Why do we eat glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival? Eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival symbolizes reunion.

When talking about the customs of the Lantern Festival, do you immediately think of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival? So, why do we eat Tangyuan during the Lantern Festival? What is the meaning of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival? Let’s take a look together.

Why do we eat tangyuan during the Lantern Festival?

Meaning

1. The pronunciation of glutinous rice balls. Because the Chinese character for "tangyuan" is similar to "reunion", eating tangyuan on the Lantern Festival symbolizes family reunion, harmony and happiness.
2. The appearance of the glutinous rice balls. Because glutinous rice balls are round in shape, and when they are cooked, they float on the water, which reminds people of a bright moon hanging in the sky. There is a bright moon in the sky, dumplings in the bowl, and every family is reunited, symbolizing reunion and auspiciousness.
3. The taste of glutinous rice balls. Tangyuan is generally made of glutinous rice flour, and the most common one is sweet tangyuan. When a family eats sweet tangyuan on the Lantern Festival, it also symbolizes the happiness and sweetness of the family.

source

Legend has it that during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, there was a palace maid named "Yuanxiao". Because she was secluded in the palace for many years, she missed her parents and cried all day long. In order to help her, the doctor Dongfang Shuo lied to Emperor Wu of Han that the God of Fire was ordered by the Jade Emperor to burn Chang'an on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The only way to escape the disaster was to let "Yuanxiao Girl" make a lot of glutinous rice balls, which the God of Fire loved to eat, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and all the subjects would light lanterns and offer sacrifices to her. Emperor Wu of Han approved the request, and the "Yuanxiao" girl finally met her family. Since then, the custom of eating dumplings on the Lantern Festival has spread.

name

The custom of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival was popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. Tangyuan has different names in different periods. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, people ate tangyuan during the Lantern Festival, which was called “noodle cocoons” and “round without corners”. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was called "lactose dumplings". In the poem "Cooking Floating Dumplings during Lantern Festival" written by Zhou Bida of the Song Dynasty, it is written: Stars shine in the dark clouds, and pearls float in the turbid water.