4.风土民情古来事
安阳地处中原地区，有着上千年的悠久历史，这里我们可以领略到中国传统的节日礼仪和风俗习惯，还可以品尝安阳本地的特色传统美食。
安阳有自己独特的饮食文化，这里的传统美食种类很多，而且风味独特，令人回味无穷。在这些传统美食中比较有代表性的有老庙牛肉、楚旺扒糕、芝麻糖等。
老庙牛肉已经有300多年的历史了，自明朝末期创始以来，一直深受人们的喜爱，享有“豫北之花，中华一绝”的美名。相传滑县老爷庙附近的一户人家以宰牛、加工牛肉为生，他家的牛肉深受附近居民的喜爱，到了清朝中期，当地的村民开始家家宰牛煮制牛肉，制作工艺也不断提高。现在的老庙牛肉用15种佐料和陈年老汤，以木炭煮制而成，其独特的风味使它成为国家级的地方名吃。
作为已经有160多年历史的楚旺扒糕，一直是楚旺的传统佳品。楚旺扒糕始于道光年间，用荞麦面蒸煮做成，在食用时先用小刀切成菱形的小块，再用芥末、香油、蒜汁、陈醋等调制。楚旺扒糕营养价值丰富，老少皆宜，不仅可以调节胃口，振作精神，夏季食用还可以消暑。来到安阳，一定不能错过楚旺扒糕。
除了传统的名吃，安阳还有一些独特的风俗传统，具有浓郁的地方特色，充分反映了当地的风俗习惯。
在安阳，在农历腊月二十三有用芝麻糖供奉“灶君爷”的传统。相传宋朝宰相吕蒙正小时候家境贫寒，和母亲相依为命，寄居在一座寺庙内。寺内的长老不仅学识渊博，而且能够做一手好小吃--用黄米、小麦、芝麻为原料制成香甜酥脆的芝麻糖。吕蒙正由于聪明好学，深得长老的喜爱，所以不仅教他读书识字，还经常给他芝麻糖吃。到了农历腊月二十三，中国传统的“祭灶”的日子，因为他家没什么可以拿出来供奉的东西，于是吕蒙正便把长老给他的芝麻糖拿了出来，供到灶君爷的面前。灶君爷见到芝麻糖便大吃起来，不小心粘住了嘴，说不出话来了，当天上的大帝问他情况时，他只能一个劲地点头，大帝以为他在夸奖吕蒙正的品德，于是便让吕蒙正考上了状元。尽管这只是个传说，但当地的居民每到腊月二十三还是效仿吕蒙正，用芝麻糖来供奉灶君爷，来祈求好运和福气。
除此之外，安阳的传统风俗还有“坐跑车”，迎春和打春，祭孔等。
4. Local Food and Customs
Due to key location and long history, Anyang has kept all Chinese traditional customs. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the traditional dishes of local flavor.
Among the most unforgettable ones are Laomiao beef, Chuwang buckwheat cake and sesame candy.
Laomiao beef enjoys a great reputation in China. For 300 years, it has been called "The flower of North Henan". It is said that there was a family near Laoye Temple of Hua county, who made their living by selling beef. And the specially-cooked beef was so popular that each family in the area began to do the beef business in the middle of the Qing dynasty. The skills also progressed a lot. Nowadays Laomiao beef is stewed with as many as 15 kinds of seasonings and the residual sauce (reserved from previous cookings) on a charcoal fire.
With a history of over 160 years, Chuwang buckwheat cake will be among those you can never miss. First made during the reign of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing dynasty, the cake is made by steaming and boiling buckwheat flour. When it is served, it is usually cut into rhombic pieces and you can enjoy the cake with garlic juice, mature vinegar, edible sesame oil and mustard. So rich in nutrition is it that the cake is suitable to eat for both the young and the old. It will give you an appetite and help to alleviate the summer heat.
Anyang locals have preserved a custom of offering sesame candies to the Kitchen God on the 23rd of the last month of Chinese lunar calendar. Kitchen God is sent by heaven to each family, and he will report to heaven about the one year life of the family on this day. About this tradition, there is a story about Lü Mengzheng, Prime Minister of the Song dynasty. As a child, Lü led a poor life with his mother. Since they had no house, they lived in a temple. Intelligent and diligent, Lü won the affection from the elder of the temple. He taught the child to read and write, and often gave him some sesame candies made by the elder himself with sesame, wheat and yellow rice. When it came to the day of 23rd of the last month of lunar calendar, poor Lü had no other than the candies to serve the Kitchen God. The sweet candies stuck the Kitchen God's mouth when it came to the reporting time, so the Kitchen God could do nothing other than nod at each of the heaven's question. The heaven understood this as a total compliment of the boy's personality and crowned him in the next year's nationwide examination. It is only a tale, but the locals have kept the custom all these years, to hope for good luck.
Besides, today, Anyang people still "ride in the carriage" (replaced by a bus after new China was founded and a road was built) on the 16th day of the first lunar month, celebrate the ceremony of receiving the Spring God (who masters agricultural production) and the Spring Ox (a paper-made ox with peanuts, walnuts, dried persimmon and copper-made coins inside), the ceremony of beating the Spring Ox, as well as the ceremony of honoring Confucius both on his birthday and on the day of his death.
