The meaning of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival is simply reunion and good luck. Because glutinous rice balls are round in appearance, and family members take the first place in the hearts of ordinary people, everyone follows this tradition and hopes that this custom will bless their families with safety, health, and good wishes for reunion.
Eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month has become a memory engraved in everyone’s hearts since ancient times, just like the ancient poems we memorized when we were young. Now that we are parents, we still clearly remember it. I live in the north. My family's financial situation is not so good that I can't afford to eat dumplings, but it is the most delicious to have a meal of dumplings when the family gets together during the Chinese New Year. When I grow up, my economic conditions improve and there are sufficient ingredients, so dumplings become a must-have on the dinner table during the Lantern Festival. Indispensable food.
Tangyuan is also called "Yuanxiao" and has a long history in our country. In the Song Dynasty, Yuanxiao was called "Floating Yuanzi". The fillings mainly consisted of white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, bean paste, Huangjia, walnut kernels, Nuts and jujube paste are ground into powder with glutinous rice and then rolled into round shapes. They can be boiled in soup, fried or steamed to taste extremely delicious. They also represent family reunion during the festival.
There are also various theories about the origin of the Lantern Festival. There are three types of information we can search on the Internet:
The origin of the Lantern Festival 1
The Lantern Festival It was built in memory of "Ping Lu" during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. According to legend, after the death of Empress Lu, her family feared that Daquan would be left behind and plotted a rebellion. The clan king Liu Nang of Qi joined forces with the founding veteran Zhou Bo to put down the "Zhu Lu Rebellion". After the rebellion was over, the ministers supported Liu Bang's second son Liu Heng to ascend the throne and became Emperor Wen of Han. Emperor Wen was deeply aware that peace and prosperity were hard-won, so he designated the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the day when the "Zhu Lu Rebellion" was quelled, as a day of fun with the people. Every house in the capital decorated with lights and colors to celebrate. Since then, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has become a popular folk festival - "Lantern Festival". Nowadays, "Lantern Festival" is also mentioned at the Lantern Festival party. In my understanding, it actually means that the whole family is lively and talks about everything when they are reunited.
Origin 2 of the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival, also known as the "Lantern Festival", is a celebration of the first full moon night in the year. According to the Taoist "Three Yuan Theory", the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is the Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man respectively. The heavenly officials are happy, so lamps must be lit on the Lantern Festival. The custom of lighting lanterns and setting off fireworks during the Lantern Festival comes from this statement.
Three Origins of the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival originated from the "Torch Festival". People in the Han Dynasty held torches in the countryside to drive away insects and beasts, hoping to reduce insect damage and pray for a good harvest. To this day, people in some areas of southwestern China still make torches out of reeds or tree branches on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and hold the torches high in groups to dance in fields or drying fields. Since the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, it has become more prosperous. Tens of thousands of singers and dancers participated in the performance, from dusk to dusk, and then stopped at dusk. In my hometown, fires are also lit on the night of the 16th day of the first lunar month, and children and adults jump over them one after another to pray for good health in the coming year.
In fact, each region has different celebrations of festivals. Lantern viewing is also common during the Lantern Festival. In traditional societies, young girls are not allowed to go out in daily life, but they can go out together during the festival. , Lantern Festival lantern viewing is just an opportunity to make friends. At this time, many young people fall in love at first sight, so it has become a romantic festival.
"The lamp shines on the moon, the moon shines on the lamp, the lamp and the moon shine on each other; men look at women, women look at men, and men and women look at each other" refers to the psychological state of people when appreciating flower lanterns.
With the development of the economy, although the flavor of the New Year has gradually diluted a lot, the arrival of the festival still gives us a lot of expectations. We look forward to being reunited with our families and looking forward to our families sitting together and chatting all year long. The bitter, spicy, sour and sweet taste.