According to the historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Tian Wen, which have a unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he was always reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he died in Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds.
After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May;
Realgar shochu calamus sword;
A triangular palm wrapped in glutinous rice,
There are all kinds of sachets hanging on the chest.
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom in China, but it is also a custom in some countries and regions in the world. Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang, Chongwu, Dragon Boat Festival, Chongwu, Duanjie, Pujie, Tianzhong, Poet's Day and Daughter's Day.
There are many theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. In the past, it was said that Qu Yuan of Chu committed suicide by throwing himself into the Miluo River on May 5th, and the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th was held in memory of him. However, the research of modern scholars proves that many activities of the Dragon Boat Festival existed long before Qu Yuan. According to Song Gaocheng's Origin of Things, the Dragon Boat Festival originated in the Spring and Autumn Period. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, rowed dragon boats to practice sailors, which shows that the Dragon Boat Festival originated earlier. Some people think that this festival is the Dragon Totem Festival, which comes from either the summer solstice or the evil day. Some people think that this is to commemorate Wu Zixu's investment in Qiantang River and Cao E's theory of saving his father. Some people think that the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th is related to meson push. Others say it's ancestor worship. Similar legends are varied. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival may be a ritual to worship the water god or the dragon god. Later, according to their own history and culture, various localities made their own explanations on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, among which commemorating Qu Yuan is a popular saying. ?
(1) Worship God?
Dragon Boat Festival is a festival for offering sacrifices to gods, including Qu Yuan, Cao E, the silkworm god, the agricultural god, Zhang Tianshi and Zhong Kui. ? Cao E is one of the gods who sacrificed on May 5th in Zhejiang, and the related historical legends are still circulated among the people. Because she is a model of filial piety and advocated by the rulers of the Eastern Han Dynasty, she is publicized and associated with the dragon boat. Jiande, Zhejiang believes that the white snake stole the fairy grass and saved Xu Xian and the people, so the local people offered sacrifices to the white snake on the Dragon Boat Festival. ?
Another evil spirit of Dragon Boat Festival is Zhong Kui. On that day, every family bought a map of Zhong Kui and hung it on the door to exorcise ghosts. Every family was proud of painting Zhong Kui. Zhong Kui can not only play ghosts, but also drive away epidemics. Zhong Kui was superstitious in early ancient times, such as the patterns on bronze mirrors. Zhang Tianshi and Zhong Kui are both historical figures of Taoism. Taoism is good at exorcising demons, and the fifth day of May is a poisonous month, so it will naturally bring Taoist immortals to the festival, so this is a belief that rose later. ?
Quzhou, Zhejiang Province takes May 5th as the birthday of Shennong, the drug king, and uses this day to predict the quality and quality of medicinal materials. Dragon Boat Festival has a long history and is very popular all over the country. ?
In addition, in Fuzhou, the god of plague is called the Great, and people build temples to worship him. In May, the Dragon Boat Festival held the emperor's birthday, offering sacrifices to animals and singing operas. Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province celebrated the festival of thanking the silkworm god. ?
(2) Dragon boat rowing
Dragon boat rowing is an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival. Most counties and cities in China row dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival. The so-called dragon boat is a combination of dragon and boat, which is a kind of rowing boat marked by dragon. Dragon boat rowing is not only popular in Han areas, but also very active in minority areas. For example, Zhuang, Dai and Miao all hold grand dragon boat races. During the Songkran Festival in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, the Dai people also held a dragon boat race, which was magnificent and crowded with people, with national characteristics. In addition, the Dragon Boat Festival is also celebrated and marked in Korean, Bai, Tujia, Lahu, Mulao, Jing and Li areas, among which Manchu is also called "Double Five Festival".
The dragon boat is characterized by its dragon head and tail, as well as various decorations, such as shrines, flags, colored lights, drums and gongs. Dragon Boat Festival should be built in advance, sailors should be trained, and dragon boat races should be held on holidays. Dragons and dragons must be invited before the competition, and then the competition will be held. ?
The main purposes of dragon boat rowing are: first, to pray for a bumper harvest in agriculture, and second, to drive away the plague. In some places, dragons are also used to send ghosts, that is, to ward off evil spirits and avoid epidemics. There is a popular paper symbol in Guangdong. The book says that "fire officials are born to eliminate all kinds of disasters, and gossip water is used to suppress fierce disasters", which is painting.
It's for dragon boats, aiming at eliminating disasters and seeking happiness. ?
(3) eat zongzi?
Zongzi, also known as corn millet. The method of millet is to soak the leaves of zongzi, that is, bamboo leaves, spread glutinous rice, fill them with meat, bean paste and jujube kernels, wrap them into triangles or quadrangles, and steam them before eating. Why do you eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival? Legend is an offering to commemorate the historical figure Qu Yuan. In fact, it is very late to eat zongzi in memory of Qu Yuan. Before that, Zongzi was a food in summer or summer solstice, and it was also used to worship water gods or dragons. Later, it was attached to commemorate Qu Yuan, which has been passed down to this day. ?
The characteristics and activities of the Dragon Boat Festival are fully embodied in a folk song:
On May 5th, it was Duanyang. ?
The door is full of incense. ?
Eat zongzi and sprinkle sugar. ?
The dragon boat went into the water happily. ?
Eggs are also an important food for the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the children get up in the morning, adults send eggs to their mouths, thinking that eggs have the effect of fitness and are also related to the myth of laying eggs. ?
Realgar rice wine is a kind of medicine-realgar added to wine, which contains arsenic trioxide. Folk believe that applying realgar wine to the forehead and ears can prevent insects and strengthen the body. People in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province think that medicinal materials around the Dragon Boat Festival are the most effective in treating diseases, and they must collect more for the elderly, so it is called the Medicine Festival. On the morning of Dragon Boat Festival, ethnic minorities in Northeast China will go out to pick calamus and mugwort leaves. You have to catch a frog in the water, and then put a piece of ink in the frog's mouth to let it dry. Once someone is found to have edema, apply frog ink to the wound, but it must be made during the Dragon Boat Festival. ?
(4) Avoid five poisons?
Folk beliefs believe that May is a poisonous month and the fifth day is a poisonous day. There are five poisons, namely snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards and toads. This month is full of disasters, even children will die, so we must take various measures to prevent it, including taking medicine and religious means to avoid the harm of the five poisons. In order to deal with the five poisons, fans should be given during the Dragon Boat Festival, and children should wear five poisons to wrap their bellies, sachets, catch toads, put up dragon boat festival symbols, wash blue soup and so on. Married women in Tianjin should take their children to the riverside to "hide in the afternoon", throw things such as cloth-clothed people and cloth dogs into the water to ward off evil spirits, and replace disaster with small cloth-clothed people, commonly known as dog bites disaster. ?
First, wear plants to ward off evil spirits. At first, Acorus calamus and Ai Hu were planted here. Most people use it for their own use, and some people in the city sell calamus and wormwood along the street. Later, pomegranate flowers, garlic and dragon boat flowers were added, which were collectively called the five ends in the sky and could be used together with the five poisons. ?
Secondly, the Dragon Boat Festival sells five tiger flowers and wears protective gear. These decorations, also known as sachets, are painted on children's foreheads with realgar wine in some areas to ward off evil spirits. In some places, five poison suits and five poison vests are specially sewn to wear protective clothes for children. In addition, there are Yong 'an symbols to hold Zhong Kui games. There are also many paper-cuts to prevent the five poisons among the people, such as the affected gourd, the calamus sword gourd in Ai Hu, and the five poisons in Tiger Town. ?
Third, the custom of visiting the Temple of Heaven. This is mainly popular in old Beijing. In addition, a pomegranate flower party was held.
Vietnamese zongzi
Vietnamese zongzi is round and square wrapped in banana leaves. They believe that the round zongzi represents the sky, the square zongzi represents the earth, and the heaven and the earth are integrated and thriving. Eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival can achieve good weather and good harvests.
Zongzi in Myanmar
Burmese people love to eat zongzi, but it has nothing to do with the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi is made of glutinous rice as the main raw material and ripe bananas and coconuts as fillings. This kind of zongzi is fragrant and intoxicating.
Zongzi in Cambodia
Zongzi in Cambodia is called "Bao Zongzi". Instead of wrapping it with plant leaves, it takes a cloth bag and fills it with glutinous rice, red beans and red dates layer by layer, then ties it tightly and steams it. When eating, peel off the cloth bag and cut it with a knife.
Zongzi in Thailand
Jiaozi wrapped by Thai people is as small as an egg. Because they are wrapped in green leaves, they are light green after steaming and taste delicious.
Japanese zongzi
In Japan, people make zongzi not with glutinous rice, but with rice flour. The shape of zongzi is also different from that of China. They are used to making zongzi into the shape of a hammer.
North Korea zongzi
North Korea's zongzi is called "wheel cake". People cook fresh and tender mugwort leaves, mash them and add them to rice flour, and then make them into the shape of wheels. It tastes delicious.
Zongzi in the Philippines
Filipinos like to wrap long zongzi, which tastes different from China and Zhejiang. Zongzi is also a necessary food for Filipinos to celebrate Christmas.
Zongzi in Indonesia
Indonesians pay special attention to zongzi stuffing, and often add mushrooms and onions to chopped fresh meat to make zongzi stuffing. It is smooth and delicious when eaten, and it is not greasy to eat more.
Zongzi in Costa Rica
Zongzi in Costa Rica is made of specially processed sticky corn flour as the main raw material, with chicken, beef, carrots, potatoes and so on. Some of them are also poured with beef juice, and then wrapped in fresh banana leaves into a flat square.
Mexican zongzi
Mexicans also have the custom of eating zongzi, which they call "Dagmar". The main ingredient is coarse-grained corn flour, stuffed with sliced meat and pepper, and then wrapped with corn leaves or banana leaves, which has a unique flavor.
Zongzi in Peru
Peruvians eat zongzi at Christmas, and the whole family sit together to celebrate Christmas and eat zongzi. Even the married daughter rushed back to her parents' house to taste zongzi.
It was first held to commemorate the Cold Food Festival (the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day) promoted by Jin Jiezi in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food in the Jin Dynasty. At this time, the Chinese herbal medicine Alpinia oxyphylla was added to the glutinous rice balls, and then miscellaneous glutinous rice balls, cone-shaped glutinous rice balls, candied glutinous rice balls and ham glutinous rice balls appeared. Eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is now only known to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan. However, according to experts' research, Zongzi is just a common folk food, which was not fixed at the Dragon Boat Festival at first. It is said that eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is a sacrifice to Qu Yuan, which is formed by the attachment of future generations and only reflects the wishes of the people. In fact, the origin of eating zongzi (the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day) is earlier than eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, which was formed to commemorate the meson push of Jin State in the Spring and Autumn Period. Until now, many places still have the folk custom of Tomb-Sweeping Day eating zongzi the day before.
In the spring and autumn period, millet was wrapped in water bamboo leaves into horns, which were called "horny millet"; Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube dumplings".
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty: plant ash soaked millet, and because the water contained alkali, the millet was wrapped in leaves into a quadrangle, and cooked to make Cheng Guangdong alkaline zongzi.
Jin Dynasty: Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to rice, jiaozi was also served with Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "educational zongzi".
Southern and Northern Dynasties: Miscellaneous Zongzi appeared. The variety has increased, and the rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates and red beans, and the wrapped zongzi is also exchanged as a gift.
Tang dynasty: the rice used for zongzi is "white as jade", and the shape of zongzi appears conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature.
Song Dynasty: "Ai Xiang Zongzi" and "Candied Zongzi" with mugwort leaves. See Su Dongpo's poem "See Yang Meizi in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty.
Yuan dynasty: the wrapping material of zongzi changed from wild vegetable leaves to wild vegetable leaves, which broke through the seasonal restriction of wild vegetable leaves.
Ming Dynasty: Zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
Qing dynasty: ham zongzi appeared.
There are thousands of kinds of zongzi now, which are colorful. Nowadays, glutinous rice is usually wrapped in glutinous rice shells, but the connotation and color depend on local specialties and customs. The more famous ones are longan, meat, crystal, lotus seeds, candied fruit, chestnut, spicy, sauerkraut, ham and salted eggs.
Why do you eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival? Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "millet" and "Zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". According to the "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people, "It is customary to wrap the millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the solstice in summer, there is a jiaozi and a millet. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
Why do you eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival? In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. There was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
Why do you eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival? To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "millet" and "Zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". According to the "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people, "It is customary to wrap the millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the solstice in summer, there is a jiaozi and a millet. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. There was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
On the morning of Dragon Boat Festival, every family eats zongzi to commemorate Qu Yuan. Zongzi is usually wrapped the day before, cooked at night and eaten in the morning. Zongzi is mainly made of tender reed leaves and bamboo leaves, collectively called Zongzi leaves. The traditional form of zongzi is a triangle, which is generally named after the inner pulp. Glutinous rice is called rice zongzi, red bean zongzi is called red bean zongzi, and jujube zongzi is called jujube zongzi. Jujube jiaozi homophones "junior high school", so it eats the most. Children who plan to study can win the championship early. In the past, Jinshi ate jujube jiaozi on the morning of taking the imperial examination. Up to now, on the morning of the entrance examination day in middle schools and universities, parents have to make jujube jiaozi for the candidates.
You must cook eggs in the pot where zongzi is cooked, and if possible, cook some duck eggs and goose eggs. After eating sweet zongzi dipped in sugar, eat eggs dipped in salt. It is said that eating boiled eggs in zongzi pot at the end of May will not cause sores in summer; At noon, put the duck eggs and goose eggs cooked in the zongzi pot in the sun for a while before eating, so that you won't have a headache all summer.
To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Here is an interesting legend. In 340 BC, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and doctor of Chu, faced the pain of national subjugation. On May 5th, he threw a big stone into Guluo River with grief and indignation. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from damaging his health, people have thrown rice in bamboo tubes into the river. In the future, people will put rice in bamboo tubes and throw it into the river to pay homage to Qu Yuan. This is the origin of China's earliest zongzi-"tube zongzi".
Why did you wrap zongzi with wormwood leaves or reed leaves and lotus leaves later? There is such a record in the Elementary Book: During the Jianwu period of the Han Dynasty, Changsha people dreamed of a man who called himself Dr. San Lv (the official name of Qu Yuan) at night and said to him, "Everything you sacrificed was stolen by the dragon in the river. You can wrap them with mugwort leaves and tie the five-color silk thread later. Dragons are most afraid of these two things. " As a result, people made "corn millet" with "leaves wrapped in millet", which was passed down from generation to generation and gradually developed into the Dragon Boat Festival food in China.
Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, after eating Jiuzi Zongzi in the palace during the Dragon Boat Festival, Long Yan was overjoyed and full of praise, and happily wrote a poem: "The four seasons are so beautiful, and Jiuzi Zongzi seeks novelty."
Jiuzi Zongzi is a kind of Zongzi, that is, nine Zongzi are connected in a string, big and small, with the big one above and the small one below. They have different shapes and are very beautiful. They are made of silk threads of nine colors. Jiuzi Zongzi is mostly used for gifts to relatives and friends, such as gifts from mothers to married daughters and gifts from mother-in-law to newly-married wives. Because "Zongzi" is homophonic with "neutron", there is a folk saying that eating "Zongzi" can give birth to a son.
Wu Manyun, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, also wrote a poem praising Jiuzi Zongzi: "Even barrels of rice are wrapped in spring, and Jiuzi's colorful leaves are all white, laughing and saying that cooking lotus roots is loose."
Zongzi not only has many shapes and varieties, but also has different tastes in different places, mainly sweet and salty. Sweet dumplings include white dumplings, red bean dumplings, broad bean dumplings, red date dumplings, rose dumplings, melon seeds dumplings, red bean paste lard dumplings, jujube paste lard dumplings and so on. There are pork jiaozi, ham jiaozi, sausage jiaozi, shrimp dumplings, diced pork jiaozi and so on, but pork jiaozi is more common. In addition, there are assorted jiaozi, jiaozi with bean paste and jiaozi with mushrooms. Southern flavor, and a sweet and salty "double dumplings". These zongzi have different tastes, which makes the zongzi family colorful.
Due to the spread of food culture, as early as ancient times, the technology of making zongzi in China spread abroad, so many countries in the world also have the custom of eating zongzi.
Peruvians eat zongzi at Christmas. The family sat together, eating zongzi and celebrating Christmas. Even some married daughters will go back to their parents' homes on this day and taste the zongzi made by their mothers.
Burmese also like to eat zongzi. On the Dragon Boat Festival, they use glutinous rice as the main raw material and cooked bananas and coconuts as fillings. This kind of zongzi is very attractive, soft, sweet and unique.
The Dragon Boat Festival in Japan is on the fifth day of May in the solar calendar. The main ingredient of their jiaozi is rice flour, which looks like a bell.
The jiaozi wrapped by Malaysians is very similar in shape to that in Guangdong, China, and is characterized by its relatively large size. Besides fresh meat jiaozi and ham jiaozi, there are also bean paste and coconut jiaozi, which are very delicious.
The dumplings in the Philippines are long and taste the same as those in eastern Zhejiang. Zongzi is also a necessary food for Filipinos to celebrate Christmas.