What are the northern customs of Lantern Festival?

Lantern Festival is the first important festival after the Spring Festival, and it is also one of the traditional festivals in China. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called the night "night", so the fifteenth day of the first full moon in a year was called the Lantern Festival. In many traditional festivals in China, there are great differences between North and South, but they also have their own characteristics. In China, the fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival. There are many customs in the north of the Lantern Festival. Let me introduce the food customs and customs of the Lantern Festival in the north.

First, the northern Lantern Festival food customs:

1, eat Yuanxiao

Jiaozi eaten during the Lantern Festival in the north is called "Yuanxiao". Most of them are sweet fillings, such as bean paste, black sesame, hawthorn and chocolate. Their production is more complicated than jiaozi's. First, you need to cut the wrapped jiaozi into small pieces, water it once, then throw it into a basket full of glutinous rice flour, "roll" it to the next level, and water it again.

2. jiaozi

On the fifteenth day of the first month, northerners have the habit of eating jiaozi, while people in Henan have the custom and tradition of "fifteen flats and sixteen circles" for Lantern Festival, so they should eat jiaozi on the fifteenth day of the first month. Jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi".

3. Noodles

There is a folk proverb in Jiangbei, which is called "Shangyuan Festival, save noodles, and look forward to next year after eating." Local people eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first month, which sounds unrelated to the Lantern Festival, but it also means praying for good luck. "Annals of the Emblem" states: "On the 18th day of the first month, the lights go out and people spit on their faces. As the saying goes,' when the light is on, it goes out', and everyone celebrates. " Eating noodles with lights out symbolizes continuous celebration.

4, jujube cake

People in western Henan like to eat jujube cakes on the Lantern Festival, which means good luck. Jujube cake was originally the imperial cake of Qing Dynasty. It is sweet and fragrant, and contains vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and other nutrients, which can not only replenish the spleen and stomach, but also benefit qi and promote fluid production. It also has the functions of protecting the liver, increasing muscle strength, beautifying and preventing aging.

2. The customs of some places in the north are as follows:

1, hanging lanterns in Shanxi

Hanging lanterns is an essential form for Shanxi people to celebrate the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival is coming, and all kinds of lights are hung in every household, from 14 to 16, which are on every night. Setting off fireworks is the most gratifying activity of Shanxi People's Lantern Festival. Fireworks will be set off in the square in the evening of Lantern Festival, and the whole family will go out to see the beautiful fireworks. Literature and art stepping on the street can be called a folk culture makeup parade. From 14 to 16, for three consecutive days, all counties and districts organized various cultural performances to our city.

2. Recreational activities in Shandong

Developing recreational activities is an important part of the Lantern Festival. There are various forms of juggling, such as lion dancing, dragon dancing, walking on stilts, roller boating, Hua Gun, yangko, donkey driving, etc. And the content is mainly opera. Every village around Qufu City plays with dragon lanterns, and the dragon lanterns of every village will be performed in Confucius House. The place where Confucius plays dragon lanterns is in front of the lobby of the second gate, and it is not allowed to enter at ordinary times. At this time, outsiders are also allowed to enter to watch the dragon lantern. When playing with dragon lanterns, Confucius' servants and "fireworks households" set off fireworks.

3. Light a lamp in front of the ancestral grave in Henan.

The most unique custom of Changxing Henan people is that on the night of the Lantern Festival, every family should tie lanterns with bamboo and red paper in front of their ancestral graves and light the candles in the middle to burn out. The general customs of the Lantern Festival are watching lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls and dancing lions. Even people in Henan seldom light lanterns in front of ancestral graves.

4. Put sky lanterns in Shaanxi

During the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year, in addition to big lanterns, there is also the custom of "putting sky lanterns". This custom has a long history. According to historical records, it was completed in the Tang Dynasty. "steamed buns with lights" are popular in Tongchuan, Shaanxi. Every year, on the 15th day of the first lunar month, during the Lantern Festival, every family will put incense tables, light candles and set off firecrackers at home. Lights are lit everywhere in the room, and there are all kinds of flower buns next to the lights, called "lanterns with lanterns".

In short, the custom of celebrating Lantern Festival in the north is different because of the difference of local life, but in our hometown of Shanxi, people usually eat jiaozi for Lantern Festival, which is round. When I was a child, people in my hometown used to eat jiaozi because of limited conditions. At that time, the economy was poor, and it was rare to eat noodles once a year. Because there are not enough noodles, jiaozi is full of vegetables, so the family can have a meal made of noodles happily. Eat jiaozi on Lantern Festival, and reunion is a family.