Eating Yuanxiao is called "jiaozi". There are white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, cinnamon, walnuts, nuts, jujube paste and so on. And wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a circle, you can be vegetarian and have different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion.
There are different opinions about the formation of the Lantern Festival custom, but it was roughly formed in the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to a god named Taiyi. It is said that "Taiyi" was a very prominent god at that time, ranking above the five emperors and owing to the Han emperor, so it was enshrined in the prosperous times. According to legend, another Emperor Wendi of the Han Dynasty was also related to the Lantern Festival.
Yuanxiao, also known as Tangyuan, has many nicknames in history, such as "Mian Cocoon, Fenguo, Yuanbao, Tangbing, Yuan Bujiao". It was not until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty that it was officially named Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is divided into two kinds: stuffed and unfilled. Small and sweet without stuffing, with white sugar, longan, sweet-scented osmanthus, diced lotus root and candied fruit as seasoning, also known as "Pearl jiaozi", large and shaped like a walnut with stuffing. Yuanxiao in the north is mostly sweet, with white sugar, red bean paste, sesame and hawthorn, while Yuanxiao in the south is sweet, salty, meaty and vegetarian, especially Ningbo Tangyuan and Guiyang Wu Jia Tangyuan.
"Sweet-scented osmanthus stuffed with walnuts, rice is like pearl well water. Watch Ma Jiahao drop powder and try to sell Yuanxiao in the wind. " This poem "On the Bamboo Branches of Shangyuan" in the Qing Dynasty reflects that Beijing had the habit of eating jiaozi on the Lantern Festival a long time ago, and at that time, it already had a brand name famous for selling jiaozi.
The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival is Lantern Festival. In China, the custom of watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival left over from the Tang Dynasty has been circulated among the people. In addition, the custom of eating jiaozi in the Lantern Festival has been preserved until now, because people are used to calling it "Yuanxiao"-Yuanxiao on the night of the Lantern Festival.
On the Lantern Festival, restaurants, pastry shops and even street stalls in Beijing sell jiaozi. On the fifteenth day of the first month, every family eats a steaming bowl of jiaozi. How people miss the customs left by our ancestors!
Tangyuan is also called dumplings and powdered fruit, because it floats on the water after being cooked, and it was also called floating dumplings in ancient times. People eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival, which actually means missing their loved ones and longing for reunion. In the Song Dynasty, Zhou Bida's "Boiling and Floating Zi Yuan on the Lantern Festival" was the earliest poem describing glutinous rice balls in China.
"Do you know anything tonight? Everything is like reunion.
Tang Guan looks for old flavor, and the cook looks for new works.
The stars are wrapped in dark clouds, and the beads are floating in muddy water.
18-year-old miscellaneous poems, there is this sentence about family style. "
Zhou Bida was the minister of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty. He usually purges the military and political affairs and makes great efforts to govern. This little poem has revealed his longing for the reunion of the people of the whole country. Even the girl who made a fire under the stove was surprised. Everyone was immersed in the deep feelings of missing their hometown when cooking dumplings! Eating glutinous rice balls and remembering relatives has always been a habit that has been passed down to this day.
Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the lantern viewing activities became more prosperous. Lights are hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall light wheels, light buildings and light trees have been built. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying that "the stars in the Han Dynasty fell, and the balcony was like a hanging moon."
"Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of communication.
Folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice, which can be solid or stuffed. Filled with bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, various fruit materials and so on. You can cook, fry, steam and fry when you eat. At first, people called this kind of food "Floating Zi Yuan", and later they called it "Tangtuan" or "Tangyuan". These names are similar in pronunciation, meaning reunion, symbolizing family reunion, harmony and happiness. People also miss their departed relatives and place their best wishes on their future lives.
In some places, the Lantern Festival also has the custom of "walking away from all diseases", which is also called "roasting all diseases" and "dispersing all diseases". Most of the participants are women. They walk together or against the wall, or across the bridge in the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters.
With the passage of time, there are more and more activities in the Lantern Festival, and many local festivals have added traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums. This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also celebrated every year in areas where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities.
There are several interesting legends about the origin of eating Lantern Festival: China has the custom of eating Lantern Festival, which began in the Song Dynasty. According to folklore, Yuanxiao originated from King Zhao of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first month, King Chu Zhao crossed the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweets with white outside and red inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius, and Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is also a sign of the resurrection of the Lord." Since then, eating Yuanxiao has become history. Yuanxiao is a kind of holiday food, just like rice cakes in the Spring Festival and zongzi in the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating Yuanxiao, like a full moon, symbolizes family reunion and entrusts people with good wishes for their future life. Yuanxiao is called "Tangyuan", "Zi Yuan", "Floating Zi Yuan" and "Shui Yuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, solid or stuffed. The fillings are red bean paste, sugar, hawthorn and so on. Can be boiled, fried, steamed and fried.
On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god ascended to heaven. Eat honeydew melons to sacrifice to the stove (that is, everyone says "off-year") and let the kitchen god put in a good word in heaven. Next year will be more auspicious.
The origin of Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival has a history of more than two thousand years. Also called "Lantern Festival" or "Lantern Festival". During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Taoism believed in the "three gods", including the three gods of Shang Yuan Tian Guan, Zhong Yuan Di Guan and Xia Yuan Shui Guan. Their birthdays are the 15th day of the first month, the 15th day of July and the 15th day of October, so the 15th day of the first month is also called Shangyuan Festival. Some people think that it evolved from a ceremony in the court of the Han Dynasty.
The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan, Yuanxi or Lantern Festival. This is a colorful folk festival and the last day of the Spring Festival. Since then, everything has returned to normal, so people warmly celebrate it, so it is called off-year
According to legend, before the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was designated as the Lantern Festival, and Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty formulated the taichu calendar, which further affirmed the importance of the Lantern Festival. With the development of the past dynasties, the Lantern Festival has been continuously extended. According to legend, the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty lasted only three days, which was extended to five days in the Song Dynasty and ten days in the Ming Dynasty, that is, from the eighth day of August until the seventeenth year.
Traditional women in China can't leave the boudoir for three steps, and it is difficult to go out during the day, let alone at night. Lantern Festival night is a rare exception, and you will naturally enjoy it and wait for the opposite sex to get to know each other. So many ancient love stories in China are based on the Lantern Festival.
Lantern Festival is a lively festival, and many important activities are as follows:
(1) Blessing in Shangyuan
People divide nature into three realms: heaven, earth and water, and personify it. Therefore, it is called heavenly officer, local officer and water officer. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Shangyuan is the birthday of Emperor Tianguan. The main duty of Tianguan is to bless, so the people prepare sacrifices to worship Tianguan early in the morning and pray for blessing.
(2) ancestor worship in Lantern Festival
Eating Lantern Festival may have started in the Song Dynasty, but it was called "floating Zi Yuan" at that time, and it was renamed "Yuanxiao" in the Ming Dynasty. Every family makes Yuanxiao. In ancient times, this was a good omen for the first year. Eating glutinous rice balls symbolizes family happiness. After the Lantern Festival is done, it is a happy reunion to respect the ancestors first and then have a family reunion to eat.
(3) Flower lanterns
Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival, so lanterns are the central activity of Lantern Festival. Folk call lanterns "drum lanterns" because the lanterns mentioned by children in the past are like drums and gongs. There are many kinds of Lantern Festival lanterns, including temple lanterns, shop lanterns and children's drum lanterns. There are many styles, which can be basically divided into two categories: first, image lights, such as knife-closing lights, rabbit lights, fruit lights, half lights and so on. The other is a movable lantern based on folk stories. At present, most of them are electric lanterns, such as the champion parade, the Eight Immortals celebrating their birthdays, and the Taoyuan ceremony, which all show the national traditions of loyalty, filial piety and justice.
(4) Solve riddles on lanterns
In the past, riddles were held in temples, because temples were places where people gathered in their leisure time, and there were riddles competitions and exhibitions. Therefore, in the past, a riddle was listed under the lantern, and the riddle on the lantern was solved by the relevant personnel in the temple at midnight. The scene was lively and warm, because it was a good sign to go home with the prize. Modern lantern riddles are displayed in newspapers and magazines, as well as temple fairs on TV, and some programs are interspersed with lantern riddles. Various forms can meet the different needs of the people. This also reflects the diversity of traditional festivals in modern society.