How did the custom of eating glutinous rice balls come about during the Lantern Festival?

Mondo Gastronomy Updated on 2024-02-24

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, also known as the Shangyuan Festival and the Lantern Festival, has been called by the common people.

Ten. Fifth, celebrate the New Year. It is the first of the new year"Full Moon Night".It is another lively day after the Spring Festival, during the Spring Festival, I am busy visiting relatives and friends, and I don't have time to have fun with my family, and the Lantern Festival is the time to celebrate with my family. On this day, there are the customs of sacrificing to the god of Taiyi, eating the Lantern Festival, watching the lanterns, playing lantern riddles, welcoming the Zigu sacrifice to the toilet god, crossing the bridge and touching the nails to walk away all kinds of diseases, among which the lanterns are the most popular.

The history of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival

The folk activities of the Lantern Festival are not the same in different historical periods in ancient China, and it gradually evolves with the development of history. The main ones that have been preserved so far are eating rice balls, guessing lantern riddles, and enjoying flower lanterns.

The custom of eating tangyuan during the Lantern Festival began in the Song Dynasty, and with the development of the city's economy, there were also shops specializing in selling tangyuan in the markets of the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the preparation method of glutinous rice balls was similar to our current one, using glutinous rice powder to sprinkle water and roll sticky powder, such as the size of walnuts, and walnut kernels and sugar were used as fillings.

In the Qing Dynasty, the palace flavor "Eight Treasures Lantern Festival" made by the imperial dining room was rumored by the government and the opposition as early as the Kangxi period. This is evidenced by the Qing Dynasty playwright Kong Shangren's poem "Ziyun Tea House pours nectar, and the Eight Treasures Lantern Festival is effective within it". On the fifteenth day of the first month, the imperial dining room of the inner court should do the Eight Treasures Lantern Festival, and "do it within the effect" means to imitate the inner court.

The Lantern Festival on the night of the full moon also pinned people's hopes for reunion and happiness in the consciousness of the ancients. The sweet and round rice balls have gradually become a symbol of people's sweet reunion life.

The Lantern Festival is here!

Here's a blessing to everyone, the full moon people are reunited, and they eat rice balls beautifully;

The lanterns shine brightly in the heart field, and the Lantern Festival is joyful.

*: Shanghai Release, China Folklore Network, People**.

Transcription Editor: Hu Aijun (intern).

*Please indicate that it is from Minhang's official WeChat.

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