Should we eat Tangyuan on New Year’s Day? Why do we eat glutinous rice balls on New Year’s Day?

Should we eat Tangyuan on New Year’s Day? Why do we eat glutinous rice balls on New Year’s Day?
New Year's Day, which is January 1st of the Gregorian calendar, is commonly known as the "New Year" in most countries in the world. Want to know more about New Year's Day? The Lesser Cold in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar has been considered stronger than the Greater Cold since ancient times. If you want to know more about the eleventh month of the lunar calendar in 2021, please follow Mr. Shui Mo.

Should we eat Tangyuan on New Year’s Day?

New Year's Day is not a traditional festival in my country, so there are relatively few customs and practices. But in the southern regions, there is a custom of eating glutinous rice balls on New Year's Day.
The reason why people eat glutinous rice balls on New Year’s Day is because the “yuan” in “yuan” and the “yuan” in “glutinous rice balls” have the same pronunciation. As the new year of the lunar calendar, New Year’s Day is also very popular, so people in some areas celebrate it by eating glutinous rice balls.
Glutinous Rice Balls originated in the Song Dynasty, when a novel food became popular in Mingzhou. The food was made with black sesame and lard as fillings, a little white sugar added, and glutinous rice flour rolled into a round shape. After being cooked, it tasted sweet and delicious, and was quite interesting. Because this kind of glutinous rice dumpling floats and sinks when cooked in the pot, it was originally called "Floating Yuanzi". Later, some areas changed "Floating Yuanzi" to Tangyuan.
Tangyuan is actually the name used in the south, while in the north it is more commonly called Yuanxiao. The methods of making glutinous rice balls and Yuanxiao are actually slightly different, and the fillings are also slightly different. In the north, most Yuanxiao dumplings have sweet fillings, such as sugar, bean paste, sesame, hawthorn, etc. In the south, they have sweet, salty, meat, and vegetarian fillings. Ningbo glutinous rice balls and Guiyang Wujia glutinous rice balls are especially famous. "Walnuts wrapped in sweet-scented osmanthus filling, glutinous rice as big as pearls washed in well water. I heard that Ma's rice flour is good, so they sell rice dumplings in the wind during the lantern test." This poem "Shangyuan Bamboo Branch Song" from the Qing Dynasty reflects that Beijing has long had the custom of eating rice dumplings on the Lantern Festival, and that there were already shops famous for selling rice dumplings at that time.

What is the meaning of eating glutinous rice balls?

The key point of glutinous rice balls is “round”. Eating glutinous rice balls means family happiness and reunion in the new year.
Yuanxiao is called "tangyuan", "yuanzi", "floating yuanzi" and "shuiyuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice and can be solid or stuffed. The fillings include red bean paste, white sugar, hawthorn, etc., and can be boiled, fried, steamed or deep-fried. At first, people called this food "floating dumplings", and later called it "tangtuan" or "tangyuan". These names are similar to the word "reunion", which means reunion, symbolizing the reunion of the whole family, harmony and happiness. People also use it to miss their separated relatives and place their beautiful expectations for future life. Eating Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion like the full moon, and expresses people’s good wishes for their future life.

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