Hakka Spring Lantern Festival - Sindingban Festival

In different regions of the country, celebrations for Spring Lantern Festival take on unique expressions - sky lanterns in the north, beehive firecrackers in the south, and Sindingban Festival in central Taiwan. Sindingban Festival is a traditional folk event that has been celebrated in the Dongshih Hakka villages of Taichung City for over a century. Since time immemorial, Hakka people have been making ‘Sindingban’ – a kind of large rice cake – to celebrate Spring Lantern Festival. Today, however, in addition to these delicious traditional rice cakes, festivities also include a street parade and distinctive local DIY activities to attract tourists, making for a very lively scene.

Sindingban are actually the ‘red tortoise cakes’ talked of by the people of Fujian in mainland China. In Dongshih, however, a bean filling is used to complement the soft outer skin, after which the cakes are placed into a hand press and imprinted with an exquisite tortoise pattern; in fact, hidden behind this apparently simple dessert lies a very complicated process. So for next Spring Lantern Festival, instead of gazing at sky lanterns or letting off beehive firecrackers, why not head on down to the beautiful Dongshih Hakka villages and enjoy the hospitality of Hakka people, making the legendary ‘Sindingban’ cakes and celebrating the festival together with other revelers in the street parade. 

Hakka Spring Lantern Festival - Sindingban Festival

URL：https://www.peopo.org/news/330195

(以下是中文對照)

客家人的元宵節-新丁粄節

照片

元宵節在台灣每個區域慶祝的方式都不一樣，北放天燈、南放蜂炮，中部則是新丁粄節。新丁粄節是在台中東勢客家庄流傳百年的民俗活動。客家人會以做新丁粄等方式來慶祝元宵，活動流傳至今除了做粄之外，更多了團體遊街，特色產業DIY來吸引外地遊客，場面十分熱絡。

新丁粄其實就是閩南人說的紅龜粿，在粉紅軟Q的外皮內，東勢人習慣加進滿滿的花豆餡，最後壓上刻工精緻的龜版模印完工。小小一塊的甜點背後，其實做工十分繁雜。慶祝元宵除了看天燈和放蜂炮之外，不妨找一年抽空到美麗的東勢客家庄，與好客的客家人，做新丁粄、一同遊街慶祝。