This is Beijing-Beijing English blog

The Spring Festival is the most important and the biggest traditional festival in China. Maybe you have already heard of many interesting customs about the Spring Festival, but did you know the local customs can be rather different in different areas of China. Even if some of these customs are the same, the legends are not.

For example, eating dumplings on Spring Festival Eve is the tradition in northern China, while in southern China, people eat glutinous rice cakes and spring rolls, or dumplings with egg wrappers instead of the traditional dumpling skin.

There are many reasons why people in northern China eat dumplings on Spring Festival Eve. One reason is that the shape of the dumplings resembles the ancient Chinese gold ingots used as money–Yuanbao, so dumplings symbolize wealth.

Therefore, it is said that eating dumplings on Spring Festival Eve will bring you good luck. Some families hide a coin in one of the dumplings, and the person who find or bite it will be the luckiest one in the New Year.

The other reason why people in northern China eat dumplings is according to its Chinese pronunciation “jiǎozi”. In China’s traditional timing system, after midnight, the first hour is called “zǐshí”, and this hour marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year. The pronunciation of “jiǎozi”(dumpling) is similar to “jiāo zǐ” (meaning auspicious). In general, dumplings should be made before mid-night on Spring Festival Eve, which is when the whole family get together to enjoy the hot dumplings. What a delightful picture!

Tags: culture, Spring Festival

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