Eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival not only means celebrating family reunion, but also has the health-preserving effects of keeping out the cold, nourishing the spleen and stomach and benefiting the lung and qi.

There was a maid-in-waiting named "Yuanxiao" in the palace when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was told. She spent many years in seclusion in the palace, missing her parents and spending all her time in Lacrimosa. Determined to help her, Dong Fangshuo lied to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty that Vulcan burned Chang 'an on the 15th day of the first month on the orders of the Jade Emperor, and the only way to escape the disaster was to let "Yuanxiao Girl" make a lot of dumplings that Vulcan loved to eat on the 15th day of the first month, and all subjects decorated them with lanterns.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty allowed the "Yuanxiao" girl to finally meet her family. Since then, the Lantern Festival has been formed, and the custom of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival has spread at this time.

Eating glutinous rice dumplings on the Lantern Festival warms the spleen and stomach, and people's breath will become quite smooth, so that the whole body will be hot and play a role in keeping out the cold, especially for those with spleen and stomach deficiency. In addition, glutinous rice also contains protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, nicotinic acid and other rich nutrients, so it can be said that glutinous rice dumplings are warm and strong food.

glutinous rice is the main material of Yuanxiao dumplings. In Compendium of Materia Medica, it is pointed out that glutinous rice is a valley for nourishing the spleen and stomach and benefiting the lung and qi. Glutinous rice is sweet and warm, which can nourish human qi and blood and nourish the spleen and stomach after eating. The coldest winter is March 9, although it has passed now, the weather is warm and cold at first, and the stomach gas is the easiest loss in cold days.

The ancients made glutinous rice dumplings on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, because glutinous rice is sticky and easy to wrap, but also because it has the characteristics of keeping out the cold.

glutinous rice dumplings are round in appearance with stuffing or solid inside. They are called Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south. Yuanxiao dumplings can have many patterns. Especially the varieties with stuffing are the most.