What traditional food do we eat during the Lantern Festival?

The Lantern Festival is a carnival for all the people. There are customs such as watching lanterns, lion dancing, guessing lantern riddles, etc. In addition, people in the south eat glutinous rice balls, while people in the north eat glutinous rice balls. The whole family eats glutinous rice balls together, which means reunion and harmony. Do you eat glutinous rice balls or glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival? O(∩_∩)O Haha~? Come and have a look!

Contents of this article

1. What traditional foods are eaten during the Lantern Festival?

2. The Origin of the Lantern Festival

3. Do we eat Yuanxiao or Tangyuan during the Lantern Festival?

What traditional food do you eat during the Lantern Festival?

There are many traditional foods for the Lantern Festival, such as Yuanxiao, which is generally made of white sugar, sesame, bean paste, walnuts, glutinous rice and other materials, and is basically made by shaking; Glutinous Rice Balls are made of glutinous rice flour, black sesame, osmanthus and white sugar, but the glutinous rice balls are wrapped and rolled into a round shape; Oil tea has a soft, salty and fragrant taste, which is endless aftertaste and can bring energy to the human body.

Yuanxiao is a well-deserved traditional food of the Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is generally made of sugar, sesame, red bean paste, walnuts, glutinous rice, etc. When making the fillings of Yuanxiao, first mix the fillings evenly according to personal taste, then cut the fillings into cubes, and finally put in glutinous rice flour and sift it, and the big and round Yuanxiao is "rolled".

Although glutinous rice balls and Yuanxiao are similar in appearance, they are two completely different foods. Tangyuan is generally made of glutinous rice flour, black sesame, osmanthus and white sugar. When making glutinous rice balls, the skin is first rolled out, then the filling is added, and finally the skin with the filling is slowly rolled into a round shape and put into the pot to cook until it floats.

Oil tea is also a traditional food for the Lantern Festival. It has a soft, salty and fragrant taste and is very delicious. Oil tea is usually made from flour, butter, five kernels, black sesame and other ingredients. After the flour is fried, butter is added, and finally various grains are added according to taste. Finally, a thick and sticky oil tea can be made to replenish human energy.

The Origin of the Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year. It is a festival for praying for blessings and viewing lanterns. The Lantern Festival originated from the folk custom of lighting lanterns to pray for blessings on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It has been designated as a legal holiday since the Tang Dynasty. There are customs such as viewing lanterns, lion dancing, and guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival. There is also a food custom of eating glutinous rice balls in the south and glutinous rice balls in the north.

The Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year. It is a festival for praying for blessings and viewing lanterns. The Lantern Festival is related to the prevalence of Buddhism. It originated from the folk custom of lighting lanterns to pray for blessings on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It originated in the Han Dynasty and was designated as a legal holiday in the Tang Dynasty.

Some people believe that the custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist Sanyuan theory, which divides a year into three yuan, namely the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of Shangyuan, the fifteenth day of July of Zhongyuan and the fifteenth day of October of Xiayuan. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Shangyuan Heavenly Official would bestow blessings, and so the Lantern Festival became famous and is also called the Shangyuan Festival.

Do we eat Yuanxiao or Tangyuan during the Lantern Festival?

In fact, you can eat both. Southerners like to eat glutinous rice balls, while northerners like to eat Yuanxiao. In fact, they all eat the same thing!

The method of making Yuanxiao is to "roll". The filling of Yuanxiao is small cubes, usually made of green and red silk, peanuts, sesame oil, jam, sugar, etc., mixed together, then mashed, pressed, and cut into pieces. After dipping the filling in water, put it in a basket filled with glutinous rice flour and shake it. The faster you shake, the faster it rolls. The bigger and rounder it rolls, the scene is like rolling a mini snowball, and Yuanxiao is slowly formed.

The method of making glutinous rice balls is "wrapping". To make glutinous rice balls, you need to knead glutinous rice flour into dough, pinch a small ball of wet dough, and shape it into a round piece, then put the filling on the glutinous rice piece, and knead the dough in the palm of your hand while pinching the mouth, and then a smooth glutinous rice ball is ready.