A brief discussion on the folk custom of "chewing wine"

?A brief discussion of?Chewing wine?A preliminary study on folk customs

Thesis Keywords: Chewing wine: Wuji Taiwanese aborigines

Thesis abstract:Chewing wine?is a human use Making wine based on the principle of saliva fermentation is one of the most primitive methods of making wine. According to Chinese historical records, only the Wuji people during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the aborigines of Taiwan Island since the Ming Dynasty used this unique wine-making technique. On the basis of material analysis, this article explores the process of the emergence, development and annihilation of the folk custom of "chewing wine".

"Chewing wine" is one of the most primitive ways of making wine. It is based on the principle that people use the saccharification of salivary enzymes to ferment and make yeast to make wine. This article combines historical documents with records of the "wine-chewing" folk custom of the Wuji people and Taiwan aborigines to conduct a preliminary discussion on the emergence, development and annihilation process of this folk custom, in order to gain a more realistic understanding of the social production level and people's material production and lifestyle. I sincerely ask the Fang family to correct me.

1. The wine-chewing folk custom of the Wuji people

The Wuji people are one of the ancient ethnic groups in Northeast my country. In the evolution of history, the names of its national subjects have also been constantly changing. In the pre-Qin period, it was called "Sushen", and in the Han and Jin Dynasties, it was called "Yi Lou". From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the descendants of "Yi Lou" were called "Wuji" and "Moji" (Moji). In the late Tang Dynasty, it was called "Bohai". From the Five Dynasties to the early Ming Dynasty, it was called "Jurchen", and from the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, it was called "Manchuria". The Manchu ancestors Wuji and Moju who lived in the Northeast were mainly engaged in animal husbandry, fishing and hunting, and primitive agriculture. Therefore, their food customs have the characteristics of both nomadic and agricultural peoples, that is, they eat both meat and cereals.

The earliest record of his chewing wine is in "Wei Shu Wu Ji Zhuan": There are millet and wheat, and the vegetables include sunflower. The water vapor is salty, and there are salt ponds on the salt trees. Many pigs but no sheep. Chewing rice to brew wine can make you drunk. ?The "Northern History? Wu Ji Zhuan" also records: ?Xiangyu and Couple farmed, the soil was rich in millet, wheat, and sunflowers, and the vegetables were sunflower. The water was salty, and salt grew on the bark of the wood. There were also salt ponds. There are many pigs but no sheep. They chew rice and turn it into wine, and even drink it and get drunk. ?It can be seen that during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Wuji people had settled down and engaged in extensive agriculture. Crops include millet, wheat, and wheat, all of which are traditional crops in the Heilongjiang Basin because of their drought and cold tolerance. Combined with archaeological discoveries, it is equivalent to the lower culture of the Tongren site in Suibin, Heilongjiang during the Beji period, and advanced agricultural implements such as iron adzes, knives, and iron sickles were unearthed. The advancement of farming technology and the use of iron tools made food crops more than enough to eat, providing a material basis for chewing rice to make wine and drinking to get drunk. "Book of the Sui Dynasty" records: "There are chariots and horses, and the tenants are coupled to the plowing, and the chariots are pushed on foot. Chew rice to make wine, and drinking can make you drunk." "The Biography of Mo Jie in the Old Book of Tang Dynasty" records: "The most suitable livestock is pigs, and the rich people have hundreds of people." Eat its flesh and clothe its skin? Make mince into wine. "The New Book of Tang Dynasty - Heishui Jie" records: "There are many animals, including cattle and sheep." There are chariots and horses, the fields are plowed by couples, and the chariots are pushed on foot. There are millet and wheat. There are many martens, white rabbits and white eagles in the soil. The steam in the salt spring is thin, and the salt is condensed on the treetops. Chewing rice turns it into wine, and drinking it can make you drunk. ?These materials show that from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Wuji and Moju people not only ate pork, but also grain was one of their main foods. At this time they have adopted the "coupled farming" farming method. According to the brewing principle, when using grains to make wine, since the starch in the grains cannot directly interact with yeast, it must first go through the process of saccharification, that is, the starch is decomposed into maltose, and then fermented into alcohol. Saccharification and winemaking are two indispensable main procedures in the brewing process, which forms the Quzhu brewing method. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, the technology of brewing and making koji in the Central Plains region had reached a very high level. In Zheng Xuan's annotation of "Zhou Li Tianguan Jiuzheng", there are several techniques for making wine without koji, as well as the skill of making wine. ?Not only attaches great importance to the production of distiller's yeast, but also pays great attention to the brewing technology and methods. The Wuji people's method of chewing wine is that they use their mouths to chew rice flour or rice flour to break it into pieces and contain saliva. Since salivary enzymes can ferment it, it can be used as distiller's yeast. When stored in a vessel, over time, the wine will be ready. brew. It is not difficult to see that they already knew that making wine required koji, but they did not know how to process it. They could only use the chewing method to make koji through the accumulation of life experience.

Later books such as "Khitan Chronicles", "Cefu Yuangui" and Xu Mengxin's "Three Dynasties Bei League Huibian" all recorded the custom of "chewing rice for wine" in Mojie State, "Tongdian" and "Tongdian". There are continuous records of this custom of chewing rice for wine in books such as "Tongzhi" and "Wenwen Tongkao", "Buji Zhuan", but they do not go beyond the scope of records in "Book of Wei" and "History of the North". Continuous records show that the wine-chewing method was popular in the lives of the Wuji and Jijie people at that time. However, because the Wuji and Mojie people were scattered in various places at that time, and each town had its own strengths and was not unified. This original state of independent production and life shows its closed nature. At the same time, there is a lack of written records of its own, which leads to the simplification of the wine chewing method in the documented records. This is also closely related to the geographical environment and dietary structure of its survival.

First, the distribution areas of Wuji and Mojie. According to "Book of Wei": "In the north of Goguryeo". According to the two Tang Dynasties, its territory is bounded by the sea in the east, Turks in the west, Goryeo in the south, and Shiwei in the north. It is equivalent to the present-day Japan Sea in the east, the Giya River in Russia and the Nen River in my country in the west, adjacent to the ancient Shiwei and Khitan lands, the ancient Koryo lands in the present-day Songhua River and Tumen River in the south, and Oho in the north. A vast area including Tike Sea and Kuye Island. It has a mid-temperate monsoon climate. Winters are long and cold, summers are short and cool, and spring and autumn are very short. Because if you drink less wine, it can harmonize with the blood and circulate qi, strengthen the spirit and keep out the cold, relieve excitement and relieve sorrow, ward off evil spirits and eliminate filth. However, in the severe cold zone where Wuji and Mojie are located, the functions of wine in promoting qi, strengthening the spirit, and keeping out the cold. It seems more important.

Second, the dietary structure of raising pigs, eating pork and raw food and cold drinks. Before the Yuan Dynasty, the direct ancestors of the Manchu people had almost endless records of pig raising in their animal husbandry. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records: "It is good to raise pigs, eat their meat, and wear their skins." "Book of Jin: Biography of Dongyi" records: "(Sushen people) livestock many pigs, eat their meat and wear their skins." He holds the meat with his feet and eats it. He gets the frozen meat and sits on it to warm it up. In "Book of Wei" and "History of the North", Wuji people mainly raise pigs. In the Tang Dynasty, Heishui Jie lived mainly by herding pigs. The habit of eating raw food and cold drinks, for example, uses mince to make wine, beans as sauce, half-cooked rice as rice, dipped in raw dog blood and onions and leeks. ?Whether it is winter or summer, its people drink cold water? This dietary structure of the Wuji people and their descendants involves the issue of how to help digestion. Since they live in the northeastern region, which is desolate and cold, they make their own "rice tea" which is helpful for appetizing and digestion. They fry the millet into paste and drink it with water. This kind of life of "not heavy on tea drinking" led to the custom of drinking alcohol. The "Mi'er wine" that the Manchus drank in the early days, called "Zhanchong Lijiu" in Manchu, was their favorite homemade wine, which was yellow wine, also called "clear wine" and "yuan wine". "Hu Cong Dong Xun Ri Lu" once recorded the brewing method of this kind of wine: "The cooking grain is made of millet, and the tillers are used to brew it in a moment. Brew it in the morning and drink it in the evening. The taste is slightly sweet, and you will not get drunk if you drink more." "Ninggu Pagoda Chronicles" also records that ordinary Manchu families can brew their own rice wine. This custom of being fond of wine and good at making wine is an inertial inheritance of the custom of chewing rice and making wine from their ancestors. It is also the result of their active adaptation to the cold climate of the extremity outside the Great Wall.

2. The folk custom of "chewing wine" among Taiwan's aborigines

In Taiwan, the treasure island of the motherland, the aborigines living in the mountains also have a popular custom of "chewing wine". Since Taiwan is isolated overseas, communication with the outside world is rare, and there is no writing or unified language. Therefore, the earliest and slightly detailed written record of this folk custom can be found in "Yan Bao Tan Yu" written by Chen Jiru in the Ming Dynasty. The book records: Ryukyu wine is made with water. After soaking the rice for a long time, the women rubbed their hands and chewed it to get the juice, which was called Mickey. ?As for the custom of chewing wine, the details are mainly in the records of the Qing Dynasty. For example, "Yi Lin Huikao" records: "Yin Kao is a foreign brewing method." In Korea, rice was killed, while in Ryukyu, women chewed rice, which is like eating grains. "Taiwan Chronicles" written in the twenty-sixth year of Kangxi's reign records: "People like to drink. They take rice, chew it in their mouths, and hide it on bamboo slips. The wine will mature in a few days. When guests arrive, they will show their respect. They must taste it first before entering." ?"Qing Barnyard Notes? Taiwanese people taste wine and give toasts": ?Taiwanese people also make wine by chewing uncooked rice to make a song, mix it with steamed rice, put it in a vat, hide it in a secret place, and drink it in May Taste it and murmur in your mouth, as if you have seen it. "Pi Hai Ji You" records: "The number of bamboo tubes is a new rule for fermented grains." The brewing method gathers men, women, old and young together to chew the mina tube for several days to make wine.

When drinking, people are greeted by clear springs. "Chewing wine" recorded in "Taiwan Prefecture Chronicles" during the Kangxi period is consistent with the records in "Taiwan Chronicles". "Tsui Hall Chronicles" records: There is no farming in Dannan, and there is very little rice and millet. For three meals a day, millet is also chewed into wine. ?Based on literature records and existing research results on the "wine-chewing" culture of Taiwan's aborigines, several major backgrounds for its emergence can be summarized:

First, the aborigines of Taiwan island mostly live in the mountains and have little communication with the outside world. . The folk custom of chewing wine is very popular among Taiwanese aborigines. For example, the Bunun people, Paiwan people, and Rukai people hold rice grains in their mouths and chew them continuously to replace yeast, or use the fruits of Chenopodium to make koji. In addition, the Atayal, Thao, Cao, and Ami people also use this method. They had no contact with each other until the middle of the 20th century.

The second is that it has a certain religious color. For example, after the autumn harvest season of the year, a beautiful girl with good appearance is first recommended and asked to chew rice into music and murmur in her mouth. Then add steamed rice or pounded rice, rice soup and water and store it in an urn. After the urn emits a fragrant "wine odor", you can open it and drink it. This kind of homemade wine made from "chewing wine" is commonly known as "gu dai". This kind of wine is sweet and delicious, with a unique flavor. It is a must-have "banquet wine" for ancient tribal sacrifices and group drinking. Yu Yongkang, a native of the Qing Dynasty, praised it in his "Bamboo Branch Poems of Fannu": "Who knew that Fanji was clever enough to chew the raw rice into pulp?" The bamboo tube is used as an urn to hang on the bedside. When guests arrive, they open the tube and encourage them to taste it. ?

The third is Taiwan’s geographical location and special climate. Because it is located between 15 and 25 degrees north latitude and 120 and 125 degrees east longitude, it has more heat and less cold, which is seven out of ten. In the house of bells and tripods, there is no use for animal charcoal or mink fur. The poor people have no clothes and no brown, and they can still die. The flowers bloom from time to time, and the leaves of the trees have not fallen for a long time. There are frequent droughts in spring and poor autumn. Therefore, in hot, humid climates, the actual role of wine in "warming away evil spirits and eliminating filth" becomes more important.

3. The Annihilation of the Folk Custom of Chewing Wine

As for the custom of chewing wine, it is difficult to find traces of it whether among the Manchus or the aborigines of Taiwan today. There are two reasons for its annihilation, both internal and external.

The internal reason is that the yeast processed by salivary enzymes used in the wine chewing method is not as good as the specialized wine-making function of qu tillers. That is, the taste is thin and the purity is not high. In addition, the descendants of the Wuji people successively established the Bohai State, Jin and Qing dynasties in history, accelerating their own evolution to a more civilized state to varying degrees.

In the analysis of external factors, we first examine the situation of Wu Ji and Mo Fu.

First, interactions with the outside world are especially affected by the advanced culture of the Central Plains. Since the Han and Jin Dynasties, there are records of Yilou paying tribute to the Central Plains. There were two important tributes. The official exchanges with the Northern Wei Dynasty include: Yanxingwen (471-475) sent Yili envoys; and in the first year of Taihe (477), the ninth year, the tenth year, the thirteenth year, the seventeenth year and the fourth year of Jingming? Continuous tribute? As far as the Northern Qi Dynasty, tribute was still endless. ?At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, envoys were sent to contribute? At that time, because it was adjacent to Khitan, it was often plundered. They listened to Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty's warning not to attack each other and were rewarded with banquets in the palace. The iron tools unearthed at the Wuji site mentioned earlier indicate that the Wuji and Mofu societies developed rapidly under the influence of the advanced culture of the Central Plains. Zhongyuan's wine-making technology should have an impact on its wine-chewing method.

Secondly, the descendants of Wuji have been fond of and had a large demand for wine since the Jurchen period. Before Jin Taizu, the Jurchens were already addicted to alcohol. According to historical records, Jingzu Wugunai (1021-1092) was addicted to wine and lust, and drank too much. For example, in a civil wedding, the son-in-law pays homage to the door and goes there with wine and food. The minimum is more than ten cars, and the number is ten times more. A good drinker should first drink from a black gold and silver cup, and the poor should drink from a wooden cup. At one time, in order to control drinking, the Jurchen rulers even allowed the Meng'anmoke people to drink at festivals and on days when they were worshiping the sky. During the Jin Dynasty, due to the surge in demand for wine, the method of chewing wine was no longer used.

Third, people from the Central Plains migrated to the Northeast in the past dynasties. "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms - Biography of Guan Ning" records: "Ning lives in the east of Liaodong, and those who live in wells may be mixed with men and women. People in the Central Plains have transplanted them in the past dynasties, and most of them are people from Qi, Lu and Youyan." ?[J? There are three reasons for the etiquette and customs in Fengzhou: on the one hand, the old customs of the ancestors; on the other hand, the new customs of the Central Plains. If they are adjacent to the south, the customs are closer to Qilu; if they are adjacent to the west, the customs are closer to Youyan. It is close; it is adjacent to the northeast, and there are few people transplanting it, so it can often maintain its old customs.

With the newly-immigrated population, the advanced wine-making techniques from the Central Plains will naturally be passed on to people, and the wine-chewing method will gradually be eliminated.

The wine-chewing custom of Taiwan’s aboriginal people disappeared directly under the coercive policies of the Republic of China in the early days of the island’s management. "Taiwan General Chronicle" records: "Taiwanese people are mostly addicted to alcohol. They worship the god Yanke and use old wine." Brewed with skill, it tastes sweet and mellow, and is especially good when aged, so it is called Ri Lao Liquor. The red wine is used for marriage, which is considered auspicious. In the countryside, sweet potatoes are used as wine, which has a lighter taste. The mountain compatriots brew it with millet, get together with relatives and friends, and enjoy themselves drunkenly. Fine imported wines are widely sold. Tobacco and alcoholic beverages are exclusively sold by ***. Therefore, the only things that can be sold are the clear wine, red wine and beer produced by the monopoly bureau. ?In order to monopolize the business of liquor, the Communist Party of the Republic of China strictly ordered Taiwanese aborigines to make private wines. In order to develop mountain forest resources, they forcibly relocated Taiwan's aborigines many times out of the mountains, forcing them to integrate into modern social life. This is undoubtedly a decisive "revolution" for its wine-chewing folk custom.

IV. Conclusion

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Although the folk custom of chewing wine has been annihilated in mainland China and Taiwan, the above analysis is enough to prove the survival wisdom of the ancestors and provide With profound enlightenment for future generations.