When do you eat rice cakes during the Spring Festival?

Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day means "getting taller every year".

New year cake (nián-gāo, new year cake; Rice cake), a traditional food of Han nationality in China, belongs to the seasonal food of the Lunar New Year. Rice cakes are made of rice or glutinous rice, boiled into rice, beaten with water or ground into powder, and pressed. During the Spring Festival, many areas in China pay attention to eating rice cakes.

There are three colors of rice cakes: red, yellow and white, which symbolize gold and silver. The rice cake is also called "rice cake", which is homophonic with "getting taller every year", meaning that children are getting taller every year. Therefore, there is a poem by predecessors, which called the rice cake: "The meaning of the rice cake is slightly deeper, and it is as white as silver and gold. I hope that when I get old, I will be profitable, and I sincerely hope that my wealth will come. "

Historical Records, a cookbook in the 6th century A.D., recorded the making of "white cocoon candy" for rice cakes at that time. There are fewer rice cakes in the north, but the south is still prosperous.

The historical origin of rice cakes;

Suzhou was the capital of Wu in the ancient Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, the princes dominated and the war lasted for years. Wu Zixu, a doctor of the State of Chu, went to Wu to avenge his father, intending to borrow soldiers to attack the State of Chu. The king of Wu did not agree, so Wu Zixu killed the king of Wu, led the troops to attack the capital of Chu, and set up a new king of Wu to reign, and Wu Zixu was also granted land. In order to prevent aggression, Wu Zixu led people to build the famous city of He Lv. After the city was repaired, he said to his confidant, "After my death, if the country is in trouble and the people are hungry, you can dig a few feet under the city gate to find food."

Soon, Wu Zixu was trapped and committed suicide. The State of Yue took the opportunity to attack the State of Wu, and the war continued, and there was famine everywhere. In times of crisis, someone remembered Wu Zixu's entrustment before his death, so they secretly tore down the city wall and dug up the ground. It turned out that the city foundation was made of bricks and stones made of glutinous rice, and people used it to make a kind of food, which helped them overcome their difficulties. This kind of food was later called rice cake. Later, in the twelfth lunar month, people made rice cakes with glutinous rice as a sacrifice to Wu Zixu, and at the same time they also took the auspicious meaning of "reaching heaven step by step one year".

Baidu encyclopedia-rice cake