Auntie gave me these last night. A little reading and I'm guessing it's because of the Dumpling Festival (?).
In Chinese, it's called zong zi. The Japanese call it chimaki. Singaporeans/Malaysians/Indonesians call it bakcang. Us Filipinos call it suman. Fil-Chinese call it machang.
Zong is a traditional Chinese food consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival. It's made of glutinous rice with different fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. It is cooked by steaming or boiling. The one Auntie gave me has red bean in it.
The Dragon Boat Festival is based on the Chinese lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the 5th Day of the 5th month. Hence, it is also called Double Fifth Festival. This year it'll be on the 23rd of June.
The festival is said to commemorate the sacrifice of Chinese poet Qu Yuan. History has it written that he drowned himself in a river to protest against rulers.
To pay tribute to him, people threw dumplings into the river with the aim of stopping fish to feed on his body and to scare the fish away.
In Singapore, dragon boat races are organized. This symbolizes the search for Qu Yuan's body in the river.
Amazing how much story behind a small delicacy, yeah?!
And here I was thinking Auntie had nothing to do that evening, and she just felt like making some dumplings. Hehe!
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