Why do northerners like to buy hairtail during the Chinese New Year?

It’s New Year’s Day again.

When you walk on the streets of any northern city, you can smell the strong smell of fried horsetail.

In people’s minds, eating hairtail during the Spring Festival is a matter of course.

And hairtail fish also has its own unique characteristics? Nowadays, no matter what kind of fish we eat, fishmongers will clean it for free.

If you take the fish home to wash, you can wash it directly.

Only the braids need to be purchased and cleaned by yourself.

This will not affect the booming hair braiding business.

So, why eat hairtail during the Chinese New Year?

1 From surplus to annual fish Chinese people are accustomed to asking for praise from others when encountering the New Year and festive occasions.

For example, when getting married, people often scatter some dates, chestnuts and lotus seeds on the bed of the newlyweds, which is a homophony of "early establishment of children".

In some places, peanuts are scattered, which means that after marriage, people not only have a son or daughter, but also "live with flowers".

Putting red dates, peanuts, longan, and lotus seeds together means "early birth of a child."

The Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the year, and it comes with even more lip-syncing.

Before steaming the steamed buns, turn the noodles to high.

At this time, the "qi" should be called "fa", which means making a fortune in the new year.

When making dumplings, if the dumplings are broken, you have to say "make money"; during the Chinese New Year, if you accidentally drop a plate or a bowl, you should say "sui (broken) peace" among the many words,

More than a year is an important year.

A simple wish is to have a surplus every year, that is to say, to be able to live and clothe every year, and to have a balance every year.

馒? and ?繀? are homophones.

The cry of “surplus every year” became “fish every year”.

In some New Year pictures, "fish every year" becomes "fish in the year of the lotus", that is to say, "fish every year" is also "fish every year".

Because there is fish every year, there must be fish in the New Year’s Eve dinner.

2. There are fish every year during the timely fish season.

Where do fish come from?

It's easy to do in the South.

In the south there are rivers, lakes and oceans.

But in the north, especially in the inland provinces, how can we have fish every year?

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, "having fish every year" was more of people's best wishes.

However, every year after the founding of New China, the people have the same hope.

In this way, the government's attention fell on the annual floods in the East China Sea.

First, it makes sense to bring fish every year.

The fishing season usually starts with light snow on the 24th and lasts for about 3 months.

In the Gregorian calendar, from November to January of the following year, that is, before the Lunar New Year, there is still time to transport hairtail from various places.

During the flood season, a large number of hairtails are shipped northward from Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces, and the northward shipment of hairtails can account for more than half of the total production.

Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning and other places benefited more.

Second, the fish season is rich.

During the flood season, cold air moves southward and there are often strong winds on the sea surface.

In order to keep out the cold, hairtail fish often gather in offshore areas, where they are so dense that even tens of thousands of kilograms can be caught in a single net.

The output during the entire flood season can be maintained at 140,000-150,000 tons.

With the development of fishing technology and suitable climate conditions, a production of 200,000 tons is normal.

For example, in 1956, the Zhoushan Islands were seven or eight days ahead of schedule, and the fishermen's plan to increase production was 600,000 tons.

The time is accurate and the yield is high.

Isn’t the annual hairtail fishing season just for the fish?

3 Fish braids suitable for northerners are popular in the north for two main reasons.

First, there is a shortage of fish in the north.

Due to the geographical conditions in the north, fish species are not abundant and production is small.

There has always been a great demand for fish in the north.

What's more, raw materials were in short supply at that time, and all kinds of meat were in short supply, let alone the rare hairtail?

Secondly, hairtail is really suitable for the spleen and stomach of northerners.

As the saying goes, a bite of fresh fish means that the fish tastes delicious, but it doesn't last long.

If you add a little bit, the taste will be much worse, but the taste of the frozen hairtail will not be lost.

Northerners eat fish less often, especially because the fish has many spines, which makes them not enjoyable to eat.

As a sea fish, hairtail has relatively few spines and a strong meaty flavor, which is just right for the tastes of northerners.

Therefore, although living conditions have greatly improved nowadays, eating hairtail during the New Year as a northern custom has still been well preserved.