Characteristics of Putian traditional festivals

With the approach of the New Year in China, today is the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, so we started making "red balls"!

It's not easy to be a "red ball"! The first thing to do is to make "red ball stuffing". I saw that my mother steamed the cooked rice into dry rice, added sugar while it was hot, made it into sticky and soft rice balls, and then kneaded the rice balls into balls about 5 cm in diameter, commonly known as red ball stuffing. Next, we will make red dough, pour the bought rice into a pot, add a proper amount of warm water, knead glutinous rice flour into balls, knead them into round strips, then knead the balls the size of table tennis balls in turn, and knead them into pancakes by hand, which will become "red dough".

Of course, the red group should be prepared for the red group to print. I made some thin red dough, wrapped the stuffing with them, put the round dough mouth up, put it in the red dough seal, pressed it and poured it directly on the washed chicken leaves. Wow! Really beautiful! Finally, I painted a layer of edible red on the red ball with a small brush, and a beautiful red ball was made. Then, my mother put the red ball in the steamer, steamed it for about 10 minutes, and then opened the steamer, which was gorgeous. Delicious. A shiny red ball appears in front of your eyes.

For us Putian people, the red ball is meaningful, red is a festive color, the round shape symbolizes family reunion, and the sweetness of the red ball also symbolizes the sweetness of life in the new year.