Why do you eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival?

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "corn millet" and "zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns. According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped in leaves of Zizania latifolia (Zizania latifolia) into a horn shape, which was called "horn millet"; Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and roasted, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the millet was soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contained alkali, the millet was wrapped in leaves to form a quadrangle, and cooked, which became Guangdong Suanshui Zongzi. In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the raw materials for dumplings are also added with Alpinia oxyphylla, and the cooked dumplings are called "educational dumplings". According to the Records of Yueyang Local Customs written by Zhou Ren, "It is customary to wrap millet with leaves, cook it, and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the summer solstice, there is a dumpling and a millet." During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnut, red dates, red beans, etc., and the variety is increasing. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication. By the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade" and its shape appeared cone and diamond. There is a record of "Datang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. In the Song Dynasty, there was already a "candied dumpling", that is, the fruit entered the dumpling. Su Dongpo, a poet, has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements made of zongzi piled into pavilions and wooden carts and horses, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped with reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates, walnuts and so on appeared, and the varieties were more colorful. Until today, every year in early May, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many Beijing jujube dumplings with small dates in the north; In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.