The History and Culture of Sheyang County
In ancient times, the matchmaker was also called "Yue Lao" and "Matchmaker". Matchmaking really requires a skill. The matchmaker should not only be familiar with the basic situation of both men and women and their families, but also be able to reflect the situation to both men and women and their parents basically and accurately, so as to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses as much as possible, so that both sides can fully understand each other's strengths and make both sides willing to reach a marriage agreement. In other words, if you want to be born, you must have a matchmaker's mouth. To be a matchmaker, you should be diligent in running errands. From the day you start to match men and women, you should always pass on each other's wishes and demands to prevent unexpected changes. Both men and women have the custom of entertaining matchmakers. The matchmaker must guide the next day and call it "round media" or "media". The amount of money to thank the media depends on the economic situation of the host family, but no matter how much, it needs to be sealed with red paper, which is the so-called "red envelope". Winter solstice, also known as winter festival and winter, originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has continued to this day. Lu even said that the winter solstice is as big as a year. This shows that the ancients attached great importance to the winter solstice. People think that the winter solstice is a natural transformation of Yin and Yang and a blessing from heaven. On the solstice of winter, the Han government held a celebration ceremony called "Hedong", which was a routine festival.
In Yanfu area, winter solstice is generally called winter, which can be divided into big winter and small winter. Xiaodong is the day before the solstice winter, and people are used to eating beans and millet cooked with red beans and red melons. On the solstice of winter, people will make cakes and steamed cakes, and large families will kill pigs and sheep and take their married daughters home for dinner. There is a folk saying that "Happy New Year in winter" and "Eating cakes in winter is too cold; It's too cold to eat cake in winter, so it won't burn.
After thousands of years of development, a unique seasonal diet culture has been formed from winter solstice to Sunday. Wonton, jiaozi, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge and millet rice cakes can all be used as winter holiday food. The "Winter-to-Day Annual Banquet" includes eating meat from winter to sun, serving it to the winter-to-sun group, and worshiping winter with wonton. Eating wonton in winter solstice began as a sacrifice to ancestors, and then it became popular in winter solstice. There is a folk proverb "The solstice in winter is Wonton Noodles, and the solstice in summer". Eating dumplings is also a traditional custom from the winter solstice. "Round" means "reunion" and "perfection", and eating glutinous rice balls in winter solstice is also called "winter solstice group". In the north, there is a custom of eating dog meat and mutton from winter to Sunday, because the weather enters the coldest period from winter to the future. Chinese medicine believes that mutton and dog meat have aphrodisiac and tonic effects, and the folk have the custom of tonic from winter to Sunday. In Shandong Province, there is also a saying that "it's impossible to get to jiaozi on the solstice in winter, who cares if the ears are frozen or not". Therefore, on the solstice of winter, every family should eat jiaozi. Sheyang rice "Sheyang rice" refers to rice produced in Sheyang County, Jiangsu Province. The product has the characteristics of full granules, crystal clear, pure and sweet fragrance, rich nutrition and unique taste. Sheyang rice planting has a long history. Before the 1990s, hybrid rice was mainly planted. After the improved cultivation of japonica rice, due to the unique climatic and geographical conditions, the rice produced quickly became famous in Shanghai and southern Jiangsu. Sheyang rice is a product protected by geographical indications and a certification trademark. Ma Yang Chrysanthemum Ma Yang Town is a famous "hometown of China medicinal materials". Ma Yang Medicinal Materials Base was founded in 1997, covering an area of nearly 60,000 mu and planting more than 300 kinds of medicinal materials. The single-season chrysanthemum harvest reached 6.5438+0.5 million tons. Ma Yang Chrysanthemum is a geographical indication protection product. Sheyang County, Jiangsu Province is one of the main garlic producing areas in China, with an annual planting area of10.3 million hectares and an annual output of garlic moss10.2 million tons. Sheyang garlic moss 1996 was registered as "Qinglong" brand garlic moss, 1997 was rated as "the hometown of garlic moss in China", and 1999 was rated as a high-quality product by "99 China International Agricultural Expo". The main characteristics of "Qinglong" brand garlic moss are: moderate thickness and green color. Products are exported to Japan, South Korea and nearly 20 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Teyong sericulture in Teyong Town, Sheyang County is known as the "hometown of textiles". Planting mulberry and sericulture has become the most distinctive pillar industry in the local area. Almost every family in the countryside of Teyong Town raises silkworms. Every sericulture season, migrant workers also go home to raise silkworms, and continue to work outside after sericulture, which is called "special phenomenon" locally.
Teyong Town, Sheyang County has given full play to the advantages of sericulture industry and set up more than ten silk quilt processing enterprises, each with a different trademark. Teyong silk quilt is very famous in Jiangsu because of its high quality and high price.