Why do you want to eat jiaozi in the North for the New Year?

Lunar New Year's Eve, also known as "New Year's Eve". According to the custom, in addition to vegetables, the south should eat rice cakes and the north should eat jiaozi. According to folklore experts, eating jiaozi and rice cakes on New Year's Eve is symbolic and intended to make a fortune in the New Year.

First, the North-South New Year's Eve signature food:

Jiaozi has become a symbolic food for New Year's Eve in the north. On the one hand, because jiaozi itself is delicious, there is a saying in China that "jiaozi drinks more and more" and "it is not as delicious as jiaozi". The more important reason is that jiaozi is a cultural symbol and jiaozi is a symbol of time. The new year and the old year alternate at midnight. As the saying goes, "one night for two years, one night for two years", eating jiaozi means to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. For this reason, later generations gave Jiaozi the meaning of "young friends", and Zi means "child", which is homophonic with Jiao, meaning "happy reunion" and "good luck". Because jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, pots and pans are placed on the table, which also symbolizes "making a fortune in the New Year, and the ingot is rolling in".

According to historical records, jiaozi really became an auspicious food for the Spring Festival after the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Wang came to China and said that eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has many wonderful meanings, especially on New Year's Eve. The jiaozi on New Year's Eve is unusual because from 23: 00 on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month to the first day of the first lunar month 1, it means "making love at a young age", and the word "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "family reunion" and "good luck". Secondly, people expect to eat the unpleasant troubles that happened in the past year like jiaozi and pray for good luck in the new year. The third is to eat jiaozi, and pray for the early birth of a son, the prosperity of the whole family and the promising children in the coming year.

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The same is true of rice cakes in the south, which means "high every year". So southerners have the custom of eating rice cakes on New Year's Eve. "There are many styles and colors of rice cakes, especially the square yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver treasures, meaning making a fortune in the New Year and rolling in financial resources."

Eating rice cakes can be "higher every year" and better every year. ? The magic of rice cakes lies in beating. Grind glutinous rice into powder, put it in a stone mortar, and several strong adults hammer it down alternately until it is thin and sticky, and then take out the cake. There are many ways to eat rice cakes, such as frying, cooking in soup and cooking with sugar. Everything is delicious.

Second, northerners eat jiaozi on New Year's Eve:

Because jiaozi can also be called "Jiaozi", which means the alternation of the old and the new. Therefore, northerners should eat jiaozi at the New Year's Eve to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. At the beginning of jiaozi's invention, it was not for food and clothing, but for treating diseases. According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage, invented it to treat patients with ear frostbite.

Especially in the cold winter, a steaming bowl of jiaozi can not only dispel the cold, but also bring people psychological satisfaction. In many places in northern China, people are used to eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve. People often compare jiaozi to "making friends at a young age", and he is deeply loved by ordinary people because of his good luck. Even poor families will pack a bowl of jiaozi during the Spring Festival to look forward to a better life in the new year.

The origin of jiaozi originated in the Han Dynasty: it was very cold in winter in the Han Dynasty, and many people's ears were frozen. Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor, thought of a good way to wrap herbs and mutton for dispelling cold in dough, cook them with water and give them to the poor. Because it looks like an ear, people call it "Joule" to treat frostbite. Later, people imitated Zhang Zhongjing's method of Bao jiaozi and gradually changed his name from "Joule" to "Joule". Read it again, and for fluency, it was changed to later Jiaozi.

Third, southerners eat rice cakes on New Year's Eve:

According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in the mountains in ancient times. When food is scarce in severe winter, people will go down the mountain to eat people to satisfy their hunger. In order to deal with the threat of Nian beast, the clever "Gao clan" tribe made a lot of grain from grain before Nian beast went down the mountain, rubbed it into strips and put it outside the door one by one, while people hid at home. Nian beast couldn't find anyone, so he ate all the food sticks outside the door and went back to the mountains. From this, people have escaped the disaster of "Year" safely and can start spring ploughing with peace of mind. Later, this method of avoiding animals was handed down year after year. Because the bars are made of high, the combination of "nian" and "Gao" is called "rice cake".

Southerners like rice and northerners like pasta. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, many families will eat jiaozi, and jiaozi can contain various fillings, including sesame stuffing and bean paste stuffing. Eating jiaozi means reunion. Southerners can't be young, and the symbolic meaning is more than one year; Sichuanese also arrange sausages and bacon.

Pastries are mostly made of glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of Jiangnan. There are sticky grains such as glutinous rice in the north, and sticky millet (commonly known as millet) was first introduced in ancient times. This shelled millet powder is yellow, sticky and sweet after being steamed with water. It is a delicious food for people in the Yellow River valley to celebrate the harvest. The article "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of Jingshi" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty recorded that Beijingers at that time would "eat millet cakes and have New Year cakes on the first day of the first month". It is not difficult to see that "rice cake" is a homonym of "sticky cake" in the north.

Third, the difference of food culture between north and south in China:

On the first day of the first month, people get up early and wish each other well. For breakfast, northerners eat jiaozi, southerners eat glutinous rice balls, and almost all parts of the country eat rice cakes. The word "sticky" is homophonic with the word "year", but the word "year" originally means that the grain is ripe. Eating sticky cakes means that the harvest is better and higher every year. Now it is called rice cake. After breakfast, people put on new clothes and go to relatives, friends and neighbors to pay New Year greetings and wish all the best in the new year. Every household will entertain guests with snacks such as melon seeds, peanuts and candy. On this day, people mostly eat food prepared before the festival, which means "more than enough". Most northerners eat steamed bread, while southerners mainly eat rice.

In the northern countryside, jiaozi is a woman's bag. Then the brother and sister will sit together and get together. This is a time of reunion all year round. If there is no job like Jiaozi, they can't sit together. Therefore, this custom is very important and unites the family. In the city, men also want to pack, and the whole family, old and young, sit together to pack jiaozi. This kind of family happiness is rare every year, so it is especially valued.

Therefore, eating jiaozi is not delicious in itself. What is more symbolic is that jiaozi is sitting with the whole family. In addition, when relatives are going out of town, Shandongese will also see jiaozi off. It is said that jiaozi's voice is the same as his feet, and when you leave to eat jiaozi, your feet are strong, which is all my heart for your loved ones.