Ritual Offerings · FFET10494
Decorated wheat buns (huamo)
Dough shaped into flowers, fish and animals serves as offerings, decorations and gifts for festivals and ceremonies.
The foods offered at ancestor rites, to deities and in temples.
Huamo, also called mianhua, are steamed wheat buns shaped into flowers, fish and animals, used as offerings, decorations and gifts. Related customs are found in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu, for traditional holidays, weddings, funerals, births and birthdays. In Huangling, Shaanxi, dough animals and flowers also replace the three sacrificial animals in rites at the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum.
What
Huamo, also known as mianhua, wowohua and gaohua, are edible dough sculptures. Dough is shaped into flowers, fish and animals, then steamed for food, offerings, decorations and gifts.1
When
Huamo are used for traditional holidays, weddings, funerals, births and birthdays. In Wanghebei village in Jimo, Qingdao, Shandong, villagers make them in the twelfth lunar month before Spring Festival and also take orders for children's birthdays. The available material provides no dated text establishing when the custom began.1,4
Where
Dough-flower making is found in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu. Specific places include Dingxiang and Wenxi in Shanxi, Huangling in Shaanxi, and Wanghebei village in Jimo, Qingdao, Shandong.1,2,3,4
How
Makers in Wanghebei village shape dough by hand into flowers and fish, then steam it. A reported example from Spring Festival 2023 in Wenxi describes rabbit-shaped buns about the size of a bowl displayed on tea tables.3,4
Why
Huamo serve as food and as part of ritual and social exchange. In Huangling, dough figures shaped as animals and flowers replace the three sacrificial animals in rites at the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum; on other occasions, they serve as decorations or gifts.1,2
Impact and influence
Dingxiang dough sculpture and Huangling dough flowers entered the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items in 2008, in the traditional fine arts category. Each listing recognizes its respective local craft.1,2