What does it mean to eat New Year's tea?

Eating New Year's tea comes from the social function of tea culture in A Dream of Red Mansions and A Dream of Red Mansions. The forty-first time, Miaoyu took Baochai and Daiyu to the back hall for tea. Baoyu came in and said with a smile, "I'd rather you have seasonal tea." Cascade tea, as its name implies, is a kind of tea and heart-to-heart talk between friends and confidants, which means elegance and elegance. The second is engagement tea. The twenty-fifth time I wrote that Wang Xifeng gave tea from Siam to Lin Daiyu. Xifeng said with a smile, "Since you have eaten my tea, why don't you give it to our family as a wife?" Everyone laughed, and Daiyu blushed and turned away without saying a word. Wang Xifeng said this because there is a saying of "dowry tea" in social customs. "You ate my home" means you accepted the engagement. Eating tea means "collecting tea" here. In the past, women were hired to "drink tea". Song Luyou's Notes on the Old Learning Temple Volume 4: Unmarried men and women in Jingzhou, Chen Yuan, sing hand in hand: "Little lady, flowers at the bottom of leaves, come out for a cup of tea." Ming Langying's "Seven Revisions" Volume 46: "Tea planting cannot be transplanted, and transplantation cannot be revived. Therefore, those who hire women are called tea. " Peony Pavilion wheel drive: "(Du Liniang) I, I, tease cold food to eat his tea." Qing Fogg's "Listening to the Rain" Volume 8: "Tea is used as the currency in this marriage. Manchu and Han customs are natural, so it is not necessary to use the first house. Today's eight banners are hired. Although they don't use tea, they have to beg for tea and leave their names. " It can be seen that Wang Xifeng's joke was a social custom at that time. No wonder Lin Daiyu blushed and turned away. The third kind is Nian tea. This is a tea party for friends and relatives during the Spring Festival. The nineteenth time I wrote that Jia Baoyu and Yan Ming came to Huaxi Ren's house. It turns out that xiren has asked for leave to go home and have tea with her sister for the New Year. "Baoyu bowed his head and blushed when he saw three or five girls in the room, and came in." Hua Zifang and her son were busy inviting Jia Baoyu to the heatable adobe sleeping platform to set up another fruit table and pour tea. The fourth is to pour tea. This is tea for the dead. Buddhists call it "offering tea" before the spirit of Buddha or ancestors. "The Memorial Gate of the Elephant in the Zen Forest": "If you want to respect Suqian, you have to offer tea and Buddhism." Drink tea twice a day, soup before noon and tea in the afternoon. The fifteenth time I wrote that Qin Keqing's coffin stopped at Tiexi 'er Temple, "The monk's class has been finished, and tea will be served in the evening", which belongs to the afternoon tea ceremony. There is a description of "vegetable, rice, soup, wine and tea died" in the fifty-third chapter of Ningguo House's New Year's Eve Sacrifice Ancestral Hall, which shows that tea is not only enjoyed by the living, but also a sacrifice to the deceased ancestors. In a word, tea culture is inextricably linked with folk culture, which further broadens the rich connotation of tea culture.