What is the origin and significance of Qingming fruit?

Legend has it that one year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Taiping Chen, the right-hand general of Li Xiucheng, a loyal monarch of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was hunted down by Qing soldiers. A farmer nearby came forward to help, disguised Taiping Chen as a farmer and plowed the land with him. Taiping Chen was not caught, and the Qing soldiers didn't stop there, so they sent more soldiers to set up posts in the village, and everyone who left the village had to be inspected to prevent them from bringing food to Taiping Chen.

After returning home, when the farmer was considering what to take to Chen Taiping, he went out and slipped on a clump of wormwood. When he got up, he saw that his hands and knees were stained with green. He immediately took care of it, quickly picked some wormwood and went home, washed it, boiled it, squeezed it into glutinous rice flour and made it into zongzi. Then put the green jiaozi in the grass and mix with the sentry at the village entrance. Taiping Chen ate this green ball and felt fragrant, waxy and non-sticky. After dark, he bypassed the Qing army post and returned to the base camp safely. Later, Li Xiucheng ordered the Taiping Army to learn to be a youth league to defend itself against the enemy. The custom of eating dumplings spread.

Significance: As an important dietary custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Qingming Fruit is closely related to the festival itself. Qingming fruit, originally a cold food, is a special snack of Han nationality in South, Middle and East China. People also call it "Qingming Ba" (Jiangxi), "Qingming Steamed Bun" and "Qingming Artemisia". Especially in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, Qingming fruit is called Qingming glutinous rice balls and Amy fruit. ? Fujian Province and a small part of Guangdong Province, as well as parts of Jiangxi, Hunan and Anhui have the custom of making edible preserved fruits.

Extended data

According to the literature, the first custom of the Cold Food Festival was only the most common porridge, and then it gradually diversified. The historical records of the Youth League can be traced back to the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty only with the existing materials.

Popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is also a traditional snack in Anhui, Fujian and Guangdong. It is usually made and eaten around Tomb-Sweeping Day.

In modern times, more attention is paid to early adopters, and the ancestor worship function of Qingming fruit is gradually weakening, but it is more used as a seasonal snack in spring and can also be given to relatives and friends.