As the saying goes, "Cold food is bright in March, and Yan Yan is full of jujube trees", which means that before and after the Qingming cold food, in northern Shaanxi, on the day of cold food, every household has to pinch a kind of food made of flour-Yan Yan. However, with the development of society, this custom is gradually forgotten by many people. Folklore experts say that Yan Yan symbolizes people's nostalgia for old friends and entrusts people with their love and yearning for spring and beautiful things.
According to legend, the Cold Food Festival was born because Tomb-Sweeping Day wanted to ban cold food and fire. In northern Shaanxi, during the Cold Food Festival, every household has to pinch a kind of food made of flour-Yanyan. In ancient times, it was made of flour and jujube paste, kneaded into the shape of a swallow, strung with willow branches and inserted above the door to sacrifice and summon the souls of relatives. Now it has evolved into a variety of people, animals and plants made of hand-fermented flour, and then steamed into pasta with whole grains as the finishing touch. In addition to white flour and water, the tools needed for kneading "flour flowers" include chopping boards, bowls, alkali, knives, cones, scissors, combs, bamboo chopsticks, matchsticks, red, green, yellow and blue food pigments, and simple props such as pockmarked millet, red peppers and sorghum stalks for eyes. Steamed "flour flowers" are alternately strung with string, big red dates and sorghum stalks (cut into two inches), hung on doors and windows, dried and stored. In many places, people also call it "face swallow" and "face flower". The most popular areas in northern Shaanxi are Suide, Mizhi and Zizhou, Zichang, Huaining Bay and Zoumachuan.