The implication of Spring Festival dinner

The dinner on New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve, which is the last meal of the year. Our ancestors cherish it very much. It is rich and well-cooked, so it is necessary to have a family reunion and eat it. It has been passed down as a custom in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Southern Dynasty, Liang Zonggu's "The Chronicle of Jingchu's Years" contains: "At the end of the year, we will have furniture and dishes, so as to celebrate the new year and get together and have a good drink."

★ "reunion dinner" and "family reunion"

The meals and dishes of New Year's Eve all over the country have meanings, such as reunion, wealth, abundance, sweetness and so on, which all express people's wishes for the New Year ... This is an update of the traditional concept of eating New Year's Eve at home, but it still maintains the custom of "reunion and eating", and the meals and dishes ordered still contain traditional meanings, even more exquisite.

Every year near the end of the year, students who go to rural schools, academies and imperial schools to study, businessmen who do business in other places, entertainers who have left their homes, beggars and beggars who wander around, and officials take advantage of the holiday called "Hugh Mu" stipulated by the imperial court to return home for the New Year, and all of them calculate their trips and get home at the latest before the New Year's Eve. Everyone in the family is leaning against the door, looking forward to the return of those who stay outside, a happy family reunion and a * * * dinner this year.

The red candle is shining high, the charcoal fire is blazing, and the aroma of wine and delicacies is overflowing. A family of men, women and children sat around the table, toasting and handing food to each other, wishing each other good luck in the New Year and all the best. As recorded in Qing Jia Lu: "On New Year's Eve, families hold banquets, and the young and the old gather in auspicious language."

cups and chopsticks are staggered, drinking and talking, reviewing the old year, planning the new year ... sometimes guessing boxing orders, laughing and laughing all over the house, which is a scene of family happiness. No wonder the ancients called New Year's Eve a "reunion dinner" and Qing Jia Lu a "family reunion".

★ The main food of New Year's Eve has many meanings

The Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival in China. As the saying goes, "A thousand miles of different winds and a hundred miles of different customs", because the New Year's Eve has special significance, it is carefully designed and prepared, which makes it have various auspicious meanings. The Chinese New Year food customs in different parts of China are also colorful and have their own characteristics.

On the New Year's Eve, the northern folk proverb says "jiaozi on the first day, noodles on the second day, zygotes on the third day, and eggs rolled on the fourth day". jiaozi is one of the important foods in the Spring Festival. In addition to eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve (the last day of the twelfth lunar month), you should also eat jiaozi on the first and fifth days of the first month, but the way to eat jiaozi on these three days is different. Jiaozi eaten on New Year's Eve must be vegetarian, which means peace in the coming year and plain and clean, and jiaozi can't be cooked at once; Jiaozi eaten on the first day must have been left unfinished on the first day (that is, from 12: to 1: on New Year's Eve). Jiaozi must be made into a lace shape on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, commonly known as "pinching a villain's mouth", in order to prevent a villain from gossiping in the coming year for good luck.

Northerners eat jiaozi on New Year's Eve, because jiaozi is too like an ingot. At midnight, jiaozi cooked it and fished for food, which is called "fishing for an ingot". Moreover, it is this year and next year, and it will not make a fortune. Therefore, even in a poor family, it is necessary to make early preparations and save a little on weekdays. We must buy some white flour and cut some meat for the New Year's Eve dinner and have a meal in jiaozi. I envy eating jiaozi's gold ingots to make a fortune, and there are more people eating jiaozi in other places.

Eating wonton in Jiangnan on New Year's Eve means that food is full; Wonton is shaped like a dustpan, which can make money, so Shanghainese have a special liking for it. There are also eating dumplings and gardens, which means beautiful reunion. Eating rice cakes means "getting taller every year". Eating steamed bread is "fat" and prosperous ...

Southerners prefer rice cakes. Besides steaming and frying, South Rice cakes are also fried in slices and boiled in soup, and their tastes are both sweet and salty. Because the year is homophonic with sticky rice cakes, eating rice cakes means that people are looking forward to the new year. Over time, sticky rice cakes have also become.

In addition to rice cakes and jiaozi, people in China can't help but have rich and colorful dishes on the table:

In some parts of Guangdong, the first meal in the New Year is "Wan Nian Liang", and on the morning of the New Year, the whole family should be prepared for three days of the Spring Festival, which means "eat and drink without worry"; In Chaozhou, the first meal in the New Year is "rotten round" fried with rice flour and radish powder, and "five-fruit soup" boiled with gorgon seeds and lotus seeds, which means "a long history".

In Guanzhong and some parts of Henan, the first meal in the New Year is more interesting. They want to eat rice cooked with noodles by jiaozi, which is called "gold string ingots" and "silver hanging gourds". When eating the first meal of the New Year in some areas of Anhui, everyone takes a bite of raw radish, which is called "biting spring", which means "sterilization and disease prevention" and "auspicious New Year".

The Zhuang people in Guangxi eat sweets for the first meal during the Spring Festival, which means that life in the new year is beautiful and sweet.

Minnan people in Fujian eat noodles for the first meal during the Spring Festival, which means "lasting year after year", and eat sausages, preserved eggs and ginger around Zhangzhou, which means "the days are getting more prosperous".

There is a bowl of "chicken catches beans" on the dining table in Hefei, which means "grasping money to make a fortune". The housekeeper wants to eat a chicken leg, which is called "grasping the money claw", which means making a fortune next year.

Nanchang must eat rice cakes, braised fish, fried rice noodles, eight-treasure rice and boiled thick soup, which in turn mean rising year by year, having fish every year, having a bumper harvest of grain, stringing rice, making eight treasures rich and getting rich every year.

In some parts of Taiwan Province, the first meal during the Spring Festival is like "long-year dish", which is a kind of mustard with long stems and leaves and bitter taste. Some also add slender vermicelli to the dishes, which means "continuous, immortal".

In some parts of Hainan, the first meal during the Spring Festival is vegetarian, which is called "fasting". Now, the first day of fasting has evolved into a gourmet culture.

Suzhou people like to choose vegetables with auspicious names. Soybean sprouts are called "ruyi vegetables", peanuts are called "longevity fruits", and shepherd's purse sounds like "gathering wealth".

Shanghainese must serve a dish of "egg horn", which is hung with egg liquid and stuffed with fresh meat. It looks good and delicious.

Shaoxing people have a bowl of "frozen meat" on New Year's Eve, and a white fish head is placed on the surface of the bowl, which means "wanting". In most places, a "whole fish" is indispensable, but chopsticks are not allowed to be used to show that "there is more than enough every year". In some places, a woodcarving fish is simply used to match the dish.

The delicious food celebrating the Spring Festival has its own characteristics, and there are countless examples. In fact, on this festive and auspicious day, no matter what we eat or how we eat it, it expresses our beautiful yearning and deep wishes for the future. I wish everyone of us can be happy, safe and auspicious in the coming year ...

★ There are many wonderful New Year's Eve dinners around the world

There are many different ways to eat them abroad.

In Japan, when the bell strikes 18 on New Year's Eve, families are competing to eat long noodles. It is said that people in this island country believe that whoever has long noodles will have good luck in the coming year. Moreover, the size of luck is directly proportional to the length of noodles.

Singapore's New Year's Eve is a family reunion dinner, with large pots of rice cakes and special meals. The local people take the combination of "rice cake" and "Niangao" and pray for "Niangao".

On the New Year's Eve in the Philippines, all families have to "cook chicken rice together". The people of this country always like to eat chickens. The most interesting thing is that those who can get the cock's head are called "the leader, and announce others"; Those who get the hen's head mean "many children and many chickens (auspicious)"; Even if it is caught in the chicken ribs, it will be called "the taste of food"; He who catches an egg is "round and full".

Spain's New Year's Eve is "New Year's Eve, eat 12 grapes, just right". Their ancestors passed it down from generation to generation: 12 months a year, one grain represents one month, grapes are beautiful food, and people can eat them to keep the peace of each month, so as to pray for good luck and good luck every year.

Italy's New Year's Eve is a time when every family eats honey dumplings. It is said that honey dumplings mean "life is rich, complete and sweet". Whoever eats more during the New Year will be happier.

a very rare "golden birch", a special product in Brazil's mountains, is regarded by Brazilians as a symbol of happiness and auspiciousness. Every Chinese New Year, when the bell rings on New Year's Eve, thousands of people pour out of their homes, hold high torches and hum a tune, and flock to the nearby mountains. Everyone is scrambling to find and share "Golden Birch Fruit" to wish each other luck in the coming year.

When the Greeks celebrate the New Year, the whole family sit around and bake a big bread to share. There is a coin hidden in this bread. Whoever eats it will live a rich life and be lucky in the coming year.

Irish New Year's food is quite rich, and there are some small things hidden in it, which can not only bode well, but also bode ill. If there is a ring in the cake, it symbolizes to tie the knot; If it's a button, it means a degree.

Americans have the most colorful New Year's food. Although they are auspicious new year's goods, they have different meanings. If you eat cabbage, you will get more money in the coming year, and if you eat herring, your property is as numerous as herring. If you eat live fish, you want yourself and your family to be as flexible and successful as live fish.

★ Cuisine also has its own symbol

Since ancient times, twelve dishes have been arranged for the New Year's Eve dinner in the two lakes, which means that food is homophonic with "wealth", and there is wealth for twelve months all the year round. In Taiwan Province and other places, there is a dish that is a big dish. Everyone eats it, which means that the rich will get more money when they eat it.

There must be fish on New Year's Eve in all places, and fish is homophonic with "Yu", which is more than food and clothing, and more than money; Some specialize in eating silver carp, which has been around for more than a year; Others don't finish eating the fish, but save it for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the New Year, isn't it more than every year?

The south is like Guangzhou people, so a dish soup should be served on the New Year's Eve to show the meaning of getting rich. In short, the meals and dishes of New Year's Eve all over the country have many meanings, such as reunion, wealth, surplus, sweetness and so on, which all express people's wishes and longings for the New Year.

At the end of last century, some people in the city went to restaurants to eat New Year's Eve dinner. In recent years, the number has increased dramatically, and some people have reservations every other year. The purpose is to avoid the hard work of buying, eliminating and burning, and it is worthwhile to spend a few more money. This is an update of the traditional concept of eating New Year's Eve at home, but it still maintains the custom of "reunion and eating", and the meals and dishes ordered still contain traditional meanings and are even more particular.