The dinner on New Year’s Eve is called the New Year’s Eve dinner. It is the last meal of the year. Our ancestors cherish it very much. It is rich and well-cooked. It must be eaten by family members together. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, It has been passed down and become a custom. "Jingchu Years' Notes" by Liang Zongmao of the Southern Dynasty records: "At the end of the year, every family prepares food and goes to the house where they keep the year old to welcome the New Year and gather together to have a drink."
★"Reunion Dinner", "Family Fun"
The rice and dishes at New Year's Eve dinners across the country have many meanings, such as reunion, wealth, abundance, sweetness, etc., all expressing people's wishes for the New Year... This is New Year's Eve dinner at home Although traditional concepts have been updated, the custom of "eating together as a family" is still maintained. The meals and dishes ordered still contain traditional meanings and are even more particular.
At the end of each year, students who go to rural schools, academies, and imperial universities, businessmen who do business in other places, buskers who leave their hometowns, and beggars and scavengers who wander around, and officials use the regulations of the court to During the holiday, which is called "holiday", many people return to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year, and they all plan their itinerary to arrive home before the New Year's Eve dinner at the latest. People at home are also leaning on the door and looking forward to the return of those who are away from home, a happy family reunion, and enjoying this New Year's Eve dinner once a year.
The red candles are shining high, the charcoal fire is blazing, and the aroma of fine wine and food is overflowing. A family of men, women, old and young sit around the table, toast each other, pass dishes, and wish 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 a banquet, the young and old gather together, and make many auspicious words."
Cups and chopsticks are intertwined, drinking and talking, looking back on the old year and planning New Year... From time to time, guessing games are played, and the house is full of laughter and laughter, creating a scene of family happiness. No wonder the ancients euphemistically called the New Year's Eve dinner "Reunion Dinner", and "Qing Jia Lu" also euphemistically called it "Family Reunion Dinner".
★The staple food of the New Year’s Eve dinner has many meanings
The New Year’s Eve is the most solemn traditional festival in China. As the saying goes, “There are different customs in thousands of miles, and different customs in a hundred miles”, because the New Year’s Eve dinner has a special meaning. meaning, so they are carefully designed and prepared to have various auspicious meanings. The Spring Festival food customs in various parts of our country are also colorful and have their own characteristics.
For the New Year’s Eve dinner during the Spring Festival, northern folk proverbs say “dumplings on the first day of the Lunar New Year, noodles on the second day of the Lunar New Year, hezi on the third day of the Lunar New Year, pancakes rolled with eggs on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year”. Dumplings are one of the important foods during the Spring Festival, in addition to New Year’s Eve (the twelfth lunar month) In addition to eating dumplings on the last day of the Lunar New Year), dumplings are also eaten on the first and fifth day of the first lunar month, but the way to eat dumplings on these three days is different. The dumplings eaten on New Year's Eve must be filled with vegetarian food, which means peace and quiet in the coming year, and the dumplings cannot be cooked all at once; the dumplings eaten on the first day of the new year must be the leftovers that have not been cooked on the first day of the new year (i.e., 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock on New Year's Eve) , which means having more than enough auspiciousness; when eating dumplings on the fifth day of the lunar month, they must be made into a lace shape, commonly known as "pinching the little man's mouth". The purpose is to prevent the little man from stirring up trouble in the coming year, and for good luck.
§ People in the north eat dumplings for New Year’s Eve dinner. Because the dumplings look so much like ingots, they are cooked and eaten at midnight, which is called “getting ingots.” Moreover, they are harvested from this year to next year without getting big. fiscal? Therefore, even if you come from a poor family, you have to prepare early and save a little on weekdays. For New Year's Eve dinner, you must buy some white noodles, cut some meat, and eat dumplings. Maybe it’s because you envy people who make a fortune by eating dumplings, but more and more people eat dumplings in other places.
§ Eating wontons on the eve of the 30th of the Jiangnan New Year means having a full store of food. Wontons are shaped like a dustpan and can bring money. Therefore, Shanghainese have a special liking for wontons. There are also eating glutinous rice balls and garden, which means happy reunion. Eating rice cakes means "being prosperous every year". Eating steamed buns means "fading" and steaming...
§ Southerners prefer rice cakes. In addition to steaming and frying, southern rice cakes can also be fried in slices and boiled in soup. The taste is also sweet and salty. Since nian is a homophonic word for sticky, and high is a homophone for cake, eating rice cakes means being high every year, that is, people’s expectations for the new year. Over time, sticky cakes also turned into rice cakes.
In addition to rice cakes and dumplings, a variety of delicacies are indispensable on the Chinese dining table:
§ In some areas of Guangdong, "Wannian Liang" is eaten as the first meal of the New Year. Early in the New Year, It is necessary to prepare meals for the whole family to eat during the three days of the Spring Festival, which means "eating and drinking without worries"; in Chaozhou area, the first meal of the New Year is "fuyuan" fried with rice noodles and minced radish, and "fuyuan" made from gorgon seeds, lotus seeds, etc. "Five Fruit Soup" means "longstanding and well-established".
§ In some areas of Guanzhong and Henan, the first meal of the New Year is more interesting. They eat rice cooked with dumplings and noodles, called "Golden Thread Yuanbao" and "Silver Thread Hanging Gourd"; in parts of Anhui When eating the first meal of the New Year in the local area, everyone takes a bite of raw radish, which is called "biting spring", which means "removing bacteria and preventing diseases" and "good luck in the new year".
§ For the Zhuang people in Guangxi, eating sweets as the first meal of the Spring Festival means that their life will be beautiful and sweet in the new year.
§ People from southern Fujian eat noodles as the first meal of the Spring Festival, which means "lasting years". People in Zhangzhou eat sausages, preserved eggs and ginger, which means "the days are getting more prosperous".
§There is a bowl of "chicken and beans" on the dining table in Hefei, which means "grab money and get rich." The housekeeper has to eat a chicken leg, which is called "money claw", which means that he will attract wealth next year.
§In Nanchang area, rice cakes, braised fish, fried rice noodles, eight-treasure rice, and boiled soup are must-eats. Their meanings are, in order, good fortune every year, fish every year, a good harvest, rice in bunches, and eight-treasure wealth. Wealthy every year.
§ In some places in Taiwan, the first meal of the Spring Festival is to eat "perennial vegetables", which are mustards with long stems and leaves and a bitter taste. Some also add slender vermicelli to the dish, which means "continuous and immortal".
§ In some places in Hainan, the first meal of the Spring Festival is only vegetarian, which is called "eating." Now, the first meal of the Lunar New Year has evolved into a gourmet culture.
§ Suzhou people like to choose vegetables with auspicious names. Soybean sprouts are called "Ruyi Cai", peanuts are called "Longevity Fruit", and shepherd's purse sounds like "accumulating wealth".
§ A must-have dish for Shanghainese New Year's Eve dishes is "egg horns", which are made of egg liquid and filled with fresh meat. They are both beautiful and delicious.
§ Shaoxing people have a bowl of "frozen meat" on New Year's Eve. There is a white turtle head on the surface of the bowl, which means "thinking". A "whole fish" is indispensable in most places in Dalai, but it cannot be Moving chopsticks means "having more than enough every year". In some places, a wooden-carved fish is simply served on the dish.
There are countless delicacies to celebrate the Spring Festival with their own characteristics. In fact, on this festive and auspicious day, no matter what we eat or how we eat, it expresses our beautiful yearning and hope for the future. I sincerely wish that each of us will be happy, safe and prosperous in the coming year...
★New Year’s Eve dinners in various places around the world
There are many New Year’s Eve dinners in foreign countries. There are also various ways to eat it.
§ When the bell rings 108 times on New Year’s Eve in Japan, every household competes to eat long noodles. It is said that people in this island country believe that whose noodles are longer will have better luck in the coming year. Moreover, the size of the luck is directly proportional to the length of the noodle.
§The New Year’s Eve dinner in Singapore is when thousands of families sit around, bring out big pots of rice cakes, and eat lavishly. The local people associate "rice cake" with "niangao" and pray for "niangao".
§The New Year’s Eve dinner in the Philippines is when all families “come together to make chicken rice.” The people of this country like to eat chicken. The most interesting thing is that if you can get the rooster's head, it is said to be "the best and tell others"; if you get the hen's head, it means "many children and chickens (good luck)"; even if it is Those who get chicken ribs are also said to be "tasty eats"; those who get eggs are said to be "perfect".
§The New Year’s Eve dinner in Spain is “New Year’s Eve, eat grapes, 12 grapes, just right”. According to their ancestors, there are 12 months in a year, and one grape represents one month. Grapes are a good food. People eat them to keep them safe every month and pray for good luck and success every year.
§The New Year’s Eve dinner in Italy is that every household eats honey gnocchi.
It is said that honey dumplings mean "rich, complete and sweet life". Whoever eats more during the New Year will be happier.
§The "golden birch" is a very rare specialty product in the Brazilian mountains and forests, and is regarded by Brazilians as a symbol of happiness and good luck. Every New Year's Eve, when the New Year's Eve bells ring, thousands of people come out from their homes, holding torches high, singing soft songs, and flock to the nearby mountains and forests. Everyone is rushing to find and share "golden birch fruits" and use this "special New Year product" to wish each other good luck in the coming year.
§ During the Greek New Year, the whole family sits around and bakes an extra large loaf of bread to share. There is a coin hidden in this bread. Whoever eats it will live a rich life and have good luck in the coming year.
§The Irish New Year’s food is quite rich, and there are some small things hidden in it that can bring good luck or bad luck. If there is a ring in the cake, it symbolizes getting married; if there is a button, it means getting a degree.
§Americans have the most colorful New Year foods. Although they are all auspicious New Year foods, they have different meanings. For example, those who eat cabbage will have more money in the coming year; those who eat herrings will have as much wealth as herrings. If you eat a lot of live fish, you hope that you and your family will be as flexible and successful as live fish.
★Dishes also have their own symbols
Since ancient times, twelve dishes have been arranged for the New Year’s Eve dinner in the Lianghu area, which means that dishes and “wealth” are homophonic, and there will be wealth every month for the first twelve months of the year. There is a dish in Taiwan and other places called turnips, which is eaten by everyone. It is said that if a wealthy person eats it, he will make more money.
Fish is a must-have in New Year’s Eve dinners in various places. Fish is a homophone for “surplus”, which means you have more than enough food and clothing, as well as more money and silk. Some people specialize in silver carp and have more than enough for years to come. Some people don’t finish the fish and leave some Let’s eat it tomorrow. Tomorrow is the New Year. Isn’t it enough every year?
§People in the south, like Guangzhou, have a vegetable soup for New Year’s Eve dinner, which means making a fortune. If you serve beets, it symbolizes the sweetness of life... In short, the rice and dishes served at New Year's Eve dinners across the country have many meanings, such as reunion, wealth, surplus, sweetness, etc., all expressing people's wishes and longing for the New Year.
At the end of the last century, some people in the city went to restaurants to have New Year’s Eve dinner. In recent years, the number has increased significantly, and some people even make reservations for the next year. The purpose is to avoid the hard work of buying, buying and burning. It is worth spending a few extra dollars. . This is an update of the traditional concept of eating New Year's Eve dinner at home, but it still maintains the custom of "eating together as a family", and the meals and dishes ordered still contain traditional meanings and are even more particular.