In Minqin County, Gansu Province, every household steamed this kind of pasta called "rice" on the Dragon Boat Festival every year. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary fan.
Like people in other parts of China who eat zongzi, wear sachets, tie colored ropes, drink, insert Yang Liuzhi and race dragon boats in Duanyang, the origin of Minqin fans has its unique historical and cultural origin. According to historical records, most people in Minqin today migrated to Minqin from Ningbo, Zhejiang, Yingtianfu and other places in the south of the Yangtze River from Hongwu to Chenghua in Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Ming government implemented the strategy of stationing troops, and these southern soldiers settled down in Minqin and became the earliest settlers in Minqin. With immigration, there is an immigrant culture. Because the custom of the place where immigrants move out will change with the spread of immigrants to the place where they move in, and will be influenced by the original local custom culture, and then blend with the local custom culture to form a new cultural variety between the north and the south. Immigrant culture came into being. A folk custom, a building or even a ballad will become the carrier of this culture, and "fans" are no exception. According to the survey, in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, there has been the custom of "sending Geng stickers" and "sending fans" on Duanyang Festival since ancient times. During the year, if a family wants to marry a daughter-in-law, Duanyang will send a sticker. In case it is the first Duanyang Festival after the daughter's marriage, the parents' fraternity will send gifts such as fans, towels and wheat cakes to the son-in-law's house. Fans are graded according to gender and status, and exquisite bamboo fans are made for daughters, mothers-in-law and aunts. It's a big banana fan for my father-in-law, uncle and son-in-law. What I gave my brother-in-law was a paper folding fan. There are also unmarried young men who send fans to their lovers on Duanyang Festival. It can be seen that the fan carries good wishes and blessings.
The original Minqin immigrants retained this custom. But Minqin, unlike Jiangnan water town, is rich in bamboo and banana. Without bamboo fans and banana fans, a noodle fan was made and presented to relatives on the day of the Sun Festival.
Minqin fans usually steam three or four days before Duanyang Festival. Before steaming, Minqin high-quality flour is selected to make dough, which is mixed with flour for many times and rolled into a surface layer about half an inch thick. The surface layer is coated with finely ground turmeric, rose, mint and flax, and three or four layers are stacked together to make a well-proportioned and skillful fan-shaped housewife. It is also shaped on it, decorated with safflower pigment, then placed on a wooden steaming plate and steamed in a large iron pot. After the vermicelli is out of the pot, dry it a little. Looking at it, the white surface sparkles with red stars, which is pleasing to the eye. It's delicious when you eat it. If relatives are not at home and can't eat vermicelli on Duanyang Festival, relatives at home will dry the vermicelli and go home to taste it. Fans have been in Mika for a long time.
Minqin rice is a unique pasta in the desert area of northwest China. It connects yesterday and today of a place and also represents the folk customs of a place.