KUMQUAT

KUMQUAT

LATIN NAME: CITRUS FORTUNELLA MARGARITA

HOMELAND: SOUTH EAST CHINA

Queen of Weird Fruits

According to a story told in Pan-Yu town of Guangzhou city in southeastern China's Guangdong province, the kumquat tree was gifted to Pan-Yu by the jade dragon. In ancient times, the name of the region was Nanyue, not Guangdong. Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty, who ruled from 221 to 210 BC, sends his envoys to Pan-Yu, where the most prestigious people of the region live, to swear allegiance on behalf of the Nanyue region. The Pan-Yu people swear allegiance to the emperor and send him as gifts of kumquat fruits, which were very special to them. Emperor says “they sent me these? and starts crying. Whether the emperor cried out of joy, sadness, or anger is never known.

The first appearance of the kumquat fruit is actually based on the legend of the jade dragon, which is still told in Pan-Yu. According to the legend, the jade dragon who came to Pan-Yu gave a tree to the people of Pan-Yu and said that he wanted to be taken good care of this tree, and that he wanted to come and see its fruits after a year.

The Pan-Yu people love kumquats, and the jade dragon comes every year to see the growing kumquat harvest. One day, the jade dragon asks the people of Pan-Yu to give him the most beautiful daughter as a bride. He says that he will take his bride to the White Clouds Mountain, known today as Baiyun Mountain, that he will eat her after ruling for a year as his wife, and that he will come every year and take the most beautiful girl as a bride. When the Pan-Yun people tell the jade dragon that this is unfair, the jade dragon replies; “you ate my kumquats and you will be punished”. One day , 4 warriors come to Pan-Yun, who lives an unhappy life because the Jade dragon comes and eats the most beautiful girl in Pan-Yun every year. One of the warriors has the power of air, one of the earth, one of fire and one of water. The warriors want to save Pan-Yun by killing the jade dragon, but they want the most beautiful girl to marry the warrior who will kill the dragon. When the jade dragon comes, he get afraid of these 4 warriors with the powers of nature and runs away. The dragon did not die, but escaped. In this case, the warriors ask the most beautiful girl to choose one of them. She doesn't want the 3 warriors to be upset, except the one she will chose. In response, she showed the tree she had grown and said, "My heart belongs to the kumquat tree, my great love is this kumquat tree, I cannot betray it." Warriors respect this, but the girl cannot marry anyone. In memory of this story, the "Jade Dragon Festival" is celebrated in Pan-Yun every year during the kumquat harvest season.

In the City of Orlando, USA, it is an important part of popular culture.

Bob Morris, dissident columnist for the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper, writes a column in response to the annual difficulty for ordinary people to attend the Citrus Parade, which is held at Orlando's annual citrus fruit festival. In his article, he announced that he would go for a walk with a wreath of kumquat fruits, a sad member of the citrus family, on November 8, 1986, in response to the big-nosed Citrus Parade, for the common people, who are not as perfect as the rich. He asks the people who want to join him to form groups and carry a banner about them. When Bob Morris went out on the street, 30,000 people joined him with banners and kumquat wreaths hanging around their necks. The "Kumquat Sashay Quen", perhaps the most entertaining protest march in history, traditionally started in Orlando. The memorable banner of the first parade of a group of tourists in Orlando with the banner "Tourist Liberation Front" has gone down in history.