Lantern Festival foods

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. It is the first full moon night in the Chinese lunar year and full-moon symbolizes reunion in China.

People eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "Yuanxiao Festival." Yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. Tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So, people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family. Yuanxiao are small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. They can be boiled, fried or steamed.