The Dragon Boat Festival, we also call Duanwu Festival , is on the 5th day of the 5th Lunar month. The day is a traditional holiday to honor Qu Yuan, poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period. Except for holding Dragon Boat races ,we worship and eat Rice Dumpling ,Chinese named Zongzi ,being wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Zongzi have a long history in Chinese generations , even be regarded it as mother's taste. A deep image in my college student time , we rented a dorm room nearby an area where the employers and their families of the Food Stuff Office lived in , they were coming from mainland China in 1949. I remembered that festival ,every family made Zongzi which had different shapes and different flavors ,there were long, short, sharp, roll, pyramid, pillow.....and the sticky rice sweet with red bean inside or salty with meat ,shrimp, squid inside. They considered that we were the students far away from home. Every family gave us four pieces of Zongzi as a present. Resulting in their warm heart, we ate the various and the most Zongzi and shared with the feelings of homesick in the taste buds.
My mother-in-law was expert in kinds of making rice food ,especially wrapped rice dumpling which she used the Alpinia leaves , put the raw sticky rice ,peanut and meat,dried shrimp,salty egg yolk inside,then tied and boiled them for four hours. Every year, she made lots of Zongzi for the big family and shared with her married generations in Dragon Boat Festival and Winter Solstice Festival until she passed away. My husband is certain that his mother's Zongzi was the best in the world .Nevertheless, sometimes I thought of my mother's Zongzi being wrapped with bamboo leaves.
Moving to Chung Li over forty years, we didn't like the Northern Zongzi that are wrapped with fried rice to steam for half an hour , similar to Oil Rice. Because the boiling Southern Zongzi have a mother's taste.
Living abroad ,My youngest daughter and her friend's families are group buying Zongzi when they get homesick.
Dragon Boat Festival ( Duanwu Festival ) is a great traditional festival and Rice Dumpling ( Zongzi ) reminds us to feel homesick in taste buds.
味蕾中的鄉愁
端午節是在農曆五月五日，這天是一個傳統的節日，為紀念屈原，一個戰國時代楚國的詩人和政治家。這天除了舉辦龍舟競賽，我們也祭祀並吃竹葉包的粽子。
吃粽子在中國歷史上已世代相傳許久，甚至被視為代表母親的味道。我印象最深刻的是在大學時代，我們租了一間宿舍和糧食局員工眷屬宿舍緊隣，那裡住的都是一九四九年從中國大陸撤退來台的人。我記得那個端午節，每個家庭都做粽子，做了不同形狀不同口味的粽子。有長的、短的、尖的、滾筒狀的、金字塔形的、枕頭狀的，形形色色。糯米內餡有包甜紅豆的，鹹的豬肉、蝦子、魷魚的，不一而足。他們想我們是遠離家鄉的遊子，每一家都送了四個粽子給我們，結果是由於他們的熱心，那年我們吃了最多樣也最多量的粽子，也感受到他們在味蕾中的思鄉之情。
我的婆婆很精於製作各種類的米食，尤其是包粽子，她用月桃葉放入生糯米和花生，內饀是豬肉、乾蝦仁和鹹蛋黃，包緊後水煑四小時。每一年端午節和冬至節，她都為大家庭做許多的粽子，也分享給已婚的子女，直到去世為止。我的丈夫肯定他母親做的粽子是全世界最好吃的，雖然有時我還是想念我娘用竹葉包的粽子。
搬到中壢已超過四十年，我們還是不喜歡北部粽，那是包了炒熟的飯蒸半小時，感覺像是油飯。因為水煑的南部粽有媽媽的味道。
我的小女兒和她的朋友們，居住海外的家庭，當想家時會團購粽子以解鄉愁。
端午節是一個傳統的大節日，而粽子是我們味蕾記憶中的鄉愁。
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