Why do you want to eat glutinous rice balls during the Spring Festival?

According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty lived in seclusion for many years, missing his parents and spending all day in Lacrimosa. There was a maid-in-waiting named Yuanxiao in the palace. Minister Dong Fangshuo was determined to help her, so she lied to Emperor Wu that Vulcan burned Chang 'an on the 15th day of the first month on orders from the Jade Emperor. The only way to escape suffering is to let the "Lantern Festival Girl" make many jiaozi that Vulcan loves to eat on the fifteenth day of the first month, and all the subjects decorate them with lanterns. With the help of Emperor Wu, "Yuanxiao Girl" finally met her family. Since then, the Lantern Festival has been formed.

There are different opinions about the formation of the Lantern Festival custom, but it was roughly formed in the Han Dynasty. In the history of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to a god named Taiyi. It is said that Taiyi was a very prominent god at that time, ranking above the five emperors and owing to the Han emperor, so he was greatly worshipped. According to legend, another Emperor Wendi of the Han Dynasty was also related to the Lantern Festival.

Yuanxiao, also known as Tangyuan, has many nicknames in history, such as "Mian Cocoon, Fenguo, Yuanbao, Tangbing, Yuanbujiao" and so on. It was not until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty that it was officially named Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is divided into two kinds: stuffed and unfilled. Small and sweet without stuffing, with white sugar, longan, sweet-scented osmanthus, diced lotus root and candied fruit as seasoning, also known as "Pearl jiaozi", large and shaped like a walnut with stuffing. Yuanxiao in the north is mostly sweet, with white sugar, red bean paste, sesame seeds and hawthorn, while Yuanxiao in the south is sweet, salty, meat and vegetarian, especially Ningbo Tangyuan and Guiyang Wu Jia Tangyuan. .

"Sweet-scented osmanthus stuffed with walnuts, rice is like pearl well water. Watch Ma Jiahao drop powder and try to sell Yuanxiao in the wind. " This poem "On the Bamboo Branches of Shangyuan" in the Qing Dynasty reflects that Beijing had the habit of eating jiaozi on the Lantern Festival a long time ago, and at that time, it already had a brand name famous for selling jiaozi.

The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival is Lantern Festival. In China, the custom of watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival left over from the Tang Dynasty has been circulated among the people. In addition, the custom of eating jiaozi in the Lantern Festival has been preserved until now, because people are used to calling it "Yuanxiao"-Yuanxiao on the night of the Lantern Festival.

On the Lantern Festival, restaurants, pastry shops and even street stalls in Beijing sell jiaozi. On the fifteenth day of the first month, every family eats a steaming bowl of jiaozi. How people miss the customs left by our ancestors!

Tangyuan is also called dumplings and powdered fruit, because it floats on the water after being cooked, and it was also called floating dumplings in ancient times. People eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival, which actually means missing their loved ones and longing for reunion. In the Song Dynasty, Zhou Bida's "Boiling and Floating Zi Yuan on the Lantern Festival" was the earliest poem describing glutinous rice balls in China.

"Do you know anything tonight? Everything is like reunion.

Tang Guan looks for old flavor, and the cook looks for new works.

The stars are wrapped in dark clouds, and the beads are floating in muddy water.

18-year-old miscellaneous poems, there is this sentence about family style. "

Zhou Bida was the minister of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty. He usually purges the military and political affairs and makes great efforts to govern. This little poem has revealed his longing for the reunion of the people of the whole country. Even the girl who made a fire under the stove was surprised. Everyone was immersed in the deep feelings of missing their hometown when cooking dumplings! Eating glutinous rice balls and remembering relatives has always been a habit that has been passed down to this day.