Many years ago. Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Mingzhou (now Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province) began to eat a novel food, which was filled with black sesame seeds and lard, added with a little sugar, and wrapped in glutinous rice flour. After cooking, it tastes sweet, delicious and interesting. Because this kind of dumplings is floating and heavy when cooked in the pot.
Therefore, it was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", and later some areas renamed "Floating Zi Yuan" as Tangyuan. However, glutinous rice balls symbolize better family reunion, and eating glutinous rice balls means family happiness and reunion in the New Year, so it is a must-have food for the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. In some areas in the south, people will also get used to eating glutinous rice balls during the Spring Festival instead of jiaozi.
Tangyuan, also known as "Tangtuan" and "Floating Zi Yuan", is one of the representatives of traditional snacks in China. At the same time, it is also the most distinctive food of the Lantern Festival with a long history.
Are the ancient dumplings the same as Yuanxiao?
"Tangyuan" is also called "Yuanxiao" in some places, so there is a saying that Yuanxiao is eaten on the fifteenth day of the first month, and there is also a saying that Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are the same thing, but in fact Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are not the same thing at all, and many people have made mistakes. Do you know the difference between "Tangyuan" and "Yuanxiao"?
The difference between glutinous rice balls and Yuanxiao actually reflects the cultural differences between the north and the south of China. Generally speaking, the northern region is used to being called Yuanxiao, and the southern region is more called Tangyuan.
However, in ancient times, both Yuanxiao and Tangyuan had a unified name, called "Floating Zi Yuan". The name of Tangyuan was probably in the Southern Song Dynasty, when people called it "lactose Zi Yuan", which was homophonic.
Northerners called the 15th day of the first month "Lantern Festival" from the beginning, so they kept the custom of eating Yuanxiao on the Lantern Festival, so southerners ate jiaozi and northerners ate Yuanxiao.
Traditionally speaking, the meaning of glutinous rice balls and Yuanxiao is the same, and both symbolize family reunion, reunion and happiness. But from the production process, there are essential differences between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan.