In the first month after the Spring Festival, Yuanxiao rice carving, also known as "egg cake", is a unique food technology in Anren, with a mythical legend. According to legend, Emperor Yan of Shennong tasted a hundred herbs in Anren County. During the farming period, once, he passed by a villager's house to drink water. When he saw that the farmer was making glutinous rice and glutinous rice flour into dumplings, he rolled up his sleeves, pinched a rooster with his hands, and then pinched a hen ... He took off the "yellow fat bead" from the herbs he brought and used it to tear off its skin. Since then, the custom of eating "egg cake" has been formed in Anren countryside. The purpose is to pray for good weather, abundant crops and prosperous livestock in the New Year.
With the passage of time, the tradition of eating "egg cake" tends to be artistic, commercial and market-oriented. Every January, every family will sit together to eat rice noodles and knead chicken, which is enjoyable. Many folk experts have made beautiful and delicious "egg cakes" with different shapes, such as "Golden Rooster stands out in the Spring Festival" on a big screen plate; Chicken, dog, pig, duck and other big parties that complement each other, and in recent years, modern products such as cars and small planes made of rice flour have been added and selected for sale in the market. Deeply loved by residents, especially children. After they buy it, they steam or fry it in a pot, then eat it with sugar and honey, and some people bake it in a stove, which tastes unique!
Intangible cultural heritage
Anren County is located in a corner of southern Hunan, with towns in Tang Dynasty, fields in later Tang Dynasty and counties in Northern Song Dynasty. The whole territory 1478 square kilometers, population 4 10000. It borders Yanling County, Chaling County and Tianyuan County. Anren County has a long history, decadent culture, simple folk customs, profound national and folk culture and strong vitality and influence. In this magical land of Anren, the people of Anren were born. There are many scenic spots, cultural relics and cultural landscapes in Anren, with unique national folk customs, production and lifestyle, and many legendary myths, legends and stories. In particular, Yan Di Shennong's footprints are all over Anren, and "making aluminum lays the foundation for industry and agriculture, and tasting herbs first" is a great achievement of Yan Di Shennong.
The intangible cultural heritage in this county is widely distributed and varied. After nearly two years of comprehensive investigation by the county cultural department, there are 67 items in the category of 13. National language 1, folk literature 2 1, folk art 6, folk music 1, folk dance 6, opera 6, production and trade custom 2, consumption custom 4, life custom 2, season 3, folk belief 6, folk knowledge 5, entertainment. In June, 2007, the second cultural heritage day of Misu, an ren ancient painting and opera, was listed in the first batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage protection list by Chenzhou Municipal People's Government. The first batch of representative protection lists of intangible cultural heritage at Anren county level are being declared by the people's governments of townships (towns) and relevant inheritors.
Intangible cultural heritage is large in scale, wide in scope and far-reaching. In particular, it is characterized by "rushing branches". Every spring equinox and spring festival, tens of thousands of merchants from more than 0/00 counties around Yusheng gather in the county town, radiating Southeast Asian ports, Macao, Xinjiang, Tibet and other regions. Cultural activities are splendid, including song and dance performances, drama performances, waist and drum performances, dragon and lion performances, acrobatics, lantern festivals, sacrifices and farming ceremonies. , forming a unique cultural landscape with unique local characteristics in China. In particular, Anren's Chinese herbal medicine market is large, and it is exported at home and abroad.
Anren's ancient paintings and dramas have many items, rich local music characteristics and unique artistic expressions, and are called "treasures" in Hunan ancient paintings and dramas. It has great influence in southern Hunan and even Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Jiangxi and other regions.