February 2nd is a traditional festival in China. For the older generation, this is a special day and there are many customs. February 2nd, a very early festival, can be traced back to ancient times. Its emergence and development stems from people's worship of the land. It has different forms of expression and different names in the north and south. Northerners call it "Dragon Head Festival" and southerners call it "Social Day".
The dietary customs in northern China are mainly pancakes, jiaozi, Longxu Noodles and pig's head meat.
This habit is said to be related to the Dragon King. The Dragon King is responsible for rainfall, which can suppress all kinds of insects and bless the harvest. Therefore, in the eyes of northerners, the food on February 2 should be associated with "dragons".
The dietary customs in southern China are mainly pork, mutton, chicken, Ciba and zongzi.
In Zhejiang Province, every year on the second day of the second lunar month, people will prepare sacrifices to the gods such as the land Lord to protect the safety of villagers. There has always been a saying in the local area: "On February 2, killing chickens requires fields." In addition, in many areas in the south, there are customs of offering meat separately, gathering people to feast and playing music for fun. According to the local customs of the Jin and Zhou Dynasties, "Jingchu matches pork and mutton with its rice every day and invites people with gourds to show old feelings." This also shows that southerners prefer to use pork and mutton to express their love for this festival.
In Song Dynasty, Lu You also wrote "Poems about Social Days". "Young students forget taboos and are slightly deaf and don't go to the hospital." What he said about "not sending a doctor for slight deafness" is actually a kind of wine, which means that drinking club wine on February 2 can cure deafness. As for eating zongzi, it is in Guangdong and Guangxi in the south.
Judging from the eating habits in the south, besides Ciba and Zongzi, pork, chicken and mutton often appear in the south.