The main food on the fifteenth day of the first month in the north is Yuanxiao and jiaozi. In the north, the stuffing is usually put in glutinous rice flour and slowly rolled into a round shape. People in Henan have the custom of 15 flat and 16 round Lantern Festival, so they will eat jiaozi on the fifteenth day of the first month. jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is very popular among the people. There is a folk proverb in Jiangbei that "put on the Lantern Festival, put down the noodles, and look forward to next year after eating it". Local people eat it on the fifteenth day of the first month.
People in western Henan like to eat jujube cakes during the Lantern Festival. In people's minds, eating jujube cakes during the Lantern Festival means that the future will be prosperous and sweet. Jujube cake is baked with flour, jujube paste and brown sugar as the main ingredients. It is said that it was originally the imperial cake of the Qing Dynasty, which has been passed down to this day and has a history of about 200 years.
Customs of Lantern Festival in North China
To eat Yuanxiao, the traditional Yuanxiao is rolled out layer by layer with glutinous rice flour. The common fillings are white sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts, hawthorn, and so on. Every full night on the fifteenth day of the first month, there is a tradition of picking lanterns, such as picking lanterns for forty-five, touching lanterns at night on the sixteenth, and playing social fire, also known as playing stories, which is an organic integration of drums and operas in the north and is very lively.
Lion Dance: The traditional custom of lion dance originated from the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, and it is a long-cherished wish of the broad masses of working people. solve riddles on the lanterns is a traditional form of folk entertainment in China. On the fifteenth day of the first month, crowded squares are full of colorful lights and riddles, which are very prosperous.