What is the origin and legend of Chinese New Year dumplings?

One, the origin of Spring Festival dumplings

Ancient China used the twelve branches of the earth to record the time of the day, and the beginning of each day was the Zi Shi (equivalent to the time from 23:00 to 1:00 in the middle of the night today). On New Year's Eve, Zi Zi is not the usual change between the old and the new, but between the old and the new, which the Chinese call "Jiao Zi" (交子).

The traditional Chinese concept of "boundaries" is very important, and the "boundaries" of the end of the year is not to be treated lightly, so naturally we have to organize some ceremonies to commemorate this, in order to have good luck in the coming year. It so happens that dumplings and "jiaozi" harmonize, so the Chinese people take the "year more jiaozi" meaning, there is a New Year's custom of eating dumplings.

The Legend of Spring Festival Dumplings

Folklore has it that dumplings are related to Zhang Zhongjing, the famous doctor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is said that one winter was particularly cold, many poor people's ears are frozen, Zhang Zhongjing saw very difficult, from the winter solstice this day, set up a cauldron, boiled a kind of "dispel cold Jiao ear soup" to the poor people to administer medicine to cure injuries.

"Cold-removing Jiao ear soup" practice is to use mutton, chili and some cold-removing herbs in the pot to simmer, simmering and then these things out of the chopped, wrapped in dough into an ear-shaped "Jiao ear", boiled in the pot and distributed to the patient to eat.

"Jiao ear" is very useful, people eat it after the blood flow, cured the frozen ear. Zhang Zhongjing continued to administer the medicine until the 30th day of the Chinese New Year. On New Year's Eve, people were grateful to Zhang Zhongjing for his kindness in administering the medicine, so they imitated "Jiao Er" to make New Year's food and called it "dumplings". Thus, dumplings were born.

The meaning of eating dumplings at Chinese New Year

Eating dumplings at Chinese New Year signifies joyful reunion, good luck, and attracting wealth. Dumplings and the "cross" consonant, refers to the old year and the new year alternation time, the Spring Festival to eat "new year dumplings" has a big luck symbol; in addition, the dumplings are shaped like Yuanbao, so there is also the "fortune and treasure The dumplings are shaped like Yuanbao, so they also have the meaning of "inviting wealth and prosperity".