Why do you eat glutinous rice balls on Lantern Festival?

Eating Yuanxiao as a food on the 15th day of the first month 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". Yuanxiao, or "Tangyuan", contains sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, cinnamon bark, walnut kernel, nuts, jujube paste and so on. And wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a circle, you can be vegetarian and have different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion. Jiaozi, Shaanxi is not wrapped, but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour, or boiled or fried, warm and round. Introduction to Lantern Festival: On the 15th day of the first lunar month, just after the Spring Festival, the traditional festival of China-Lantern Festival is ushered in. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called the night "Xiao", so they called the fifteenth day of the first month the Lantern Festival. The fifteenth day of the first month is the night of the first full moon in a year and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty. On the night of Spring Festival, people celebrate this festival and the continuation of the Spring Festival. Lantern Festival is also called "Shangyuan Festival". According to the folk tradition in China, on this bright night, people light thousands of lanterns to celebrate. Going out to enjoy the moon, lighting and setting fires, enjoying lantern riddles, eating Yuanxiao, family reunion and celebrating festivals are all enjoyment. Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the lantern viewing activities became more prosperous. Lights are hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall light wheels, light buildings and light trees have been built. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying that "the stars in the Han Dynasty fell, and the balcony was like a hanging moon." In the Song Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival, and lantern viewing activities became more lively. The lantern viewing activity lasted for five days, and the styles of lanterns were more abundant. In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival will last 10 days, which is the longest Lantern Festival in China. Although there were only three days to enjoy the lanterns in the Qing Dynasty, the scale of the lantern viewing activities was unprecedented. Besides burning lanterns, fireworks are also set off for entertainment. "Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of communication. Folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice, which can be solid or stuffed. Filled with bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, various fruit materials and so on. You can cook, fry, steam and fry when you eat. At first, people called this kind of food "Floating Zi Yuan", and later they called it "Tangtuan" or "Tangyuan". These names are similar in pronunciation, meaning reunion, symbolizing family reunion, harmony and happiness. People also miss their departed relatives and place their best wishes on their future lives. In some places, the Lantern Festival also has the custom of "walking away from all diseases", which is also called "roasting all diseases" and "dispersing all diseases". Most of the participants are women. They walk together or against the wall, or across the bridge in the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters. With the passage of time, there are more and more activities in the Lantern Festival, and many local festivals have added traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums. This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also celebrated every year in areas where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities. Origin and Legend of Lantern Festival: Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, which existed as early as 2000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty. Watching the Lantern Festival began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Ming Di advocates Buddhism. I heard that some Buddhist monks observed the custom of Buddhist relics and lighting lanterns to worship Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first month, so they ordered palaces and temples to light lanterns to worship Buddha that night, so that all the gentry and the people could hang lanterns. Later, this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. This festival has experienced the development process from the court to the people, and from the Central Plains to the whole country. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ordered the 15th day of the first month to be designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were scheduled for the 15th day of the first month. Taiyi: the God who rules the universe. When Sima Qian created the taichu calendar Law, he had already identified the Lantern Festival as a major festival. Another way of saying it is that the custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival originated from the "ternary theory" of Taoism; The fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man respectively. The celestial officials are happy and the Lantern Festival should be lit. The festivals and customs of Lantern Festival have been extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of festivals is concerned, there is only one day in Han Dynasty, three days in Tang Dynasty and five days in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, lights were lit from the eighth day of August until the seventeenth night of the first month, a total of ten days. Connected with the Spring Festival, it is a city during the day, full of excitement, and brightly lit at night, which is spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, there were more "hundred operas" such as dragon dancing, lion dancing, dry boating, walking on stilts and yangko dancing, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days. There are several interesting legends about the origin of the Lantern Festival: the legend about lanterns. A long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts that hurt people and livestock everywhere. People organized themselves to defeat them. A god bird got lost and landed on the earth, but was accidentally shot by an unsuspecting hunter. The Emperor of Heaven was very angry when he learned that. He immediately issued a decree, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the land on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all the people, livestock and property. The daughter of the Emperor of Heaven is kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she risked her life and secretly rushed Xiangyun to the world to tell people the news. When people heard the news, it was like a blow to the head. I'm so scared that I don't know what to do. After a long time, an old man came up with an idea. He said: "On the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, every family decorated their houses, set off firecrackers and set off fireworks. In this way, the emperor will think that people have been burned to death. " Everyone nodded and said yes, and they were ready to go separately. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, the emperor looked down and found that for three consecutive nights, the world was red and the noise was deafening. He thought it was the flame of a big fire, and soon. In this way, people saved their lives and property. In order to commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month to commemorate this day. Another legend is that when Emperor Wen of Han commemorated Pinglu, the Lantern Festival was set up to commemorate Pinglu. After the death of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, Lv Hou's son Liu Ying became Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty. Hui Di was born weak and indecisive, and power gradually fell into the hands of Lv Hou. After Hui Di's death, he monopolized state affairs and turned Liu's world into Lu's. The old minister of the DPRK and Liu Zongshi were deeply indignant at this, but they were afraid of cruelty and did not dare to say anything. After Lv Hou's death, Zhu Lu was afraid of being hurt and excluded. So, in the general's home, they secretly assembled and plotted to make trouble in order to completely seize Liu's country. This story reached the ears of Liu Nang, the king of Liu. In order to protect Liu Jiangshan, Liu Nang decided to attack Zhu Lu. Later, he got in touch with founding fathers Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, and planned to get rid of Lv Lu. After the rebellion, the ministers made Liu Heng, the second son of Liu Bang, king and called him Emperor Wen. Deeply moved by the hard-won peace and prosperity, Wendy ended the "Zhu-Lu Rebellion". Since then, the fifteenth day of the first month has become a popular folk festival-"Lantern Festival". The legend of Dong Fangshuo and Yuanxiao girl is related to the custom of eating Yuanxiao: According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a favorite person named Dong Fangshuo, who was kind and funny. One winter, it snowed heavily for several days, and Dong Fangshuo went to the Imperial Garden to fold plum blossoms for Emperor Wu. As soon as I entered the garden gate, I found a maid-in-waiting in tears ready to throw herself into the well. Dong Fangshuo rushed forward to help and asked her why she committed suicide. It turns out that this maid-in-waiting is named Yuanxiao, and there are parents and a sister at home. She has never seen her family since she entered the palace. Every spring comes, I miss my family more than usual. I think in front of my parents, I would rather die than be filial. Dong Fangshuo expressed deep sympathy for her suffering and assured her that she would try her best to reunite with her family. One day, Dong Fangshuo left the palace and set up a divination pavilion on Chang 'an Avenue. Many people are scrambling to find him for divination. Unexpectedly, what everyone wants is the signature of "burning us on the 16th day of the first month". Suddenly, there was a panic in Chang 'an. People are looking for a solution to the disaster. Dong Fangshuo said, "On the 13th night of the first month, Vulcan will send a goddess in red to visit the earth. She is the messenger who ordered the burning of Chang 'an. I'll give you the copied poem and let the emperor do something. " Say that finish, then dropped a red pillar and roared off. The people picked up the red post and quickly sent it to the palace to report to the emperor. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took it and read: "Chang 'an is robbing, and the Forbidden City is being burned. It has been burning for fifteen days, and the midnight snack is red." He was so scared that he soon invited resourceful Dong Fangshuo. Dong Fangshuo thought for a moment and said, "I heard that Vulcan likes to eat dumplings. Don't Yuanxiao in the palace often make dumplings for you? Let Yuanxiao package jiaozi on 15th night. Long live the incense and offerings, and order every family in Kyoto to pack jiaozi and worship Vulcan together. Then tell the subjects to hang lights together on the fifteenth night and set off firecrackers and fireworks all over the city, as if the whole city were on fire, so that the jade emperor could be fooled. In addition, inform the people outside the city to go to the city to watch the lights for fifteen nights, and they will eliminate disasters and solve problems in the crowd. " Liang Wudi was very happy after hearing this, so he ordered him to do it according to Dong Fangshuo's method. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Chang 'an City was decorated with colorful lights, crowded with tourists and very lively. The parents of the maid-in-waiting Yuanxiao also took their sister to the city to see the lights. When they saw the big palace lantern with the words "Yuanxiao" written on it, they shouted in surprise: "Yuanxiao! Lantern Festival! " When Yuanxiao heard the shouts, she was finally reunited with her relatives at home. After such a busy night, Chang 'an was safe. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was overjoyed and ordered that glutinous rice balls should be made for Vulcan every year on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the whole city was decorated with lanterns and set off fireworks. Because jiaozi cooked by Yuanxiao is the best, people call it Yuanxiao, and this day is called Lantern Festival.