New Year's Eve dinner

 

Chapter 6 New Year’s Eve

 

New Year's Eve dinner

 

The last day of "Sui" is called "Sui Chu", and that night is called "New Year's Eve". It is connected with the beginning and end of the New Year, which is called "the end of the year and the end of the year". It is the eve of the new year and an important time junction for getting rid of the old and welcoming the new. "New Year's Eve" means New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, etc. It is the last night at the end of the year. During this period, the theme of the activity is to remove the old and bring in the new. China has had customs such as sticking New Year's red cards, worshiping ancestors, having reunion dinners, and watching the year old since ancient times. New Year's Eve is a day to see off the old, bring in the new, reunite the family, and worship ancestors.

The Chinese people pay special attention to the day of the New Year, to get rid of the old, introduce the new, and welcome the new year. Every household is busy cleaning their courtyards, putting up lanterns and colorful decorations, welcoming their ancestors home for the New Year, and offering them rice cakes, three animal meals, three teas and five wines. New Year's Eve has special significance in the hearts of Chinese people. This is the most important day at the end of the year. No matter how far away the wanderers are, they rush home to reunite with their families, bid farewell to the old year amidst the sound of firecrackers, and welcome the new year with fireworks in the sky.

 

stay up late

 

Shou Sui, also known as Zhao Xuhuo, Shou Suihuo, Zhao Sui, etc., has a long history and is one of the annual customs among Chinese people.

On New Year's Eve, people watch the New Year's Eve, and the folk activities mainly include lighting the New Year's Fire and keeping the New Year's Fire. Every room should be brightly lit all night long to reunite the whole family and welcome the new year; on New Year's Eve, lights and candles should be kept burning all night long, which is called "illuminating waste". It is said that after lighting up the new year in this way, the family's wealth will be enriched in the coming year.

In ancient China, there were different customs in the north and south. In some places, the main custom of staying up late on New Year's Eve was to stay up all night. In some places, on New Year's Eve, the whole family gets together, has New Year's Eve dinner, lights candles or oil lamps, sits around the fire, chats, and keeps vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and looking forward to the new year. Good luck and good luck.

 

Stay up late

 

  On the eve of the New Year's Eve, Chinese folk custom has the habit of staying up late and staying up all year long. In ancient times, in addition to worshiping gods, keeping up the New Year's Eve also meant to drive away evil spirits. Staying up late is also called staying up late.

According to legend, in the ancient times, there was a ferocious monster. People called this monster "Nian". This monster usually doesn't come out, but every New Year's Eve it will crawl out of the sea, harming people and animals, destroying farmland, and causing disasters to the people who have worked hard all year.

The three corpse gods who specialize in doing bad things, in order to do evil to the people, lobby the Nian beast together and encourage it to harm the people on New Year's Eve.

When the Kitchen God heard about this, he informed every household not to go out on New Year's Eve, but to stay at home to watch the New Year's Eve. The common people were afraid of the ferocity of the Nian beast, so they could only sit at home until dawn and did not dare to sleep. Some simply drank and played cards, and didn't go out until dawn to wish each other a happy New Year. Fortunately, I was not eaten by the Nian beast.

But once a strange thing happened in a remote village. The people there thought that their village was far away and the Nian beast would not come to do evil, so they relaxed their vigilance. As a result, the Nian beast came and ate almost everyone in the village. Only a few children survived.

As soon as the Kitchen Lord found out, it turned out that the children were setting off firecrackers when Nian Beast came. Nian Beast was frightened and ran away when he heard the sound of firecrackers and saw the light of fire. The Kitchen God told the people that the Nian beast had three fears: fire, red, and noise.

Under the arrangement of the Kitchen God, during the Chinese New Year, ordinary people wear red robes, hang red lanterns, paste red couplets, and beat gongs and drums and set off firecrackers to drive away the New Year beast.

  When the Kitchen King's grandmother was divorced by Zhang Lang, she lived in the mountains and forests and became good friends with the Land Master. With the help of the Land Master, she once rescued an injured tiger. Later she learned that the tiger was called Tiger.

After the tiger heard about the Nian beast disturbing the villagers, he took the initiative to go down the mountain to help. After the tiger defeated the Nian beast, he asked his tiger dolls to come out to help the common people's children every time they observe the New Year. From then on, during the Chinese New Year, children in every household wore tiger-head hats and tiger-head shoes. The first month was called the first month of the year, called Tiger Moon.

The God of Earth knew that Nian Beast was the pet of Ziweixing, the God of Heaven, so he went to the Jade Emperor to report it. The Jade Emperor asked Ziweixing to take Nian Beast into custody. The Nian beast was later taken back by Ziweixing and locked on a stone pillar in heaven, never allowing it to harm the people again.

However, the customs of staying up late and staying up until the end of the year are still passed down to this day, and people still have to be vigilant to prevent the Nian beast from appearing again.

 

New Year's Eve dinner

 

New Year's Eve dinner is one of the New Year's Eve customs, also known as New Year's dinner, reunion dinner, reunion dinner, etc. It especially refers to the family dinner at the end of the year and New Year's Eve.

The New Year's Eve dinner originates from the ancient year-end sacrificial ceremony, where people gather together for a meal after paying homage to gods and ancestors.

The New Year's Eve dinner is the highlight of the year. It is not only colorful, but also very special. Before having the family reunion dinner, worship the gods and ancestors first, and then start the meal after the worship ceremony is completed. There are usually chickens (meaning good luck), fish (meaning abundance every year), oysters and black beans (meaning good market), nostoc (meaning fortune), yuba (meaning abundance), lotus root (meaning wisdom), and lettuce (meaning bringing wealth). ), raw garlic (the apartment will calculate), etc. for good luck.

The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner. It is the most sumptuous and important dinner at the end of the year.

The annual "Reunion Dinner" is extremely important to the Chinese people. The reunion of family members can give people spiritual comfort and satisfaction. The whole family respects and loves each other and talks about family affairs. Sitting around the dinner table is a happy experience. time.

Eating reunion dinner is a Spring Festival custom. During the Chinese Spring Festival, "eating" often becomes the main activity for most people during the festival. The whole family sits around the steaming table, and there is such a festive and lively atmosphere. This can be regarded as the biggest feature of the Chinese New Year. . The saying "Food is the first priority for the people" seems to be even more reasonable during the traditional festival of Spring Festival. But you should also eat with some knowledge when eating the reunion dinner.

The reunion dinner is the most important feast for Chinese people to wish for family reunion and peace in the coming year. Also called "New Year's Eve Dinner" and "Reunion Dinner".

The first thing Chinese people say when they meet each other is: Have you "eated"?

When the solar term comes, you have to "eat", "eat" during the Dragon Boat Festival, "eat" during the Mid-Autumn Festival, "eat" during the Double Ninth Festival, "eat" during the Spring Festival every year, "eat" at parties, "eat" at weddings, and "eat" at birthdays "Eat", "eat" when your child gets into college, "eat" when you find a good job... In short, when encountering something festive, the way most people choose to celebrate is definitely "eating".

Restaurants are always the first to get a taste of the excitement of the Spring Festival. Some hotel rooms are fully booked half a month before the festival. You can imagine how popular the New Year's Eve dinner will be.

The Spring Festival is the oldest and most solemn traditional festival in China. It is also a common festival for the Han people and most ethnic minorities. The Han people celebrate the Spring Festival for a long time, usually starting from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and ending with the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. ​

From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, there was a custom of drinking "Tusu wine", "cypress leaf wine" and "peach soup" on New Year's Day in the Yangtze River Basin. Drinking Tusu wine is said to ward off the plague. Cypress leaf wine is made from cypress leaves soaked in wine. Cypress is an evergreen tree. The cypress leaves wither and become durable. Drinking cypress leaf wine means its longevity.

New Year's meals must be in auspicious terms. People in Jiangnan make tea during the New Year to honor guests, and put two olives on the tea tray or on the lid of the bowl, which is called "Wubao tea". During the New Year meal, there must be stir-fried green vegetables, which is said to be "loving and warm"; bean sprouts must be eaten, because the shape of soybean sprouts resembles "ruyi".

When having a reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, every family’s dinner table must have a dish of fish. The word “yu” for fish is the same as “fish”, so there is “fish” every year—there is “yu” every year, which is auspicious and festive. There are many fish dishes from all over the north and south of our country, such as "Poached Crucian Carp" in Jiangsu cuisine, "Fried Anchovy Nuggets" in Ussuri cuisine, "Flamed Crucian Carp" in Sichuan cuisine, "Fragrant Bass Balls" in Cantonese cuisine, Hunan cuisine The "Qiyang pen fish" in Beijing cuisine, the "vinegar pepper fish" in Beijing cuisine, the "Korean whitebait" in Tianjin cuisine, the "white pine salmon" in Northeastern cuisine, etc. are all famous fish dishes. .

The Spring Festival is the largest and longest "eating and drinking season" in China. Food constitutes a prosperous scene during the festival. The reason why chewing the warm reunion dinner is a happy thing lies in the true emotions, and not It’s not about the form of “eating”. As the old saying goes: “Too much is too little”. As long as you come to China, you are guaranteed to "eat what's in the bowl and look at what's in the pot."

Chinese food culture emphasizes "color, aroma, taste, shape, utensils and etiquette", especially the dazzling cooking, aesthetic pleasure in taste, and red tape in etiquette.

The Chinese nation's custom of "celebrating the New Year" has a history of more than 3,000 years, and the custom of staying up late and having a "reunion dinner" on New Year's Eve is one of the most iconic activities during the New Year. In this sense, "Reunion Dinner" has a long history of development, profound cultural accumulation and a broad audience of future generations of Chinese people.

Family is the cornerstone of society. "Reunion Dinner" is a folk cultural activity held as a family unit. The annual "Reunion Dinner" fully demonstrates the mutual respect, love and family happiness of family members. This mutual respect and love strengthens the relationship between the family. Even more closely, this kind of family happiness fully expresses the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly and loving the young. The reunion of the family often brings infinite spiritual comfort and satisfaction to the head of the family. The elderly see their children and grandchildren in the house, and the whole family talks about family affairs. The past care and efforts in raising the children have finally not been in vain. What happiness and joy it is. pride. The younger generation can also take this opportunity to express their gratitude to their parents for their upbringing.

Although the "Reunion Dinner" is a dietary activity during the Chinese New Year, it actually goes beyond the scope of "eating" in the general sense and has become a cultural entertainment and spiritual aesthetic activity. To be precise, the "Reunion Dinner" is a way for people to express the cultural psychology of the Chinese nation through dietary activities during the Chinese New Year. Therefore, we say that the "Reunion Dinner" is first and foremost a carrier of New Year culture, which carries the civilizational accumulation and cultural implications of the Chinese nation's "New Year culture" for thousands of years. In this sense, it is almost impossible for today's hotels and restaurants to show the infinite charm of "Reunion Dinner" by just relying on a few delicacies or certain cooking techniques. It’s no wonder that people eat “reunion dinners” in hotels and restaurants instead of waiting until the moment of getting rid of the old and welcoming the new.

It doesn't matter whether the "Reunion Dinner" is delicacies from the mountains and seas, nor does it matter whether you have superb cooking skills. The key to the problem is whether the "Reunion Dinner" carries more "fun of the year". Since the "Reunion Dinner" is a cultural carrier and cooking skills are a manifestation of the festival's food culture, our hotels and restaurants design the "Reunion Dinner" just as a seasonal banquet and only focus on the quality of its dishes. The grade, type of dishes, price positioning and restaurant service have just ignored the core content of the "Reunion Dinner", that is, the taste of folk culture.

There is no doubt that a "reunion dinner" with only cultural content is meaningless. Because the various foods in the "Reunion Dinner" are the carriers of folk culture, the material carrier is the foundation of the "Reunion Dinner". Therefore, the design and matching of food dishes for a "reunion dinner" table are very important and should not be too casual. In addition to the beautiful meaning of the food itself, the use of various foods in the "Reunion Dinner" also needs to consider the type of food, the quality, grade, luxury, cooking skills, styling effects, color aesthetics, etc. of the food. In the pursuit of healthy diet, Today, nutritional coordination cannot be ignored.

The traditional "Reunion Dinner" can ignore the nutritional combination, or ignore the scientific combination. The food on the table is mainly composed of conventional auspicious foods. As mentioned earlier, the Southern "Reunion Dinner" must include hot pot, fish, glutinous rice balls, and radishes. Waiting for food. In northern China, the indispensable “Reunion Dinner” includes rice cakes, dumplings, reunion cakes, chicken, fish, pumpkin vegetables, New Year vegetables, etc. From this point of view, whether the traditional "Reunion Dinner" is in the south or the north, the main consideration in the use of food is their beautiful meaning. When today's hotels and restaurants design various "Reunion Dinners", in addition to taking care of In addition to the reasonable use of some foods that symbolize auspiciousness, the latest dietary science achievements and scientific and technological elements should also be combined.

The reunion dinner that the whole family eats on Lunar New Year's Eve is also called New Year's dinner or New Year's Eve dinner.

The New Year's Eve dinner is also called "family reunion" on New Year's Eve. After this meal, we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, so it is also called "the New Year's Eve".

In ancient times, people believed that New Year’s Eve dinner also had the functions of warding off epidemics, exorcising evil spirits, and keeping fit. Therefore, the characteristic of the New Year's Eve dinner is a banquet for family reunion. Both men, women and children must participate. For this reunion, family members or children who are out must return home before New Year's Eve; Leave an empty seat and place a pair of chopsticks for those who have not returned to express family reunion.

The New Year's Eve dinner was usually the most sumptuous meal of the year among farmers in Guandong in the old days, and it had to be cooked on New Year's Eve. There must be fish among the food and wine on the table, which means there will be surplus money and food in the new year, and everything will be abundant; there must also be a bowl of braised meatballs, which means family reunion.

With the progress of the times, the New Year's Eve dinner has shown new development trends: first, the eating procedures are gradually simplified, people no longer only focus on "eating", but pay more attention to cultural and other spiritual enjoyment in the family atmosphere of reunion; second, New Year’s Eve dinner will be more diversified, Chinese food is no longer the only choice, Western food and other exotic foods will gradually be recognized by the Chinese people; third, New Year’s Eve dinner will be moved from restaurants to families, and for some qualified high-income families, New Year’s Eve dinner will be Instead of arranging it in restaurants, relatives and friends are invited to have a "big meal" at home.

However, the taboos surrounding the traditional New Year’s Eve dinner seem to still exist, such as:

Faced with a plate of fish at the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone will agree not to move their chopsticks, hoping for the good fortune of having more fish every year.

A plate of stir-fried pork with winter bamboo shoots symbolizes "higher and higher", and everyone should eat a little if they like it or not. After the "Japanese vegetables" stir-fried with day lily, dried tofu, winter bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, shredded pork, etc. are served, everyone also has to eat a little symbolically, especially brothers, sisters, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and sisters-in-law, as if they have eaten. This "harmony dish" will make everything harmonious for everyone in the coming year.

The New Year's Eve dinner lasts for two or three hours. During this time, the younger generation toasts to the older generation, and the older generation also toasts to the younger generation. By the way, he says some targeted words of encouragement and gives the younger generation a red envelope as a lucky gift for the new year. The red envelope is not much, so it's appreciated. That's it. The New Year's Eve dinner is generally cooked in large quantities, and wealthy families do not cook red pots from the first to the third day of the Lunar New Year. After the New Year's Eve dinner, in the past there would be no Spring Festival gala without TV. Everyone sat quietly on the fire barrel, peeling peanuts and melon seeds that were rarely seen in ordinary times, eating frozen rice candies, talking and laughing to celebrate the New Year. At around 10 o'clock in the evening, it was time to receive the Kitchen God. The adults came to the kitchen stove with the slogan "God says good things, and the lower world ensures peace." They symbolically set off a firecracker to receive the Kitchen God.