The Legend of Typical Chinese New Year Basket Cakes, Originally Made to Bribe the Gods

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Chinese New Year or Chinese New Year celebrations are incomplete without basket cakes. This cake, which is also called nian gao, uses sticky rice flour and sugar as its raw ingredients, similar to dodol.

There is a unique legend behind the basket cake which is a typical Chinese New Year dish. Who would have thought, this sweet sticky rice cake was originally made as a cunning offering, aka a bribe, to the Kitchen God, who is believed to reside in every home.

Quote China Highlights, cFolklore in China says that at the end of every year there is a Kitchen God whose job is to make an “annual report” to the Jade Emperor. To prevent the Kitchen God from badmouthing their homes, people offer Nian Gao or basket cakes as 'coverage'.

Photo: Process of Making Basket Cakes. (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)

This is also said to be the reason why basket cakes are made from sticky sticky rice flour. The sticky texture was deliberately created to make it difficult for the Kitchen God's mouth to open so he couldn't report bad things.

Another source says that nian gao is believed to have existed since 2000 years ago. After the Chinese Calendar was established in the Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC – 256 BC), the Chinese began to have a concept of “year”. Since then, people have offered nian gao as offerings to their gods and ancestors.

In the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), nian gao became a traditional Chinese food eaten during the Spring Festival. Later, in the Qing Dynasty (1636 – 1912), nian gao developed into a folk snack commonly eaten throughout the year, but remained a special treat for the festival.

Basket cake or nian gao itself symbolizes prosperity. The word 'nian gao' sounds like 'getting taller year by year'. Therefore, this cake symbolizes self-improvement from year to year, both in work, business, family and education. For this reason, eating basket cakes during the Chinese New Year period is considered to bring good luck.

Basket cakes are actually sold all year round, but during Chinese New Year, sales of these cakes skyrocket. Because, basket cakes are said to be able to unite families, strengthen bonds, and prevent them from saying anything bad when eating together.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(hsy/hsy)