Photocaps in ｗｏｒｄｓ

Appetizer

Cool breeze blows from the southeastern side along with a mist of rains drizzling down when everything on earth seems to flourish: trees and flowers are in half bloom, premature buds can’t wait to burst, and rice plants, though short at this time, are in all green. It’s said that to mark this particular time in spring 105 days after Dong Zhi (Winter Comes), ancestors named it Qing Ming, literarily “pure brightness” in English, as one of the 24 Jie Qi (solar terms) in the Chinese tradition. Set by the government in 1935 in Taiwan, Qing Ming became a national holiday as Qing Ming Jie, or Qing Ming Festival.

Starter

Based on the calculation of 105 days after DongZhi, Qing Ming Jie usually falls on Apr. 4, 5, or 6 on solar calendar. Among all the national holidays in Taiwan, Qing Ming Jie is basically the most formal and serious day in Taiwan to pay respects to our ancestors: we burn paper money, offer fruits and food, burn incense and pray for better life for both the dead and the alive, and clean the tombs or ashes towers where ancestors are rested.

Passing on the Chinese spirit of valuing and honoring the ancestors, Qing Ming Jie becomes one of the most important national festivals in Taiwan, and carries more than just a day for brightness. Always associated with remembering ancestors, Qing Ming Jie is well-known as Tomb Sweeping Day.

Main Course

When it comes to holidays or festivals, they seem always arriving with food particular for that day. Qing Ming Festival is no exception. Following the legendary tradition and custom, we have Roon Bing, Lum Bia in Taiwanese, or Chinese Burrito in definition.

This is usually the most expecting moment for me in that day. Now shall we start?

1. To prepare the ingredients, remember the tips: Vegetables and Chop. You can prepare every and any kinds of vegetables as you like, but please chop or slice them first into strips. (If you’re more a flesh-type person, then some meat will be just fine.)

2. In general, the veggies now you see are the most common ingredients for Roon Bing, including carrots, cabbages, bean sprouts, celery, cilantro, bamboo shoots, minced chicken meat, egg, and dried tofu.

3. Nothing can be more important than this in Roon Bing: peanut-mixed-with-sugar powder, which not only enhance the taste of Roon Bing, but also extinct the flavour from any other kinds of burrito or rolls from the whole world. Most important of all, it serves as a shield to protect the vegetable juices from soaking fast through the wrapper.