A sweet way for villagers in E. China's Rizhao to wish for happiness in the new year

A villager displays stir-fried sugar-coated beans she made to greet Longtaitou Day, which falls on the second day of the second lunar month, and pray for bumper harvest and good health in the new year in Xiaomiaojiang village, Rizhao city, east China's Shandong Province. (Photo/Chen Guangjin)

Villagers in Xiaomiaojiang village, Rizhao city, east China's Shandong Province, stir-fried sugar-coated beans and drew grain bins on the ground on Feb. 16 to greet Er Yue Er, or Longtaitou Day, which falls on Feb. 21 this year.

Longtaitou, which literally means "dragon raises head", falls on the second day of the second lunar month. The day is celebrated by people across China with various events.

Rizhao city residents have maintained the folk custom of drawing grain bins and stir-frying sugar-coated beans to pray for a bumper harvest, happy life and good health in the new year.

Song Ziyuan and Jing Wenju, a couple in Xiaomiaojiang village, are particularly good at stir-frying sugar-coated beans. They often use peanuts, soybeans, and sugar as the main ingredients for the traditional snack.

"We stir-fry the peanuts and soybeans in a pot, and stir frequently until it's done. We then pour the beans into a bamboo tray to let them cool down," Song told People's Daily Online while making the snack.

Jing started to boil the syrup while Song poured the beans into a tray. After a while, Jing put the cooled beans into the syrup and mixed them. She then took the sugar-coated beans out of the pot, and invited her neighbors to enjoy the snack.

Senior citizens in Juxian county make the snack every year around Er Yue Er. They hope their family will enjoy bumper harvests, and be safe all year round after eating the beans.

Drawing grain bins is another way of praying for a good harvest in the new year. Juxian county residents often use plant ash to draw on the ground grain bin-shaped circles and ladders with which they climb up the "grain bins" to take the grain out. They place grains inside the circles as a sign of a bumper harvest.

Drawing grain bins is also believed by some to be a way to mark the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, according to Xing Baodong, chairman of the Rizhao Folk Literature and Art Association.

After drawing grain bins on the second day of the second lunar month, people finish celebrating the Chinese New Year and can begin farm work and prepare to plow and sow, Xing explained.