To show their gratitude to the old man, obviously a benevolent spirit, they maintained the tradition of celebrating on the day when he first visited.

The legend varies in different regions, but all focus on praying for good weather. As time went on, the festival became more about family reunion and good wishes for the next half of the year.

Essential festival foods are ban nian yuan, snack balls made of sticky rice and red yeast rice accompanied by sweet soup. Sticky rice symbolizes the ties binding family members, the round shape signifies tuan yuan mei man (family reunion and all the best), while the sweet soup symbolizes sweet moments.

In some regions, the ban nian yuan is first placed at the household shrine for ancestors or gods to show gratitude, and then served to the family.

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