There is still more than a week before the Chinese Valentine's Day, and advertisements selling mooncakes can already be seen everywhere - mooncakes have long appeared on billboards in subway stations, in shopping baskets in supermarkets, and on the counters of pastry shops. Not only that, in other places around them, people can increasingly feel the lively atmosphere of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. We can’t help but wonder, why are the mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival starting to be sold before the Chinese Valentine’s Day? This is too anxious.
What to eat on Chinese Valentine’s Day?
In the north, there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating dumplings during the holidays. But in addition to the Chinese Valentine's Day, other traditional festivals have iconic foods - dumplings and rice cakes during the Spring Festival, Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls) during the Lantern Festival, Qingtuan dumplings during the Qingming Festival, rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve dinner. Not only traditional festivals, some solar terms also have corresponding foods - spring pancakes are eaten at the beginning of spring, dumplings are eaten at the beginning of autumn, autumn fat is eaten at the beginning of autumn, and dumplings are eaten at the winter solstice. So what should you eat during the Chinese Valentine’s Day?
China's three traditional Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is not exclusive to Westerners. In fact, Chinese people also have their own Valentine's Day, and there is far more than one Valentine's Day. does not include the imported Western Valentine's Day. China's three traditional Valentine's Days are the Lantern Festival, Shangsi Festival and Qixi Festival. Everyone must be familiar with the Lantern Festival and the Chinese Valentine's Day, but what about the Shangsi Festival? In fact, there is a famous ancient article that talks about this very thing.
"In late spring, the spring clothes are ready, five or six people are crowned, and six or seven boys are bathing in Yi (yi2), the wind is dancing in the clouds (yu2), and they return home chanting."
- from " Zilu , Zeng "Xi , Ran You , Gong Xihua sits down" is an article in "The Analects of Confucius".
It turns out that on the day of Shangsi Festival, the weather gets warmer, everything recovers, people are in a good mood, and they choose to go out for outings and outings. Young men and women are no exception. They will meet at this time and express their feelings to each other. And this day has become "Valentine's Day".
Why do businesses sell mooncakes during the Chinese Valentine’s Day? Isn’t it okay to sell hairy crabs?
Judging from the growth pattern of hairy crabs, female crabs are eaten in September and male crabs are eaten in October. November is also the best season to eat crabs. From this point of view, it is indeed difficult for us to eat delicious and nutritious hairy crabs during the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Just because we can’t eat crabs doesn’t mean that businesses won’t be busy. On the contrary, in order to seize business opportunities and occupy the market in advance, merchants launched gift coupons and distributed them to target groups in advance. When autumn comes and crabs come ashore, consumers can make a phone call and merchants can deliver crabs to their doorsteps. This is a bit like the tulip futures of the Netherlands in the 17th century. Although the futures brought a short-term economic prosperity and rapid currency circulation to the Netherlands, the growing financial bubble ruined the prosperity of the Netherlands.
However, mooncakes are different from hairy crabs. The production of mooncakes will not be affected by seasons, climate, and natural environment, making it easier for people to control the production, processing, transportation, and sales process of mooncakes. Mooncakes produced in advance do not affect the taste, let alone quality. In order to collect funds as quickly as possible and improve operational efficiency, merchants will choose to release mooncakes to the market in advance, which has formed the current phenomenon of "selling mooncakes during the Chinese Valentine's Day."
Why do we give chocolates during Chinese Valentine’s Day? Can't we eat dumplings?
Eating chocolate on Chinese Valentine’s Day is probably influenced by the Western tradition of giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day. In recent years, the return of traditional culture has made young people pay more attention to Chinese festivals. Qixi Festival is a typical example. Some businesses also seized this opportunity and launched promotional activities on the Chinese Valentine's Day, attracting a large number of consumers to sign up. Influenced by shopping carnivals such as "Double Eleven", "Double Twelve", "June 18" and "August 18", the Chinese Valentine's Day has gradually become an important time for businesses to compete and drive economic development. It can be seen that the continued increase in sales of online shopping products such as chocolate is somewhat related to changes in shopping methods.
summary.
Indeed, since the beginning of the summer, we have had no holidays to celebrate for nearly 100 days. And eating is the simplest way for Chinese people to celebrate. Only delicious food can soothe the anxious stomachs of Chinese people.
There are nearly 50 days until the Mid-Autumn Festival. Judging from the expiration date, mooncakes and chocolates are all you can eat during the Chinese Valentine's Day. If you must give a gift, hairy crab gift certificates and mooncake gift boxes are also good choices. From the perspective of traditional culture, making dumplings during the Chinese Valentine's Day is an expression of young people's efforts to protect the rich traditional culture. The interaction between the two parties in making dumplings is exactly the cultural essence of the Chinese Valentine's Day. If making dumplings is too troublesome for two people, you can also try quick-frozen dumplings or order takeout. In short,
It doesn’t matter what you eat on Chinese Valentine’s Day, the most important thing is to be with her.
