reed pocket outfit" on the manhole cover is the funniest and most nostalgic one.

The stuffing of the "Duck Mother" reed dumplings in my hometown has the characteristics of my hometown. In the old days, Wang Xie was not the swallow in front of the hall, but the clams beside the earth wall, in the swamp, and under the fence.

The scientific name of Toad is False Konjac, also known as Ha Konjac and Bibozi. Clam leaves have the effects of dispelling wind and cold, promoting qi and relieving pain, reducing swelling and activating the collaterals. When I was a child, the clam rice was a specialty in my hometown.

? The rice dumplings and rice dumplings I eat in Guangzhou now always lack the refreshing aroma of clams. I always feel like something is missing.

? Time passed little by little, Uncle Sun was woken up by us, Aunt Moon also got off work, when moxa leaves were inserted into the door god's nose by mistake, it was time for the "duck mother" to add stuffing.

Combine Beibu Gulf’s unique pickled fish, fresh clam leaves, sausage, bacon, and other ingredients, soak them, and mix them with glutinous rice. . You can add seamount duck eggs or not, depending on your personal preference. Then, fill the rolled tube with glutinous rice and put the ingredients. The main meat must be as centered as possible, so that when it is cut, every small piece of rice dumpling can be guaranteed to have food. Enter from the intestines and gradually fill it with food. After filling it with food, seal the leaves. If necessary, tie the mouth with cotton thread.

? Generally, a large plate of more than ten kilograms of glutinous rice can be used to make multiple meals of "duck mother". After making the "duck mother", prepare a large pot, fill it with water, drive the "duck mother" into the pot together, cover the pot, add water during the process, steam over warm fire for more than three minutes, and then it is ready.

? There are also many things to pay attention to when eating "duck mother". The formal method is to use cotton thread to cut it piece by piece. It is convenient and hygienic to pick it up with chopsticks. But the kid doesn't care about you. He ruptured the "duck mother's" throat with his two little hands and pulled it out one by one. A little bit of glutinous rice was gradually exposed, and Nongzi's little hands became shiny. . As an aside, "Duck Mother" is greasy, so you can drink it with tea to relieve the greasiness.

At the end of the Dragon Boat Festival, the remaining clam leaves can make the rice fragrant for miles. Su Dongpo, an old man from the Song Dynasty, also visited Suixi Lemin. According to legend, he also ate "duck mother" Well, there is no way to verify if it is true or false. After all, it is a long time ago, but the Ludou "Duck Mother" fragrance in my hometown is really fragrant. The Gaoyou duck eggs in Mr. Wang Zengqi's hometown are allowed to be eaten by oneself, but the "duck mother" in my hometown is not allowed. Because the clam leaves are in the sea and the duck eggs are laid in the mountains, naturally there is no need for such a complicated and uncomplicated process.

Now that I think about it, the Dragon Boat Festival in my childhood was really refreshing. At that time, clams and reed pockets were all over the mountains and plains, but now they are becoming less and less common. At this time, the roads in my hometown are open, the lights are added, and the hall is bigger, but the "Duck Mother" of the Dragon Boat Festival remains unchanged. Just like the goose, the Duck Mother is still there in the big house full of stars and the moon. There is a lot of jumping in the courtyard!