The thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month is the time for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. On this day, people have to prepare many delicious foods and hold various meaningful activities from morning till night. People call this day "China New Year".
The Spring Festival is the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation. In order to have a good year, the old farmers began to get busy as soon as they entered the threshold of the twelfth lunar month. Especially since the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "off-year", people have entered the countdown to the New Year and are busy day and night. There is a popular Chinese New Year song in Henan:
Twenty-three, altar officials;
Twenty-four, sweeping the house;
Twenty-five, grinding bean curd;
Twenty-six, cut meat;
Twenty-seven, kill pigs and chickens;
Twenty-eight, steamed jujube flowers;
Twenty-nine, go to play wine;
Thirty years old, Bao Jiaozi;
On New Year's Day, I squatted on my ass.
New Year's Eve dinner includes jiaozi. It is one of the most important contents of folk New Year in northern China. In jiaozi on the 30th, because it is an important part of festivals, many rules and established customs are stipulated. These customs are designed to cater to the needs of the New Year atmosphere.
Pay attention to the stuffing in jiaozi.
Jiaozi is first mixed with dumpling stuffing. Jiaozi is full of meat and vegetables. Strictly speaking, it is different in some places, but it is more a mixture of meat and vegetables. Jiaozi in 30 years should be enough for the whole family to eat for 30 nights and the first morning. On New Year's Eve, jiaozi is usually mixed with meat and vegetables. Cut pork or mutton into small diced meat, marinate with seasoning, then chop the tender leaves of Chinese cabbage into coarse grains with a knife, squeeze out some water, and add human flesh and seasoning to mix. In the process of stuffing, the most important thing is chopping stuffing, that is, chopping Chinese cabbage with a knife. When cutting vegetables, the knife collided with the chopping board and made a powerful "bang" sound. Because of the constant change of force, this sound gives people a rhythmic change of strength and rhythm, like a particularly beautiful music, which spreads to all neighbors. People hope that the chopping sound at home is the loudest and longest in the village. Meat and vegetables are mixed with stuffing, which is homophonic "rich". The stuffing has the loudest sound and takes a long time, which means "more money takes a long time". The longer you cut vegetables, the more jiaozi you have, which symbolizes the abundance of life.
Jiaozi's exquisite shape
The jiaozi shape of the New Year's Eve dinner is also exquisite, and most areas are used to keeping the traditional crescent shape. When wrapping this shape, fold the dough in half and knead it along the edge of the semicircle with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. You have to knead carefully and evenly. This is called "kneading happiness". Some farmhouses pinch the two corners of jiaozi, which has been pinched into a crescent shape, into an "ingot" shape and put it on the door curtain, symbolizing wealth everywhere and gold and silver all over the house. There are also some farmers who pinch jiaozi with grain-shaped patterns, like plump and huge wheat grains, symbolizing a bumper harvest in the new year. But more is to wrap jiaozi into several shapes, which indicates that the coming year will be rich in financial resources, delicious food and prosperous life in Man Cang.
Jiaozi's arrangement is exquisite.
Jiaozi, 30, not only pays attention to shape, but also sets rules for placement. First of all, you can't put it anywhere. As the saying goes: "Busy, don't let Jiao Zi mess around." Daily package jiaozi, horizontal pendulum vertical pendulum, all with its meaning, 30-year-old package jiaozi is not. In Shandong and other places, curtains should be round. First, put a few jiaozi in the shape of an ingot in the middle, and then place them neatly around the ingot layer by layer. This is the folk saying that "a circle is blessed". Some people even stipulate that no matter the size of curtains, only 99 curtains can be placed on each curtain, and they should be covered with curtains. Therefore, it can only be achieved by adjusting the spacing and row spacing of the intersection, which is the so-called "endless happiness". There is also an interesting story about this custom in folklore: a long time ago, in a poor mountain village, there was a poor family who often ate the last meal without the next one. On New Year's Eve, there is no white flour and vegetables at home, and I am worried when I listen to the neighbors cutting vegetables. Helpless, I had to borrow rice noodles from relatives and friends. After mending the noodles, I made some miscellaneous vegetables, stuffed them into the stuffing, and wrapped jiaozi. Because the noodles are borrowed, the wrapped jiaozi is particularly precious. When placed, it is circled from the inside out, which is very neat and beautiful. Kitchen God, who just came back from heaven, was very happy after seeing it. There is a rich man in the same village, and his family is very rich. He is used to eating delicacies on weekdays and doesn't care about jiaozi at all. On New Year's Eve, stuffing is made of meat, eggs and other materials, wrapped into jiaozi and placed on the curtain. Jiaozi, a small material, tastes completely different after being cooked in the pot. Pork stuffing became a radish dish. And the poor family's jiaozi turned into a stuffed egg. It turns out that the Chef God is not satisfied with the attitude of the rich man's family, jiaozi. In order to punish him, he secretly switched the two jiaozi. The next day, it spread in the village. From then on, no matter how busy people are, 30-year-old jiaozi should be neatly arranged to win a "happy circle". But in some parts of Heilongjiang, jiaozi can't be put in a circle. It is said that putting jiaozi in a circle will make the days go by and die. It must be arranged horizontally so that financial resources can flow in all directions.
Jiaozi is very particular about cooking and eating.
New Year's Eve dinner not only includes jiaozi, but also jiaozi. As the saying goes: "Eat jiaozi on New Year's Eve-there are no outsiders." It shows that jiaozi is a symbol of family reunion on New Year's Eve. On this day, jiaozi will eat on New Year's Eve, which not only means family reunion, but also means renewing children. The custom of eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve has a long history, at least in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The History of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty records the custom of eating jiaozi in the New Year. "Starting from the fifth watch ... eating snacks, that is, eating flat food." After inheritance and improvement, the custom of eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve is formed, which means to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. On New Year's Eve in jiaozi, accompanied by firecrackers, jiaozi was put into a boiling pot, cooked and fished out for the gods and ancestors to eat first, and then ate jiaozi with other foods.
Jiaozi on New Year's Eve is also very particular. Use beans or sesame seeds as firewood for the fire, which means that the fire will burn more and more vigorously, and the days in the coming year will be as high as sesame blossoms. When cooking jiaozi in a pot, you can't stir it with a shovel. You should move it in one direction along the edge of the pot to form a circle, which means the same as putting jiaozi. In eastern Shandong, jiaozi is usually cooked a few times on purpose, but you can't break the taboo of breaking, breaking and rotting, just say "earning" or "rising". Because there are dishes in jiaozi, the homonym is "wealth", and jiaozi's "earning" means "making money", in order to gain luck and win a favor, so as to increase the joyful atmosphere on New Year's Eve. In some places in central Gansu, when cooking jiaozi on New Year's Eve, add a little noodles to cook and eat together, which is called "silver-wrapped gold ingots". Noodles should be thin, and jiaozi should be wrapped in the shape of an ingot, which means longevity and wealth. It is also a kind of good luck and a good hope for people.
Eating jiaozi is also a custom. The first bowl should be respected first, ancestors and immortals. Jiaozi, who provides this offering, is also particular. There is a saying that there are "three ghosts and four gods" in Hebei folk. Is to offer three bowls to the gods, three for each bowl; Provide four bowls for ancestors, each containing four jiaozi; Only the kitchen god is the least respected. Only 1 bowl of jiaozi was served, and only 1 bowl was served in the bowl. However, some people felt embarrassed and filled in a few. In some places, after jiaozi arrives at the altar, the old people at home will also read a prayer devoutly, such as:
Flat food with two sharp points,
Into the pot thousands.
Gold spoon, silver bowl end,
Respect the old people when you bring them to the table.
The gods loved it when they saw it,
Keep safe all the year round.
The second bowl of jiaozi should be served to the livestock to show their love. In the old society, cattle, horses and other large livestock were the main labor tools of farmers, and people also hoped that livestock would usher in a safe and smooth year like people. A family can only eat the third bowl. On New Year's Eve, there are many kinds of New Year's Eve, but you can't eat any of them. Only jiaozi had to eat them. Remember clearly when eating, it is best to eat even numbers, not odd numbers. Some old people at home say "eat more (wealth), eat more" and other old sayings while eating. After dinner, jiaozi's plates and bowls, and even jiaozi's pots, should be deliberately left on the curtain of jiaozi, which is called "more than one year". Even the stuffing and dough used in jiaozi should have "extra heads".
Responder: enchanted apprentice magician level 3 2-3 2 1:33
The folk custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has been quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck".
Respondent: lyin 1 130- Scholar Level 3 2-3 2 1:55.
The origin and legend of eating jiaozi in New Year.
Jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi". During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy.
According to "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi, wei ren of the Three Kingdoms, there was a crescent-shaped food called "Wonton" at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of jiaozi now. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton had been "shaped like a crescent moon, and it was delicious all over the world". Presumably, when jiaozi cooked it, he didn't take it out and eat it alone, but put it in a bowl with the soup, so people called jiaozi "wonton" at that time. This way of eating is still popular in some areas of our country. For example, when people from Henan and Shaanxi eat jiaozi, they should put some small ingredients such as coriander, chopped green onion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup.
By about the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi had become exactly the same as jiaozi now, so it was fished out and put on a plate to eat by itself.
Jiaozi was called "Joule" in Song Dynasty, which is the etymology of the word "Jiaozi" in later generations. This kind of writing can still be seen in the following Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China.
Jiaozi was called a "flat food" in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Bang's Miscellaneous Notes on Ten Thousand Parts recorded: "New Year's Day, New Year's Day ...... as a patch food". Liu Ruoyu's "Proceedings" records: "Eat fruit snacks on New Year's Day and eat a plaque immediately." The "plaque" of the "plaque food" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties is now commonly used as "ping". A kind of "flat food" may come from Mongolian.
Some new names about jiaozi appeared in Qing Dynasty, such as "jiaozi", "Water Snack" and "Boiled Bean". The increase of Jiaozi's names shows that its geographical spread is expanding.
The folk custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has been quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck".
There are many legends about eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival. One is to commemorate the creation of Pangu and end the mixed state. The other is to use it as a homonym of "wonton", which means "five grains are abundant" In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people. When Nuwa soil caused people, the ears of loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to prevent the ear from being fixed, Nuwa put a small eye on the ear, tied it with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess man to bite, so that the ear would be fine. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.
Jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: First, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot. People eat jiaozi in the Spring Festival and get the voice of "the way to make money". Secondly, jiaozi has stuffing, which is convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing and place people's hopes for the new year.
When wrapping jiaozi, people usually wrap Jin Ruyi, sugar, peanuts, dates and chestnuts into stuffing. Eat the best and sugar, life will be sweeter in the coming year, eat peanuts, live a long and healthy life, eat dates and chestnuts, and have a baby early.
In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmons symbolizes all the best; Eat three fresh vegetables. It symbolizes that Sanyang opens Thailand. People in Taiwan Province Province eat fish balls, meatballs and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and wealth.
Jiaozi has various fillings and making methods. Even the same kind of jiaozi has different ways of eating: Daur people in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang want to cook jiaozi with vermicelli broth. Then even the soup with jiaozi to eat; In some areas of Henan, jiaozi is cooked with noodles, which is called "gold thread penetrates gold ingot".
Jiaozi, a delicious food, has become an important part of China's food culture while bringing people joy in the New Year.