Zhangjiajie's 'Gan Nian': Seeing Off Brave Soldiers
The Tujia people living in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou celebrate the New Year one or two days earlier than other ethnic groups. By custom, in a lunar year with a large twelfth month, they celebrate on the 29th; with a small twelfth month, on the 28th—called celebrating 'Gan Nian.' Legend says that during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty, Tujia soldiers were ordered to Zhejiang's east coast to fight Japanese pirates under Hu Zongxian and Yu Dayou. Due to urgent military orders...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
The Tujia people, who live in concentrated communities in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou, celebrate the New Year one or two days earlier than other ethnic groups. According to custom, in a lunar December with thirty days, they celebrate the New Year on the twenty-ninth; in a lunar December with twenty-nine days, they celebrate on the twenty-eighth. This is called celebrating the 'Gan Nian' (Rushing New Year).
Regarding the origin of 'Gan Nian,' legend has it that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Tujia soldiers were ordered to go to the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang to follow Hu Zongxian and Yu Dayou in suppressing Japanese pirates. Because the military order was urgent, they celebrated the New Year in advance before setting out to suppress the pirates. The Tujia soldiers fought bravely and achieved extraordinary merit in suppressing the pirates. To commemorate this expedition, the Tujia people formed the custom of celebrating 'Gan Nian.' The account of Tujia soldiers 'suppressing pirates' can be found in relevant records in the History of Ming and Classified Compilation of Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty: In the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1556), Yu Dayou was appointed Zhejiang Regional Commander to suppress the pirate rebellion along the coast. At that time, the pirates in western Zhejiang had already been driven to flee out to sea, while the pirates in Ningbo and Zhoushan relied on difficult terrain and were hard to defeat. The imperial court requisitioned six thousand troops from Chuan, Gui, Maliao, and Sangzhi to go suppress the pirates, 'and selected nine hundred crack soldiers from the two offices of Maliao and Sangzhi to be subordinate to Regional Commander Yu Dayou, ordering them to deal with the pirates of Zhoushan.' (Classified Compilation of Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty, Military Historical Materials Volume) Yu Dayou took advantage of the heavy snow on the night of the twentieth day of the twelfth month and ordered officers and soldiers as well as troops from the two offices of Sang and Ma to attack the Zhoushan pirates from all sides, annihilating them in one fell swoop.
'The two offices of Sang and Ma' refer to the tusi of two ethnic groups, and Sangzhi County, located in western Hunan, still has a Tujia population accounting for 59.6 percent to this day. In those years it was even more a relatively concentrated settlement of Tujia people. The Sangzhi soldiers who participated in suppressing the pirates in Zhoushan were undoubtedly Tujia people, and the time of the expedition happened to be close to the end of the year, which matches the time in the legend.
When the Tujia people celebrate 'Gan Nian,' every household has a dish called 'He Cai' (mixed dish) on the table. In those years, when the Tujia people gave a farewell feast for their sons and brothers going off to war, there was no time to prepare a banquet, so they chopped pork into large chunks and mixed it with tofu, radish, cabbage, garlic, and dozens of other ingredients, boiling them together into a large pot called 'He Cai.' For drinking, they drank 'Za Jiu' (sucking wine). In those years there was not even time to pour the wine bowl by bowl, so they directly inserted bamboo tubes into the wine jar and drank, calling it 'Za Jiu.'
The Tujia people have the custom of Gan Nian. On the morning of the thirtieth day of the lunar twelfth month, every Tujia household hangs red lanterns at the door and sets off firecrackers. That is when the Tujia people begin Gan Nian and begin eating their midday meal.
When the Tujia people celebrate Gan Nian, they first put all the dishes on the table, then fill a bowl of rice, add some meat dishes, and place a pair of chopsticks on the rice bowl. At that time the Tujia people first worship their ancestors, and then the family sits at the table and begins Gan Nian. The dishes for the Tujia New Year meal must all be home-raised and home-produced: home-raised such as pigs, cattle, sheep, and fish; home-produced such as sweet potato starch, soybeans, green vegetables, and so on.
Every dish in the Tujia Gan Nian meal has its own meaning.
The Tujia Three Items (blood tofu, cured pig liver, cured sausage): when Tujia sons and daughters see these three dishes on the table, they will appreciate their parents' toil over the past year.
Tujia red yeast fish: this means abundance year after year.
Large chunks of pig head meat: before the pig head meat is chopped up, it is first used to worship one's ancestors, and then cut and served at the table. It is the first dish the Tujia people eat at the table, so it is also called the Tujia first meat. Large chunks of cured meat are popular among the Tujia people 365 days a year. No matter which Tujia village or stockade you walk into, there is always a bowl of large chunks of cured meat on the table. This shows that Tujia men can eat and can work, and also signifies the Tujia people's warm hospitality to honored guests.
Stewed chicken with shiitake mushrooms: generally in rural areas, Tujia parents are usually reluctant to slaughter their own old hens, because at such times they think of their children far away from home, busy with work, who rarely use highly nutritious things to replenish their bodies. So only when the thirtieth day of the lunar twelfth month arrives, that is, the Tujia Gan Nian, can Tujia parents look forward to reunion with their children, and at this time they will without hesitation stew the old hen for their children to eat.
In addition, on the Tujia New Year table there will always be green vegetables and tofu. This means that Tujia parents tell their children to be safe and remain clean and honest when working outside.
Complete Menu for the Tujia Gan Nian Meal
First course: Tujia cured pig liver (Ingredients: homemade cured pig liver, homemade salted vegetables)
Second course: Tujia blood tofu (Ingredients: homemade tofu, Sichuan pepper, chili, dried tangerine peel)
Third course: Tujia sausage (Ingredients: pig small intestine, lean meat, Sichuan pepper, chili, dried tangerine peel)
Fourth course: Tujia red yeast fish (hot pot) (Ingredients: grass carp over 7 jin, red yeast fish)
Fifth course: Large chunks of pig head meat (Ingredients: cured pig head meat, dried shallots)
Sixth course: Large chunks of cured meat (Ingredients: homemade cured meat, garlic bulbs)
Seventh course: Stewed chicken with shiitake mushrooms (Ingredients: homegrown mushrooms, home-raised free-range chicken)
Eighth course: Chicken soup with sweet potato starch noodles (Ingredients: homemade stock, authentic sweet potato starch noodles)
Ninth course: Rice soup with green vegetables (Ingredients: green row vegetables, rice soup)
Tenth course: Pan-fried large chunks of tofu (Ingredients: homemade tofu)
Eleventh course: Tujia fine pastry (Ingredients: rice flour, glutinous rice flour, soybean flour, brown sugar)
Twelfth course: Farmhouse fruit platter (Ingredients: assorted fruits)
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