What to Eat on the Fifteenth Day of the First Lunar Month?
1. Tangyuan
During the Lantern Festival, people in southern China eat tangyuan, primarily to pray for family reunion. The glutinous rice used to make tangyuan is neutral in nature, sweet in taste, and has properties that nourish deficiencies, regulate blood, strengthen the spleen, stimulate appetite, boost energy, and stop diarrhea. It also warms the middle burner, generates fluids, and moistens dryness.Moreover, the standard fillings for various tangyuan typically consist of nuts and dried fruits, including sesame seeds, walnuts, and peanuts. Combined with vegetable oil, their nutritional value is elevated. Boiling tangyuan is the simplest preparation method and, in fact, the healthiest way to enjoy them.
2. Yuanxiao
During the Lantern Festival, people in northern China eat yuanxiao.Many mistakenly believe tangyuan and yuanxiao are the same. While similar in ingredients and appearance, they are distinct. The fundamental difference lies in preparation: Tangyuan are relatively simple to make—glutinous rice flour is mixed with water to form dough, then filled and sealed.Yuanxiao, however, involve a much more intricate process: First, the dough is kneaded. The solidified filling is cut into small pieces, rinsed briefly, then tossed into a basket filled with glutinous rice flour. Water is sprinkled over them as they roll, coating the filling completely until it forms a smooth, round ball.
3. Lettuce
During the Lantern Festival, Cantonese people enjoy "stealing" lettuce, which is then mixed with cakes and cooked. This dish is said to symbolize good fortune. Known for their calm and down-to-earth nature, Cantonese people place great importance on auspicious meanings during festivals. Lettuce, commonly used in celebrations like new store openings, is also an essential festive item for the Lantern Festival.Often a common vegetable on southern dining tables, its name sounds like "generating wealth" (生财), making it a symbol of prosperity and good fortune.This tea boosts intake of fiber, minerals, and vitamins while being less greasy than regular yuanxiao. It helps neutralize the acidic body condition caused by excessive consumption of animal-based foods during the holiday season, making the yuanxiao meal more nutritionally balanced.
5. Oil Tea
For Lantern Festival evenings, lowland areas follow the saying "Flat on the fifteenth, round on the sixteenth"—dumplings one day, yuanxiao the next. Mountainous regions instead observe "Oil tea on the fifteenth, dumplings on the sixteenth." This exemplifies the proverb "Customs differ every ten miles."Making oil tea involves stirring tea flour with chopsticks before adding it to boiling water; it is also called flour tea.
6. Oil Hammer
A traditional Lantern Festival food, it originated in the Northern and Southern Dynasties as rice or bean porridge topped with meat broth. However, this dish was primarily used for sacrificial rites and was not yet considered a festival food.It wasn't until Zheng Wangzhi's Tang Dynasty text, Records of the Imperial Cook, that it was documented: "In Bianzhou, the festival food is Shangyuan oil hammers." According to the Taiping Guangji, citing a passage from the Shangshi Ling in the Lu Shi Zha Shuo, the method of making oil hammers resembled the later fried yuanxiao. Some also gave it the elegant name "oil-painted pearls."
7. Dumplings
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, northern regions observe the custom of eating dumplings. Henan locals follow the tradition of "flat on the fifteenth, round on the sixteenth" for the Lantern Festival, hence dumplings are consumed on this day. Dumplings represent a time-honored folk dish deeply cherished by the populace, as reflected in the saying, "Nothing beats dumplings for deliciousness."
8. Jujube Cake
In western Henan, jujube cake is a beloved Lantern Festival treat, symbolizing good fortune and auspiciousness.Originally a royal court delicacy during the Qing Dynasty, jujube cake boasts a fragrant aroma and a delicately sweet taste. Rich in nutrients like vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins, it not only aids digestion and boosts energy but also protects the liver, enhances muscle strength, and promotes youthful skin.Besides glutinous rice balls and noodles, sticky rice cakes are also eaten during the Lantern Festival. Sun Simiao, a renowned physician of the Tang Dynasty, recorded in his work Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies: Dietary Therapy that "made from Liang rice, it is sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic, clears heat, and boosts energy." After the Tang Dynasty, records of eating cakes during the Lantern Festival also appeared in the Yuan Dynasty.
10. Bean Paste Lanterns
When discussing Lantern Festival customs, people typically think of eating tangyuan, admiring lanterns, and solving riddles. Yet another tradition dating back to the Han Dynasty involves lighting bean paste lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.Lanterns during the Lantern Festival symbolize auspicious light, believed to ward off demons, evil spirits, and illness. Thus, crafting bean flour lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month represents the people's prayers for family happiness and prosperity in the new year.
11. Bean Flour Dumplings
People in Kunming enjoy bean flour dumplings, prepared similarly to yuanxiao. Roasted beans are ground into flour, formed into balls, and boiled until cooked. They offer a pleasant texture.
12. Zāogēng Soup
In Taizhou and surrounding areas, people eat zāogēng soup after viewing lanterns on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. This savory porridge is made by stir-frying shredded pork, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear fungus, fresh chives, dried tofu, fried dough sticks, Sichuan peanuts, and spinach. A small amount of rice flour is then added and simmered into a thick, salty paste.The sweet version consumed on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is made with sweet potato starch or lotus root starch, combined with lotus seeds, sweet dates, and longan.It is said that steamed buns, made with leavened dough, and round wheat cakes symbolize the wish for "prosperity and reunion of descendants." In Changde, Hunan Province, families prepare a soup with chili peppers, leeks, and other ingredients to entertain guests, known as "seasonal soup."
14. Noodles
A folk saying in northern China goes: "Lantern Festival dumplings, lantern-closing noodles—eat them and hope for next year." Locals eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, seemingly unrelated to the festival but carrying auspicious wishes.The Rituals and Seasons of Yihui records: "On the eighteenth day (of the first lunar month), when the lanterns are extinguished, families eat noodles. The custom is called 'Lantern Festival glutinous rice balls, extinguished lantern noodles,' and each household prepares a feast to celebrate." Eating noodles at lantern extinguishing symbolizes the endless continuation of joyous celebrations.