What do you eat on February 2nd when the dragon raises its head? Do you know these 12 traditional delicacies?

What do you eat on February 2nd when the dragon raises its head? Do you know these 12 traditional delicacies?
Introduction: In our Chinese festival culture, food customs are an indispensable part. It seems that every festival has corresponding food customs. So, what are the traditional food customs on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar when the dragon raises its head? What to eat today? Let’s take a look together below! The first month of the lunar calendar is about to begin with various festivals. Let us count the important traditional festivals and customs of this month. A good year starts with spring.

1. Food customs on February 2: dumplings

Some dumplings are shaped like ingots, and some are shaped like ears. Eating dumplings on the day of the Dragon Raising its Head is called "eating dragon ears." “Nothing is more comfortable than lying down, and nothing is more delicious than dumplings.” On the day of “Dragon Raising its Head,” people pay attention to eating “meat and vegetable dumplings,” which means that the filling contains both meat and vegetables. The homonym of “meat and vegetables” is “wealth,” which means prosperity in the new year.

2. Stir-fried beans

In the northwest, people in Minxian County, Gansu Province and other places have the habit of eating fried beans on February 2, which indicates the beginning of spring every year. At the February 2 fair in Minxian County, people who come to the fair buy large yellow pears and take them home to honor their elders, so the "February 2" temple fair is also called the "Yellow Pear Fair."

3. Scallion Pancake

In some places, the cakes eaten on February 2 are called "dragon scale cakes", while in Luliang area, people eat pancakes or scallion pancakes on this day, which is called "peeling the dragon skin". In Taiyuan area, people eat dumplings in addition to pancakes on this day, which is called "eating dragon ears". Some people also eat pancakes with hecai, which means eating dragon heads. People in southern Shanxi must eat fried dough twists and fried dough sticks on this day, which is called "gnawing dragon bones."

4. Donkey Rolling

According to the old Beijing custom, people always like to buy and taste "Ludagun" on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar. Donkey rolls made of soybean flour and red bean paste have a round shape, which symbolizes "money rolling in".

5. Fried oil cake

In some areas such as Beijing and Tianjin, people have the custom of eating fried cakes on the day of the Spring Dragon Festival, which is called "eating dragon gall". The fried cake is golden in color, so it is very vividly called dragon's thorn. The method is to grind millet into yellow rice, and then grind the yellow rice into flour, which is yellow rice flour. The yellow rice cake made from yellow rice flour has four characteristics: "yellow, soft, chewy and fragrant". There are two ways to eat it, one is "vegetarian cake" and the other is "fried cake".

6. Spring pancakes

It is customary to eat spring pancakes on the day of the Beginning of Spring, and it is also customary to eat spring pancakes on the second day of the second lunar month. Eating spring pancakes on the Beginning of Spring is called "biting spring", and eating spring pancakes on the second day of the second lunar month is called "biting dragon scales", which is named because the spring pancakes are round and thin, like scales. The custom of eating spring pancakes on the second day of the second lunar month originated in the Qing Dynasty. The pancakes are filled with meat such as braised pork elbow, pork head, and duck, as well as vegetables such as leeks, radishes, and bean sprouts.

7. Support Cake

The Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions still retain the custom of eating "waist-supporting cake" on the second day of the second lunar month. It has the meaning of supporting the waist, meaning that after eating the cake, there will be no back pain in the whole year.

8. Mustard Rice

On the second day of the second month, there is a custom of eating mustard rice. There is a rhyming saying in the local dialect, which means that if you eat mustard rice on this day, you will not get skin diseases for a whole year. This has some scientific truth to it, because mustard is rich in vitamins and chlorophyll, which are good for the skin.

9. Popcorn

When Wu Zetian became the emperor, this incident angered the Jade Emperor, so he ordered the four dragon kings not to send rain to the earth for three years. However, one yellow dragon disobeyed his order. When the Jade Emperor found out, he sent it down to the mortal world and pressed it under the stupa. He said that if it wanted to return to heaven, it would have to make its "golden beans bloom". In order to save the Dragon King, people searched everywhere for flowering golden beans. On the second day of the second month of the following year, when people were turning over and drying corn seeds, they suddenly remembered that corn was like golden beans. If they were fried, they would bloom. Isn't this the same as "golden beans blooming"? So every household popped popcorn, set up an table in the yard, burned incense, and offered the blooming "golden beans".

10. Fried noodles

In the northern part of She County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, every household eats fried noodles at noon on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar. Fried noodles are made by tearing the noodles into small pieces and then mixing them with shredded meat, shredded fried tofu, shredded spring bamboo shoots, green vegetables, etc. and stir-frying them together. Because the fried noodles look like worms, it means that everyone works together to fry the worms and eat them all.

11. Noodles

People in the north like to eat a bowl of "dragon beard noodles" on February 2 to bring good luck. Dragon beard noodles evolved from Shandong stretched noodles. They got their name because the stretched noodles are as thin as hair and when put into boiling water they look like a silver dragon entering the sea. According to legend, there was a chef in the imperial kitchen of the Ming Dynasty who, on the day of the beginning of spring, made a kind of noodles as thin as hair, which looked like dragon whiskers. The emperor's appetite was whetted and he was very pleased, and he praised the noodles endlessly. From then on, this kind of fried pastry became a very fashionable snack. Eating dragon beard noodles on the second day of the second lunar month has the beautiful meaning of "everything goes smoothly and as you wish".

12. Flag

On the second day of the second lunar month, people in Zibo have the traditional custom of eating fried noodle flags. The so-called noodle flags are noodles cut into diamond shapes, 3-2 cm long and wide. The dried noodles are heated and fried with white clay to make fried noodles.
Summary: The above article is an introduction to the traditional food customs of the Dragon Raising its Head on February 2, which mainly includes 12 kinds of food. After reading it, are you looking forward to the arrival of this day?

After reading this article, there are more exciting contents in the special topic of the first month of the lunar calendar. Let’s take a look!

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