Customs of reunion dinners in various places in northern and southern China

In the north, dumplings are often made and eaten on New Year's Eve, which is a homophonic word for "Gengsui Jiaozi". In order to seek good luck, northerners often wrap coins, sugar, peanuts, jujubes, chestnuts, etc. with meat fillings into New Year's dumplings. The one with sugar is meant to make the New Year sweet; the one with peanuts (or longevity fruit) is meant to make people live longer; and there is also a coin placed in a dumpling, which means whoever eats it will have "good fortune" .

On New Year’s Eve in the South, people usually eat Yuanxiao and rice cakes. Yuanxiao is also called "tangyuan", "dumpling" and "yuanzi". The middle is filled with sugar, which means a happy and sweet family reunion. Nian Gao is made of glutinous rice, which means "higher every year" in homophone. To this day, the custom of making dumplings during the Chinese New Year in the north and glutinous rice balls during the Chinese New Year in the south is still very common.

Extended information:

New Year customs of ethnic minorities:

Kirgiz people - when the first month of the year appears, the Kirgiz people celebrate "Noroz" "Festival, which is very similar to the Spring Festival of the Han people. During the festival, each family prepares rich meals according to its own ability and treats each other to celebrate.

On the night of the festival, when the herds come back from the pasture, a fire made of splendens is lit in front of each yurt. People jump over it first, and then the animals jump over it, which indicates that disaster will be eliminated. Solve the problem and prosper both humans and animals in the new year.

Buyi people - at the end of the twelfth lunar month, every household smokes meat, stuffs sausages, roasts wine, makes glutinous rice cakes, rice crackers, and sews new clothes and handkerchiefs. On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, maltose and other fruits are given to the Kitchen God.

Ask your husband to write couplets and post door gods and New Year pictures. On the evening of the 30th, the whole family, young and old, sit around the fire and first offer sacrifices to their ancestors. Then the whole family wishes each other, has a reunion dinner and stays up all night.

At dawn on the first day of the New Year, girls rush to the river to fetch water. Whoever is the first to fetch water will be the most industrious and happiest person, and this also heralds a good harvest.