1, eat Yuanxiao:
Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was popular among the people. This kind of Yuanxiao food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan" and later called "Yuanxiao", which was euphemistically called "Yuanbao" by merchants.
The present "Yuanxiao", or "Tangyuan", is filled with white sugar, bean paste, sesame, cinnamon, rose, jujube paste, nuts, walnuts and so on. And wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a ball, which can be vegetarian or meat with different flavors. It can be boiled, steamed and fried, which means happy reunion.
Jiaozi, Shaanxi Province does not wrap it, but "rolls" it in glutinous rice flour layer by layer, or boiled or fried, indicating that relatives are hot and round.
2. Look at the light:
During the reign of Han Yongping (58-75 AD), Emperor Ming advocated Buddhism, which coincided with Cai Cheng's return from India. He said that it was a good day for India's Mohe Tuoguo to gather on the 15th day of the first month to worship the holy Buddha relic every year.
Therefore, in order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered that on the fifteenth night of the first month, palaces and monasteries should "light up to show Buddha". Since then, the custom of watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival has spread from being held only in the court to the people.
That is, on the fifteenth day of the first month of each year, both gentry and civilians hang up lights, and the urban and rural areas are brightly lit all night.
The custom of hanging lanterns on the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty. Chang 'an, the capital at that time, was already the largest city with a population of one million in the world, with a rich life. Under the personal advocacy of the emperor, the Lantern Festival naturally became more and more luxurious.
By the middle Tang Dynasty, it had developed into a national carnival. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 50,000 lanterns and various styles. The emperor made a huge lantern building, reaching 20, 150 feet high, glittering and spectacular.
The Lantern Festival in the Song Dynasty is superior to that in the Tang Dynasty in terms of scale and dreamy lighting, and its activities are more folk and ethnic. With the development of the past dynasties, the Lantern Festival has been held for longer and longer.
The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty is "one day before and after the Tenth Five-Year Plan". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the 16th, and in the Ming Dynasty, five days were added before, from the 9th to 18th.
3. Eiko Valley:
The legend of Zigu is a kind girl among the people. On the fifteenth day of the first month of a certain year, Zi Gu died of poverty. Therefore, people sympathize with her and miss her. In some places, there is a custom of "welcoming the daughter-in-law on the fifteenth day of the first month". Every night, people use straw, cloth and so on. Tie it up as a life-size purple aunt.
Women have stood beside the kitchen, pigsty and toilet where Zigu often works to meet her, holding her hand like sisters, telling her sweet words and comforting her with tears. The scene is very vivid, reflecting the true thoughts and feelings of hardworking people, who are honest, kind and sympathetic to the weak.
4, walking all diseases:
In addition to celebrations, there are also religious activities in the Lantern Festival. That is "walking away from all diseases", also known as "baking all diseases and dispersing all diseases". Most of the participants are women. They walk together, or against the wall, or across the bridge, or through the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters.
With the development of history, there are more and more activities to celebrate the Lantern Festival. Many places have increased activities such as playing dragon lanterns, walking on stilts, playing lions, dancing yangko, boating and playing Taiping drums.
5. A mouse:
This activity is mainly aimed at sericulture families. Because mice often eat whole silkworms at night, I heard that on the fifteenth day of the first month, they stopped eating silkworms after feeding rice porridge.
So, on the fifteenth night of the first month, they cooked a large pot of porridge, some sprinkled a layer of meat foam on it, put it in bowls, and put it in corners, ceilings and other places where mice often haunt, muttering something in their mouths, cursing the mice that if they eat silkworm babies again, they will not die a natural death.