Custom activities of Lantern Festival
eat yuanxiao
Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, as a kind of food, has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao". There are white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, cinnamon bark, walnut kernel, nuts, jujube paste and so on in Yuanxiao. After the stuffing ball is formed, it is rolled into glutinous rice flour, and the glutinous rice flour is made from jiaozi and then wrapped in jiaozi, which is completely different. Yuanxiao can be meat or vegetarian, with different tastes. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion.
Sightseeing lamp
The custom of setting off lanterns during the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty. Chang 'an, the capital at that time, was already the largest city with a population of one million in the world, and its society was rich. Under the personal initiative of the emperor, the Lantern Festival became more and more luxurious. After the middle Tang Dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival. In the prosperous period of the Tang Xuanzong Kaiyuan (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 50,000 lanterns and all kinds of lanterns. The emperor ordered 20 giant lantern buildings with a height of 150 feet, resplendent and magnificent.
The Lantern Festival in Song Dynasty is superior to that in Tang Dynasty in scale and dreamy lighting, with more folk activities and stronger national characteristics. Since then, the Lantern Festival has continued to develop and the time of the Lantern Festival has become longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in Tang Dynasty is "the day before and after Shangyuan". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the 16th, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was extended from the 8th to 18th to ten days.
Solve riddles; solve lantern riddles; guess riddles on hanging lanterns
Solve riddles on the lanterns, also called playing riddles, is a traditional activity of the Lantern Festival. Lantern riddles originated from riddles in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Lantern riddles hung on lanterns for people to guess and shoot began in the Southern Song Dynasty. The southern song dynasty carefully "Wulin old story? "Lantern Story" records: "When writing poems with silk lanterns, you will laugh at them, draw characters, hide argot and old Beijing slang, and tease pedestrians. "Lantern Festival, the imperial city stays up all night, and the people enjoy the Lantern Festival on a spring night. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected on candles and listed on the road, which is called "lantern riddles".
Walking sickness
Besides celebrating the Lantern Festival, there are also religious activities. That is to say, most of the participants in "taking all kinds of diseases", also known as "baking all kinds of diseases" and "spreading all kinds of diseases" are women. They walk together or against the wall, or cross the bridge through the suburbs, with the aim of driving away diseases and eliminating disasters.
As time goes by, there are more and more activities for the Lantern Festival. In many places, activities such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums were also added during the festival.
Mouse chase
This activity is mainly aimed at sericulture families. Because mice often eat silkworms in large areas at night, it is said that they can stop eating silkworms by feeding them rice porridge on the fifteenth day of the first month. As a result, these people cooked a large pot of sticky porridge on the fifteenth day of the first month, and some even covered it with a layer of meat. They put porridge in a bowl and put it on the ceiling, corner and mouth where mice haunt, cursing that mice will not die a natural death if they eat silkworm babies again.
Yingzigu
Zi Gu is a kind and poor girl in folklore. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Zi Gu died of poverty. People sympathize with her and miss her. In some places, it is convenient to have the custom of "welcoming the daughter-in-law on the fifteenth day of the first month". Every night, people tie a life-size portrait of purple aunt with straw and cloth heads. Women have stood beside the toilet, pigsty and kitchen where Zigu often works to meet her, holding her hand like sisters, telling her sweet words and comforting her with tears. This scene is very vivid and truly reflects the thoughts and feelings of the working people who are kind, honest and sympathetic to the weak.
What traditional food do you eat on Lantern Festival?
Tangyuan 1
On the Lantern Festival, southerners eat glutinous rice balls. There is a lyric in the folk song "Selling Tangyuan" in Taiwan Province Province: "A bowl of soup is full, and eating Tangyuan is a good reunion." The full moon in the sky and the dumplings in the bowl mean family reunion and happiness.
Tangyuan is made of glutinous rice flour and water, and then filled with various fillings prepared in advance, usually dried fruits and fruits with vegetable oil, such as peanuts, sesame seeds and walnuts. Finally, wrap the glutinous rice into a ball. The dumplings are wrapped.
2. Lantern Festival
On the Lantern Festival, northerners want to eat Yuanxiao. Speaking of Yuanxiao, many people think that glutinous rice balls are Yuanxiao. In fact, Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are actually two things, although there is little difference in raw materials and appearance. The most essential difference lies in the production process. It's easier to make dumplings. Generally, glutinous rice flour is mixed with water to make skin, and then "wrapped" stuffing. Making Yuanxiao is much more complicated: first, you need to mix dough and cut the solidified stuffing into small pieces. After watering once, throw it into a basket filled with glutinous rice flour and knead it into a ball, while sprinkling water until the stuffing is covered with glutinous rice flour and knead it into a ball.
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
Shaanxi and other places have the custom of eating Yuanxiao tea on the Lantern Festival. Although it is called Yuanxiao tea, it is not directly related to Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao tea is made by adding various fruits and vegetables to hot noodle soup. After eating greasy food such as big fish and big meat in the New Year, eating this kind of Yuanxiao tea rich in vitamins, dietary fiber and minerals on the fifteenth day of the first month can alleviate the greasy feeling.
5. Camellia oleifera
On the night of Lantern Festival, the ground says "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 Diet Therapy, "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
Starting from the Han Dynasty, it was a custom to light a surface lamp. Many people don't know what it is, but it is actually a kind of lamp made of flour, also known as a face lamp, which is mainly a custom in northern China. Surface lamps come in many shapes. Generally, 12 lights will be made, and 13 lights will be made in leap years. Cooking oil will be put into the lamp, and then they will be lit. This is a water surface lamp. The lanterns during the Lantern Festival have auspicious meanings and can ward off evil spirits. Because the ancient science was not developed, the amount of cooking oil left in the noodle lamp was used to predict the flood and drought in the next twelve months of the year, and the noodle lamp was steamed on the sixteenth day of the first month. In some places, the surface lamp is steamed in a pot, and the remaining water quantity of the surface lamp is predicted after steaming.
1 1, 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.
12, bean dough
People in Kunming like to eat bean noodles, similar to Yuanxiao. Is to fry and grind the beans, then make them into balls and cook them with water. It tastes good.
13, rotten soup
People in Taizhou, Zhejiang, eat salty rotten soup on the fourteenth day of the first month and sweet rotten soup on the first month. Rotten soup, also called mountain batter, is a Lantern Festival food in Taizhou, which belongs to one of the traditional snacks. They eat bad soup after watching lanterns on the fourteenth day of the first month. Bad soup can be divided into salty and sweet, mainly based on lotus root starch, rice flour or potato flour, and then add your favorite ingredients to make your favorite taste.
14, 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.
The implication of eating glutinous rice balls in Lantern Festival
The implication of eating glutinous rice balls in Lantern Festival is good luck and family reunion, and it is also a good wish for future life and yearning for hometown.
1, experts say that Yuanxiao was often called "tangyuan" at first, because it floats on the water after boiling, which is beautiful and reminds people of a bright moon hanging on the cloud. There is a bright moon in the sky, jiaozi in the bowl, and every family is round and round, symbolizing reunion and good luck. Therefore, eating Yuanxiao expresses people's love for family reunion.
2. The name of Tangyuan is similar to the pronunciation of "reunion", which means reunion, symbolizing the reunion of the whole family, harmony and happiness. People also miss their departed relatives and place their best wishes on their future life.
Eating glutinous rice balls in Lantern Festival not only means celebrating family reunion, but also has the health care effects of keeping out the cold, nourishing the spleen and stomach and benefiting the lungs. The material of jiaozi for Lantern Festival is mainly glutinous rice. "Compendium of Materia Medica" points out that glutinous rice is a valley for nourishing the spleen and stomach, benefiting the lungs and benefiting qi. Glutinous rice is sweet and warm, which can nourish human blood and spleen and stomach after eating. The coldest winter is March 9, although it has passed now, the weather is warm and cold, and stomach gas is most likely to be lost in cold days. The ancients packed zongzi on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Besides sticky rice, zongzi is easy to cook and won't come loose, but also because glutinous rice has the characteristics of keeping out the cold.
4. Eating zongzi on the Lantern Festival will warm the spleen and stomach, and people's breath will become quite smooth, which will make the whole body warm and play a role in keeping out the cold, especially suitable 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.