Spring Equinox Food

“Eating spring vegetables at the Spring Equinox” is an ancient custom passed down for more than a thousand years. In earlier times, spring vegetable specifically referred to a type of wild amaranth locally known as “春碧蒿.” It sprouts early and grows quickly, and by the Spring Equinox it has already developed into tender young plants that can be found throughout the countryside. Whether eating it at this time also conveniently helped remove weeds from the fields is difficult to know.

On the day of the Spring Equinox, entire villages would empty as people went out to gather spring vegetables. Once brought home, the greens were usually boiled together with slices of fish to make a soup known as “Spring Soup.” A folk saying declares: “春汤灌脏，洗涤肝肠。阖家老少，平安健康。” People believed that drinking this bowl of soup could wash away what had accumulated through the winter and bring an entire year of strength, health, good fortune, and peace to the whole family.

As times changed, the meaning of “spring vegetables” gradually broadened. Today, the term is a general name for fresh vegetables of early spring rather than one particular species. Chinese chives, lettuce stems, spring bamboo shoots, choy sum, Chinese toon shoots, shepherd’s purse, bean sprouts, spinach, and many other fresh seasonal vegetables may all be called spring vegetables.

The most classic preparation is Spring Soup: freshly gathered wild amaranth is washed and placed into boiling water with several slices of fresh fish, creating a light, subtly sweet soup. Spring vegetables may also be stir-fried, served cold, or used as fillings.

The central meaning of spring vegetables is warding off illness and disaster and praying for health and safety. The saying “春汤灌脏，洗涤肝肠” reflects the belief that drinking Spring Soup on the Equinox could wash away the stagnation and sickness accumulated over winter. Eating spring vegetables at this time is both an expression of “不时不食”, eating according to the season, and a heartfelt prayer for the health and peace of the entire household.

Sun Cake is one of the most representative seasonal foods of the Spring Equinox in old Beijing. The Equinox has a longstanding tradition of worshipping the sun. As early as the Zhou dynasty, China already had a ritual of offering sacrifice to the sun at the Spring Equinox. 《礼记》 records: “祭日于坛。” During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial court performed the ritual each year at the Temple of the Sun on the Spring Equinox. It was regarded as “国之大典，士民不得擅祀”—a great rite of the state that ordinary officials and commoners were not permitted to perform independently.

Ordinary people could not participate in the imperial ceremony, so they prepared Sun Cakes at home as offerings to the Sun God, praying for an auspicious year and a plentiful harvest. The Qing text 《燕京岁时记》 records: “二月初一日，市人以米面团成小饼，五枚一层，上贯以寸余小鸡，谓之太阳糕。都人祭日者买而供之。” The folk practice of worshipping the Sun God at the Spring Equinox did not disappear even after the fall of the Qing dynasty. On this day, people would rise early, place an offering table in the courtyard facing east, and members of the family would kneel toward the rising sun in order of seniority, giving thanks for the blessings bestowed upon the human world.

Sun Cakes are generally made from glutinous rice and sugar and shaped into small round cakes. In the most traditional preparation, glutinous rice forms the outer layer, which encloses red date paste mixed with white melon seeds and specially prepared osmanthus. The surface may be stamped either with a bright red sun motif or with a golden rooster heralding spring and good fortune. Five small cakes are stacked together, with a tiny chicken-shaped piece of dough placed on the top. This “little chicken” is not an ordinary bird, but the Three-Legged Crow, a traditional solar symbol. Since the rooster’s crow announces sunrise, placing a bird upon the Sun Cake is entirely fitting.

Sun Cake carries especially auspicious meanings, mainly in two respects.

First, the homophonic blessing of “太阳高.” The character “糕”, cake, sounds like “高”, high. Sun Cake therefore evokes “太阳高”, the sun rising high, symbolizing abundant grain and a life that grows ever more prosperous.

Second, gratitude toward the sun and prayers for a rich harvest. Sun Cake is both an offering used in solar worship and a seasonal food. It expresses gratitude for the sunlight that nourishes all living things and hopes for abundance in the year ahead. A bite of Sun Cake is sweet upon the tongue and warm within the heart.

According to old Beijing custom, people should eat Lǘdagun at the Spring Equinox in order to ward off harmful forces and pray for good fortune. Lǘdagun is a famous Beijing snack made from glutinous rice flour and soybean flour. Its texture is soft, glutinous, fragrant, and sweet, and it is often filled with red bean paste, osmanthus, sugar, and other ingredients. Its appearance resembles a donkey rolling in yellow earth, which is how it acquired the name “驴打滚”, “donkey rolling.”

1. Mix glutinous rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, cooking oil, and an appropriate amount of warm water into a smooth batter without lumps; cover and steam for twenty-five minutes.
2. Allow the steamed dough to cool slightly, then remove it. Oil the hands to prevent sticking and knead, fold, and stretch the dough until smooth.
3. Dust the work surface with soybean flour and roll the dough into a large sheet.
4. Spread red bean paste evenly over the surface and roll tightly from the bottom upward.
5. Dust the exterior with another layer of soybean flour and cut with a thin string rather than a knife to prevent sticking.

Eating Lǘdagun at the Spring Equinox symbolizes warding off evil, praying for blessings, and welcoming spring. The character “滚”, “roll,” is associated with driving away misfortune and turning one’s luck around. Its soft and sweet texture also symbolizes a life of sweetness and abundance. In many parts of northern China, eating Lǘdagun at the Spring Equinox is a longstanding custom carrying people’s hopes for a favorable new year.

“粘雀子嘴”, “sealing the sparrows’ beaks,” is a distinctive Spring Equinox custom in the rice-growing regions of Jiangnan. The solar term falls precisely during the rice-sowing season in southern China. Once rice seed is scattered in the fields, birds often eat it, creating a serious threat to seedling cultivation. For this reason, every household traditionally prepares glutinous rice balls on the day of the Spring Equinox.

These tangyuan are solid and contain no red bean paste, sesame filling, or other center. Each family threads twenty or thirty small rice balls onto thin bamboo forks and places them at different points along the ridges of the seedling fields. Farmers believed that the sticky texture of the glutinous rice balls could seal the beaks of crop-damaging birds, preventing them from eating the rice seed.

1. Mix glutinous rice flour with water and knead into a dough.
2. Roll it into small solid rice balls without any filling.
3. Once cooked, spear them onto thin bamboo forks and place them along the edges and ridges of the fields.

Tangyuan at the Spring Equinox carries an especially playful symbolism. First, protecting the crops: people hoped the sticky rice balls would seal the sparrows’ beaks so they could no longer peck at seedlings and grain. Second, sealing gossip and quarrels: sparrows chatter constantly, and “粘雀子嘴” also came to mean sealing mouths that stir up gossip, allowing the spring to begin in peace and quiet. Although this was an imaginative folk belief, it vividly reflects farmers’ deep longing for an abundant harvest. At the same time, glutinous rice is traditionally considered warming and sweet, in keeping with the spring dietary principle of “less sour, more sweet, with cold and heat kept in balance.”

The Spring Equinox custom of “Biting the Spring” is an indispensable ritual at northern family tables. Spring pancakes are made from hot-water dough and cooked on a griddle until almost as thin as cicada wings, soft yet pleasantly chewy. Spring rolls, fried until golden and crisp, are filled with red bean paste or shepherd’s purse and minced meat, combining a crisp exterior with a flavorful filling. Both symbolize the revival of all things and the abundance of the five grains. Eating spring pancakes and spring rolls at the Equinox continues directly from the Beginning of Spring tradition of “Biting the Spring”—both practices symbolically “roll” the vitality of spring into everyday life.

The meanings of spring pancakes and rolls at the Spring Equinox resemble those associated with the Beginning of Spring. The round shape of the spring pancake symbolizes reunion and completeness; the golden color of the spring roll symbolizes wealth and good fortune. Both carry earnest hopes for livelihood and prosperity in the year ahead. Eating them at the Equinox is not only a continuation of “Biting the Spring”, but also one of the most ceremonious ways of welcoming the season.

Once the Spring Equinox passes, people throughout Jiangnan begin turning their attention toward mugwort. The origins of Qingtuan are closely connected with the Cold Food Festival. Before Qingming, the ancients refrained from using fire and ate cold foods, relying on various “寒具” to satisfy hunger. Within the evolution of Jiangnan foodways, rice cakes colored with mugwort juice gradually became durable offerings and provisions suited to the custom of cold eating, carrying remembrance and respect for ancestors. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, Qingtuan increasingly became part of the secular pleasure of tasting spring’s seasonal freshness.

Yuan Mei records in 《随园食单》: “捣青草为汁，和粉做粉团，色如碧玉。” Bai Juyi also wrote: “寒食青团店，春低杨柳枝。”

1. Gather tender mugwort; the ideal time is when each plant has produced four to six young leaves.
2. Pound the mugwort into green juice and knead it with glutinous rice flour into a green dough.
3. Wrap the dough around a filling—the classic choices remain red bean paste and spring bamboo shoots.
4. Steam until cooked.

For sweet red bean Qingtuan, a mixture of adzuki beans and red beans is soaked, boiled, and slowly stir-fried until it becomes a dense, mellow filling that is sweet without becoming cloying. For savory bamboo-shoot Qingtuan, the tenderest spring shoots of the season are diced and stir-fried so their fresh flavor can fully develop.

Qingtuan carries a gentle yet profound cultural symbolism. First, ritual and remembrance: it bears respect and memory for ancestors. Second, eating green foods for health: traditional Chinese medicine holds that consuming mugwort in spring can warm the channels and dispel cold, remove dampness, strengthen the spleen, and enhance immunity. Third, welcoming spring: in folk legend, green is the color of the Spring God’s garments, and eating Qingtuan is like gathering the entire season into the body and receiving a year’s vitality and energy. That one soft, glutinous, subtly fragrant bite has become one of the most classic flavors of a Jiangnan spring.

Around the Spring Equinox, spring thunder rolls and spring rain moistens the earth as bamboo shoots break through the soil. This is precisely when their flesh is at its tenderest and their fresh flavor at its fullest. The ancients followed the principle of “不时不食”, eating nothing out of season, and spring bamboo shoots at this time are crisp, tender, and delicately sweet—one of nature’s earliest and finest gifts of spring.

Spring bamboo shoots occupy an important place in Chinese food culture. The earliest classical work to mention eating bamboo shoots is 《诗经》. 《大雅·韩奕》 states: “其蔌维何？维笋及蒲。”—the vegetables served at the banquet were tender bamboo shoots and fragrant cattails. 《周礼》 also records an official use for spring shoots: “笋菹”, pickled spring bamboo shoots, prepared specifically as offerings in ancestral temple rituals. During the Western Han, Mei Sheng listed spring bamboo shoots together with cattails among the “天下之至美”, the finest delicacies under Heaven. In the Northern Wei, Jia Sixie’s 《齐民要术》 devoted specific attention to their preparation: “二月食淡竹笋……蒸、煮、炮酢，任人所好。” From the Tang onward, the fashion for eating bamboo shoots became fully established, and in the Northern Song, Zanning even wrote China’s first dedicated monograph on bamboo shoots, 《笋谱》.

Spring bamboo shoots are prepared differently in different regions. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, moso bamboo shoots emerging around the Equinox are known as “雷笋”, thunder shoots. They may be sliced and stir-fried with cured pork or slowly stewed with salted and fresh pork to make the classic “腌笃鲜.” In Fujian, people often cut the shoots into pieces, blanch them, and season them with red fermented rice lees to make “红糟笋”, a tart and appetizing dish. Although fresh bamboo shoots are less common in the north, the practice of cooking with them is also widely appreciated.

* Spring bamboo shoots stir-fried with cured pork: peel and slice the shoots, then stir-fry them with cured pork; new shoots meet old meat in a fusion of freshness and fragrance.
* Yanduxian (腌笃鲜): spring bamboo shoots slowly simmered with salted pork and fresh pork, producing a deeply savory broth.
* Oil-braised spring bamboo shoots: blanch to remove bitterness, then simmer with soy sauce and sugar.
* Red-lees bamboo shoots: a Fujian preparation in which blanched bamboo-shoot pieces are seasoned with red fermented rice lees.

The symbolism of spring bamboo shoots is positive and vigorous. First, “节节高升”: bamboo rises joint by joint as it breaks through the soil, so eating spring shoots expresses hopes for steady progress in career and life. Second, seasonal health preservation: spring bamboo shoots are rich in dietary fiber and are traditionally associated with clearing the intestines, relieving heaviness, aiding digestion, and resolving phlegm, in harmony with springtime health concepts of soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen. Third, biting into spring and tasting freshness: to eat a spring bamboo shoot is, in the most literal sense, to “bite the spring,” taking the vitality of the entire season into a single mouthful.