"Drunk in Qingming Festival, pig's skull stinks" is a common saying of Tujia people. Why do they eat "pig heads" in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

People in China eat different things on different traditional festivals. For example, in 2008, we will eat jiaozi, Yuanxiao on the Lantern Festival, moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival and Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival.

In many areas of southern China, such as Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, locals like to eat Qingming fruit when they are in Tomb-Sweeping Day. This is a dietary custom handed down from ancient times. People believe that after eating Qingming fruit on this day, they can get the blessing of their ancestors. If you use Qingming fruit to worship your ancestors, it will bless the continuous development of your family's wealth.

Nowadays, these food customs have lost their original commemorative significance and become people's hobby of tasting seasonal cakes in spring. People eat Qingming fruit by themselves and give it to friends and relatives as a gift from Tomb-Sweeping Day.

In some Tujia areas in Hubei and Hunan, local Tujia people did not eat Qingming fruit when they visited graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. What do they eat in Tomb-Sweeping Day? "Qingming is drunk and the pig's skull stinks." Yes, they ate pigs' heads when they were in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Pickled pig head meat

If you want to ask them what is the special significance of eating pig brain, he won't tell you, and they don't know. Perhaps, just like the Qingming fruit they ate in Fujian, a complete pig's head bone should have been used to pay homage to ancestors in the past, but now it has become a delicacy on people's tables and a unique eating custom in Tujia areas.

In fact, the author is also Tujia. When we were in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Tujia people had many other customs and cultures besides eating pig heads. You can visit us and feel it.