Yuanxiao is also called Tangyuan, Shuotuan and Zi Yuan. Eating dumplings on the Lantern Festival was first seen in the sequel to Pingyuan written by Song Bida, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is recorded in the book that "Yuanxiao is rich in cooking, but it seems that the predecessors have not given it". The floating ring in Song Dynasty was also called Tangtuan. By the Southern Song Dynasty, there were only lactose pills, yam pills, pearl pills, Chengsha pills, kumquat pills, pink water pills, glutinous rice pills and so on. Then, why can this kind of "glutinous rice balls" similar to rice noodles become a festive food of Shangyuan? It turns out that Lantern Festival must eat Yuanxiao to take the auspicious meaning of "reunion is like the moon". In the Ming Dynasty, Yuanxiao was very common as a food for the Lantern Festival in Beijing. Its making method is glutinous rice flour, which is filled with walnut kernel, sugar and rose, and rolled with water, which is as big as walnut, that is, glutinous rice balls in southeast China. In the Qing Dynasty, the royal chef made a palace-style "Babao Lantern Festival". As early as the Kangxi period, there were rumors in the ruling and opposition parties. Kong, the author of the famous drama Peach Blossom Fan, once wrote such a poem for the Babel Lantern Festival: "Ziyun Tea House pours nectar, and the Babel Lantern Festival is all in effect." Today, Yuanxiao has formed the characteristics of different regions, different flavors and rich colors. Surface lamp, also called surface lamp, is a kind of lamp made of flour, which is popular in northern China. There are various forms of surface lamps, some of which are twelve lamps (thirteen lamps in leap year), which are lit with edible oil or steamed in a pot, depending on the residual oil in the lamp or the remaining water in the steamed lamp, so as to predict the flood and drought situation in the next twelve months. This is understandable in an era when science is underdeveloped. For example, during the reign of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty, Shaanxi's "County Records of Cone South" recorded: "Steamed buckwheat noodles were lit on the fifteenth day of the first month, and it rained in December." Expressed people's desire to pray for good weather. Noodles are cooked or steamed on the sixteenth day of the first month. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi Chengcheng County Records recorded: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, buckwheat flour was steamed as a lamp, and the lamp was burned with oil, and it was eaten the next morning." At present, this custom still exists in rural areas.
Noodles are the food for Lantern Festival dinner. In ancient times, there was a folk saying: "Put the Lantern Festival, put down the lamp surface, and look forward to the coming year after eating." This eating custom is very popular in the north of the Yangtze River. "Annals of the emblem" says: "On the 18th day of the first month, the lights went out and people spat on their faces. As the saying goes,' When the light is on, it goes out', and every household celebrates for themselves. " Eating noodles when turning off the lights symbolizes the significance of continuous celebration.
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 Treatment": "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.
In Taizhou, Zhejiang, bad soup is eaten every year after watching lanterns on the 14th day of the first month. It is fried with shredded pork, shredded winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fungus, fresh duckweed, dried bean curd, oil bubble, Sichuan bean board, spinach and so on. Then add a little rice flour to make salty paste food. The bad 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, longan and so on.
In addition, Pujiang, Zhejiang Province eats steamed bread and wheat cakes. Steamed bread is made of dough, and wheat cakes are round, which means "reunion of grandchildren".
eat yuanxiao
Eating Yuanxiao as a food on the 15th day of the first month has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was very popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao". Yuanxiao, or "Tangyuan", is made of white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernel, nuts, jujube paste and so on. And wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a circle, which can be vegetarian and have different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion. Shaanxi jiaozi is not wrapped, but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour, or boiled or fried, hot and round.