Most of tengchong's ancestors came from the central plains army. Records on the book: "In the early Ming Dynasty, when Yunnan was opened, jiangnan soldiers were mostly stationed in the pasture, so the whole teng people mostly spoke the southern language and customs were different from those here." Tengchong is located at the extreme edge of the city with high mountains and far water. Many customs from the central plains have been preserved and inherited in Tengchong. Take the Dragon Boat Festival custom, people here "hanging Aihu, with continuation of life wisp, drink realgar wine, ans send rice dumplings chanting..." It is no different from the Han culture area.
As Dragon Boat Festival approaches, tengchong families soak glutinous rice, wash the leaves, and make zongzi. There are many varieties of zongzi, including bean paste, fresh meat and ham. One unique feature is the grey zongzi. When making this kind of zongzi, the ash made from lemongrass is mixed into the glutinous rice, which not only gives the zongzi a unique fragrance, but also promotes and aids digestion.
During Dragon Boat Festival, people in Tengchong cook fennel root.Scrape the skin off the 1-2 year old fennel root, wash it, cut it into pieces, slice it open, and peel off the hard, inedible core.Stew it with pork or sparerbs. The pork stewed out is fragrant, fat and not greasy.The oily fennel root, soft and delicate, has a special flavor.The medicinal value of fennel root is not small.According to compendium of Materia Medica, "It mainly maintains the kidney; Pain;Insecticidal;Tinnitus;Stomach cold vomiting;Abdominal pain;Rheumatism.Nasal malnutrition;Ascariasis...,".In the Dragon Boat Festival, the ancient people used to drive away the plague festival, a dish of fennel root stew with therapeutic effects is really the best choice.
People in Tengchong celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with a flower street, which follows the cultural tradition of the Han Dynasty. In addition to the unique climatic conditions in Tengchong, tengchong people have always had the habit of carrying flowers and planting grass. In the old days, several large families in Tengchong were named for their flowers and trees. "Zhang Cha", "Lu Mei" and "Jin Song" were famous at that time.
In the old days, every Dragon Boat Festival, people have taken out the flowers and trees carefully cultivated at ordinary times, concentrated in these days. For a while, the city was a sea of flowers. There are root carvings bonsai, flowers and plants of all colors, very beautiful. Because of the flower street, Dragon Boat Festival has become the most colorful season in Tengchong.
