1, eat Yuanxiao
Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, as a kind of food, 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 is filled with white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, osmanthus fragrans, walnut kernel, nuts and jujube paste, and wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape, which can be both meat and vegetarian with different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion. It's called Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south.
Step 2 send lanterns
Sending lanterns is a traditional folk culture. That is, before the Lantern Festival, the bride's family sent lanterns to her newly-married daughter's home, or ordinary relatives and friends sent lanterns to her newly-married infertile home, in order to increase Ding's good luck, because "lamp" is homophonic with "Ding". This custom exists in many places. In Xi city, Shaanxi province, lanterns are put on from the eighth to the fifteenth day of the first month. In the first year, a pair of palace lanterns and a pair of stained glass lamps were presented. I hope my daughter will be lucky after marriage and have children early. If the daughter is pregnant, in addition to the big palace lantern, she should also send one or two small lanterns to wish her a safe pregnancy.
Step 3 enjoy the moon
On the Lantern Festival, a full moon quietly climbed into the sky, and lively crowds poured into the streets. I called my friends to enjoy the moon and chatted. This custom has been circulating for thousands of years.
The bright moon is like a mirror and warm as water. When the moonlight shines on the earth, the lights and the moon complement each other, and the light and shadow are gorgeous, reflecting the fireworks and reunion of the world. On the Lantern Festival, people get together to enjoy the moon and celebrate the Lantern Festival.
4. Eiko Valley
Zi Ying Drum is a traditional folk activity in China. Zi Gu is a kind and poor girl in China folklore. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Zi Gu died of poverty. People sympathize with her and miss her. In some places, it is convenient to have the custom of "welcoming the daughter-in-law on the fifteenth day of the first month". Every night, people tie a life-size portrait of purple aunt with straw and cloth heads. Women have stood beside the toilet, pigsty and kitchen where Zigu often works to meet her, holding her hand like sisters, telling her sweet words and comforting her with tears. This scene is very vivid and truly reflects the thoughts and feelings of kindness, honesty and sympathy for the weak among the working people in ancient China.
5. Stay away from all diseases
Walking away from all kinds of diseases, also known as "wandering all kinds of diseases" and "dispersing all kinds of diseases", is a traditional folk culture in the north since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Some are held on the fifteenth day of the first month, but most of them are held on the sixteenth day of the first month. On this day, women dressed in festive costumes went out of their homes in droves, crossed the bridge for danger, went into the city, and knelt down to beg for their children until midnight.
Walking with all diseases is popular in northern China, especially in rural areas of northern Shaanxi. It is a kind of fitness exercise to eliminate all diseases through sightseeing and walking, which is more common in women, the elderly, children or the infirm. This activity was initially limited to women, but now it has gradually expanded to the elderly, children and the infirm.
Lantern Festival can be handed down because the significance of this festival is reunion and harmony, which is what we yearn for and our beautiful expectation. I have sorted out five customs and habits above. If you have anything to add or say, please leave a message in the comments below.