What food do you eat on Lantern Festival?
1, Yuanxiao
"Lantern Festival is played on the fifteenth day of the first month". Of course, Lantern Festival is an essential food. However, Yuanxiao is a northern food. It is made by cutting the stuffing into pieces, dipping it in water and rolling it out in a container filled with glutinous rice flour, which is different from jiaozi in the south.
2. Tangyuan
South glutinous rice balls, North Yuanxiao. Unlike the north, southerners eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival, which means reunion. The making method of glutinous rice balls is simpler than Yuanxiao, which is similar to Bao jiaozi. That is, add water to glutinous rice flour to make balls, let it stand for 1 hour, grab a small ball of noodles, knead it into pieces, wrap it with stuffing and make it into a circle.
3. Lettuce; lettuce
Cantonese people like to "steal" lettuce and cook it with cakes during the Lantern Festival. It is said that this kind of food represents good luck. Guangdong people are calm and down-to-earth, and have good intentions for festivals. Lettuce, which is most commonly used in festive occasions such as the opening of new stores, is also an essential holiday product for the Lantern Festival. Lettuce, often a common vegetable on the dining table in the south, is homophonic with "getting rich", so it is also regarded as a festive thing symbolizing wealth and good fortune.
4. Lantern Festival tea
In Shaanxi and other places, there is a custom of eating Yuanxiao tea, that is, putting all kinds of vegetables and fruits in hot soup noodles, much like the ancient "Yuanxiao porridge". This kind of tea increases the intake of cellulose, minerals and vitamins, and is not as greasy as ordinary Yuanxiao. It has a neutralizing effect on the acidic constitution caused by eating more animal food in festivals, and also makes Yuanxiao more comprehensive in nutrition.
5. Camellia oleifera
Eating at the Lantern Festival night, the ground said "fifteen flat, sixteen yuan", one day to eat jiaozi, one day to eat Yuanxiao; In mountainous areas, it is "15 dozen camellia oleifera, 16 pinch flat grain". As the saying goes, "ten miles are different." Making tea is to stir tea noodles with chopsticks to make camellia oleifera, also called noodle tea.
6. Oil hammer
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, rice porridge or bean porridge was used as the festival food for the Lantern Festival. However, this kind of food is mainly used for sacrifice, not holiday food. Until the Tang Dynasty, Zheng's Record of Chefs recorded: "Go on a diet in the middle of the year and get rid of the oil hammer." According to the records in Tai Ping Guang Ji, Lu Shi Miscellaneous Notes and Guru Order, the method of making oil hammer is similar to that of frying Yuanxiao in later generations. Some people call it "the pearl in oil painting".
7. jiaozi
On the fifteenth day of the first month, northerners have the habit of eating jiaozi, while people in Henan have the custom and tradition of "fifteen flats and sixteen circles" for Lantern Festival, so they should eat jiaozi on the fifteenth day of the first month. Jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi".
8, jujube cake
People in western Henan like to eat jujube cakes on the Lantern Festival, which means good luck. Jujube cake was originally the imperial cake of Qing Dynasty. It is sweet and fragrant, and contains vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and other nutrients, which can not only replenish the spleen and stomach, but also benefit qi and promote fluid production. It also has the functions of protecting the liver, increasing muscle strength, beautifying and preventing aging.
9.sticky cake
Sticky cakes are also called rice cakes. Besides Yuanxiao and noodles, some people eat sticky cakes on the Lantern Festival. Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "Prescription for Emergency Use Dietotherapy" that "autotrophic rice is sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic, clearing heat and benefiting qi." After the Tang Dynasty, there were also records of eating cakes during the Lantern Festival in the Yuan Dynasty.
10, surface lamp
Speaking of the custom of Lantern Festival, people usually think of eating glutinous rice balls, enjoying lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns. However, there is another custom handed down from the Han Dynasty, that is, bean flour lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month. Lantern is an auspicious lamp, which can drive away evil spirits and diseases. Therefore, squeezing bean flour lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month is the common people's prayer for happiness and prosperity in the new year.
1 1, bean noodles
People in Kunming like to eat bean noodles, similar to Yuanxiao. They fry beans, grind them, then make them into balls and boil them in water. It tastes good.
12, rotten soup
Taizhou area eats rotten soup after watching lanterns on the fourteenth day of the first month every year. Stir-fry the soup with shredded pork, shredded winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fungus, fresh duck, dried bean curd, oil bubble, Sichuan bean board, spinach, etc. Add a little rice flour and cook it into a salty paste. The rotten soup drunk on the fifteenth day of the first month is sweet, made of sweet potato powder or lotus root powder with lotus seeds, candied dates and longan.
13, steamed bread, wheat cake
There is a custom of eating steamed bread and wheat cakes in Pujiang, Zhejiang Province during the Lantern Festival. It is said that the reason is that steamed bread is made of dough, and wheat cakes are round, which means "happy reunion of children and grandchildren". In Shangyuan County, Changde City, Hunan Province, it is called "time soup" to make soup with Chili peppers and add leeks and fruits to entertain guests.
14, noodles
There is a folk proverb in Jiangbei, which is called "Shangyuan Festival, save noodles, and look forward to next year after eating." Local people eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first month, which sounds unrelated to the Lantern Festival, but it also means praying for good luck. "Annals of the Emblem" states: "On the 18th day of the first month, the lights go out and people spit on their faces. As the saying goes,' when the light is on, it goes out', and everyone celebrates. " Eating noodles with lights out symbolizes continuous celebration.
The moral of Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival, also known as Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival and Shangyuan Festival, is on the fifteenth day of the first full moon in a year. It originated in the period of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Judging from the traditional Spring Festival culture in China, the Lantern Festival is only one of the important parts of the Spring Festival. The custom of Spring Festival in ancient China lasted for one and a half months. The long Spring Festival has to go through three stages: preparing for the New Year, celebrating the New Year and celebrating the New Year. It was the Spring Festival from the 23rd lunar month to the 15th Lantern Festival in the first month. If we compare the trilogy, the Lantern Festival, the end of the Spring Festival, is the climax of the Spring Festival trilogy in China. Lantern Festival is regarded as the last climax of the Spring Festival, because after this day, people really enter the new year's work, so people all over the country celebrate the Lantern Festival and pray for God to bless the good weather in the coming year.
Lantern Festival can be handed down because of the cultural significance of this festival: reunion, harmony and the pursuit of freedom. These are what we yearn for and our beautiful expectations. Every festival can be handed down because it contains people's wishes and yearning for a better life. Lantern Festival is rich in cultural connotation, and its culture has a long history, which is unique in the world folk culture. At present, the world competition for folk festivals is getting worse and worse, so it must be protected.
The Cultural Value of Lantern Festival
The traditional festival customs in China have adapted to the comprehensive needs of the broad masses of people in China in material, spiritual, ethical and aesthetic aspects. In terms of material life, traditional festivals in China have many unique foods in different festivals. On the Lantern Festival, the whole family eats glutinous rice balls together. "Tangyuan" sounds similar to "reunion", symbolizing reunion and harmony.
The cultural value of Lantern Festival lies in that it is a national carnival, in which everyone participates and enjoys it. Because of the opening of the ancient Lantern Festival, the crowds are woven, and men and women meet, which is easy to produce love. For thousands of years, two of a kind's love story staged on the Lantern Festival is endless.
The main activity of Lantern Festival is mass entertainment, but its social and cultural significance is not just entertainment. There are many religious activities on the fifteenth day of the first month, so pray for the blessing of the gods. Lantern Festival is also a good time to find children. In Song Dynasty, Chen's Book of the Year, Volume 12, Stealing Lights, explained why people stole lights at the Lantern Festival at that time and said, "A cloud, whoever steals lights, is a good omen for men." The homonym of "light" here is "Ding", which is male. In this way, stealing a lamp symbolizes the birth of a son, and stealing a lamp is to pray for the child to continue. In the same way, watching lanterns also means looking for children. Therefore, it is reasonable for ancient women to go out to watch lights for this reason.
Festival culture has no national boundaries, such as Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. The enthusiasm, boldness and publicity of hundreds of millions of people can be compared with the carnival in Brazil, Germany and other countries.