Why do we eat dumplings on New Year's Eve? What are the rules?

Dumplings (jiao-zi; chinese meat ravioli) \x0d\\x0d\ Chinese specialty food. Also known as dumplings. It is a folk staple and local snack, as well as a New Year's festival food. There is a folk song called "Big cold, small cold, eat dumplings for the New Year." Dumpling is made of dough wrapped in water and boiled. Dumplings originated in the North and South Dynasties. Dumplings are made with cold water and flour, rolled into a round skin that is slightly thicker in the center and thinner around the perimeter, wrapped with a filling, pinched into a crescent shape or an angle shape, and cooked in boiling water. Dumpling skin can also be made of hot noodles, crispy noodles or rice flour; filling can be meat or vegetarian, sweet or salty; maturation methods can also be used for steaming, branding, pan-frying, deep-frying, etc. Meat fillings include sanshen, shrimp, crab roe, sea cucumber, fish, chicken, pork, beef, mutton and so on, and the vegetarian fillings are divided into assorted vegetarian fillings, ordinary vegetarian fillings and so on. \x0d\\\x0d\ Origin \x0d\\\x0d\ dumplings originated from the ancient jiaozi. As early as in the Three Kingdoms period, this food was mentioned in the book "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi of Wei. According to the evidence: it is from the North and South Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty period of "supine moon shaped wontons". And the Southern Song Dynasty "dry meat double under the corner of the" development, has a history of 1,400 years ago. The Qing Dynasty historical records say; 'New Year's Day at the time of the child, the food with away, such as eating flatbread, the name of the corner of the child, to take the meaning of its more years of the child." Also said: "the first day of every year, rich or poor, no matter how rich or poor, all do dumplings with white flour to eat, known as boiled biscuits and cakes, the whole country is the same, no different also. Wealthy families, secretly to the gold and silver ingot hidden in the meat and potatoes, in order to divine the smooth, family members eaters, then the end of the year is very lucky." This means that people eat dumplings on New Year's Day, symbolizing good luck, to show the old and welcome the new. Recent Xu Ke compiled 〈〈Qing稗类钞〉〉 said: "There are fillings, or called the powder angle - and steamed food fried food can be cooked in water and soup is called dumplings." For thousands of years, dumplings have been loved as a New Year's food and have been passed down from one generation to the next. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\\district dumplings \x0d\\\x0d\\dumplings in the long process of development, the name of dumplings in ancient times, there are "prison ball", "flat food", "dumpling bait", "powder horn" and so on. Tang Dynasty called dumplings "soup in the prison pill"; Yuan Dynasty called "time Luojiao Er"; the end of the Ming Dynasty called "powder angle"; the Qing Dynasty called "flat food" -- Now, the North and South of the dumplings are not the same name. Nowadays, the north and the south have different names for dumplings. Many areas in the south are called "wonton". Dumplings because of its use of different fillings, the name is also a variety of pork dumplings, mutton dumplings, beef dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings and so on. Legend of Dumpling \x0d\\\\x0d\\ dumplings \x0d\\\x0d\ dumplings, originally called "Jiao Er", was first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of medicine in China. The story of his "Cold-removing Jiao Er Soup" has been passed down in folklore to this day. \x0d\\\\x0d\\ It is said that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing was the governor of Changsha, but he resigned from his post and returned to his hometown. Just in time for the day of the winter solstice, he saw the people of Nanyang starving and freezing, two ears frostbitten, when typhoid fever was prevalent, and there were many sick and dying people. Summarizing the clinical practice of more than 300 years in the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing built a medical hut in the area, set up a cauldron, fried mutton, chili peppers and herbs to dispel cold and raise the heat, wrapped in dough in the shape of an ear, and gave it to the poor people with soup and food after cooking. The people ate the soup from the winter solstice to New Year's Eve, warding off the cold and curing the frozen ears. From then on, people in the countryside and descendants imitated the production and called it "Dumpling Ear" or "Dumpling", and there are some places that call it "Flat Food" or "Hot Noodle Dumpling". There are also places that call them "flat food" or "hot noodle dumplings". \x0d\\\\x0d\\corresponding to the custom of the people in the north of China, it is always necessary to make dumplings to eat on New Year's Day to welcome relatives and friends. Especially on the first day of the New Year, the whole family to pay tribute to the New Year, will be sitting around together, while wrapping dumplings and chatting, south of the mountains and north of the sea, nothing to talk about, from time to time to lead to laughter, and a great deal of its joy." Dumplings are everyone's favorite food, and the New Year's meal is especially fragrant". When people eat this slippery taste delicious water cakes, if then know some of its origin, who can not marvel at the ancient civilization of our long history of pasta Qi Yuan it! \x0d\\\\x0d\\\color: There are many famous dumplings all over China, such as Guangdong shrimp dumplings made of clarified flour, Shanghai pot-sticker dumplings, Yangzhou steamed dumplings with crab roe, Shandong small dumplings in high soup, Northeastern old-side dumplings, and Szechuan Zhongshui Dumplings, all of them are popular varieties. Xi'an has also created a dumpling feast, where dozens of dumplings with different shapes and fillings are used to entertain guests. There are many historical records and folklore about the origin of dumplings. Is one of the most important elements of the New Year's Eve in the vast areas of northern China folk. Dumplings on the New Year's Eve, because it is an important part of the festival, so there are also many rules and agreed customary content. These customs are all needed to match the atmosphere of the New Year. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\\corrections to the dumpling filling \x0d\\\x0d\corrections to the dumpling filling \x0d\\corrections to the dumpling filling \x0d\\corrections to the dumpling filling. There are both meat and vegetarian dumpling fillings, and in some places there is a strict distinction between them, but more often than not, they are a combination of meat and vegetables. The dumplings made on New Year's Eve should be enough for the whole family to eat on the 30th night and the first morning of the year. New Year's Eve dumpling filling is usually a combination of meat and vegetarian ingredients, with pork or mutton, cut into small diced meat, add seasoning marinade, and then the cabbage leaves with a knife into a coarse grain, squeezed out part of the water, add people meat and seasoning mix and become. In the process of making the filling, the most important thing is to chop the filling, that is, the process of chopping the cabbage with a knife. Chopping vegetables, knife and board impact, issued a file powerful "bang bang" sound, due to the size of the force in constant change, the sound will be issued a rhythmic sense of rhythmic changes in strength and weakness, like a particularly beautiful music, spread to the four neighbors and eight homes. People want their own family chopping sound is the village's loudest, but also the longest. Meat and vegetables stuffing, harmonic "wealth", chopping the sound of the loudest and longest time, the beauty of it is said to be "a long time to have a surplus of wealth". The longer the chopping time, the more dumplings will be wrapped, symbolizing a prosperous and rich life. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\\ dumpling shape \x0d\\\\x0d\\ dumpling shape on New Year's Eve also has its own peculiarities, and most regions are accustomed to keeping the traditional curved-moon shape. When wrapping in this shape, the dough is folded in half and then pinched along the edge of the semicircle with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, to be pinched and pinched evenly, known as "pinch Fu". Some farmers pinch the two corners of the dumplings into a curved moon shape and pinch them together in the shape of a "Yuanbao", which is placed on the cover curtain, symbolizing wealth all over the place and a house full of gold and silver. Some farmers, the dumplings will be pinched on the wheat pattern, like a full grain, large wheat, symbolizing that the new year will be a bumper crop. But more often, the dumplings are wrapped into several shapes to symbolize that the coming year will be full of wealth and grain, and that life will be prosperous. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\\corrections on the placement of dumplings \x0d\\\x0d\corrections on dumplings wrapped on New Year's Eve, not only in shape, but also in the placement of the rules. First of all, it can not be put in a mess. As the saying goes, "Thousands of busy, do not let the dumplings mess line." Daily dumplings, horizontal and vertical rows, are arbitrary, the New Year's Eve package of dumplings is not. Shandong and other places to cover the curtain to be round, first placed in the center of a few dumplings in the shape of a Yuanbao, and then around the Yuanbao circle by circle to the outside layer by layer placed neatly, folk commonly known as the "circle of blessings". Some people even stipulate that, regardless of the size of the cover curtain, only 99 dumplings can be placed on each cover curtain, and the cover curtain must be full. Therefore, it can only be realized by adjusting the spacing between the dumplings and the rows, which is called "Jiu Jiu Fu". There is also an interesting story in folklore about this custom: a long time ago, in a poor mountain village, there was a family that was so poor that they often ate the first meal but not the next. On the 30th day of the New Year, the family had no white flour and no vegetables, and they were anxious to hear the sound of chopping vegetables from their neighbors. Have no choice but to borrow rice and noodles from friends and relatives. And after a good noodle, and then get a little bit of mixed vegetables and put together into the filling, and wrapped up the dumplings. Because the noodles are borrowed, so the dumplings are extraordinarily valuable, when placed, a circle by a circle from the inside to the outside, very neat, but also very beautiful. The king of Zao, who had just returned from heaven, was very happy to see them. There is a rich man in the same village, the family has a ten thousand dollar family fortune, weekdays are used to eat the sea food, do not put the dumplings in the eyes. On the 30th day of the New Year, he used meat, eggs and other ingredients to make dumplings, and put them on the cover curtain. When the dumplings were cooked, the flavor changed. The pork filling became turnip greens. The poor man's dumplings were filled with meat and eggs. It turned out that the king of the stove was very dissatisfied with the rich family's attitude towards the dumplings, and in order to punish him, he secretly switched the dumplings of the two families. The next day, the story spread in the village. From then on, even if people are busy, the dumplings on New Year's Eve must be neatly arranged to make a "circle of good fortune". However, in some parts of Heilongjiang, dumplings cannot be arranged in a circle. It is said that placing the dumplings in a circle will make the days go by more and more dead. Instead, they must be arranged horizontally in rows so that wealth can come in all directions. \x0d\\\\x0d\\\ dumplings cooked and eaten with care \x0d\\\x0d\ on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year are not only wrapped in dumplings, but also eaten. As the saying goes, "Eat dumplings on New Year's Eve - no outsiders." It means that the dumplings for the New Year's Eve dinner are a symbol of the reunion of loved ones. The dumplings on this day, to be eaten on New Year's Eve, not only have the meaning of family reunion, but also take the meaning of renewing the cross. The custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve has a long history, at least in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The Ming Palace History records the custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve. "Five nights up? , eat water snacks, that is, flat food also." Later, after the inheritance of perfection, it formed the custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve in later generations of folk, thought the meaning of resignation and renewal. Dumplings on New Year's Eve, accompanied by the sound of firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, will be dumplings into the boiling pot, boiled and fished out to be offered to the gods and the ancestors, and then accompanied by other foods to eat dumplings. \x0d\\\\x0d\\\color="red">The cooking of dumplings on the 30th night of New Year's Eve has its own peculiarities. The firewood used to burn the fire should be made of bean curd or sesame curd, which implies that the fire will burn more and more vigorously, and that the coming year will be like the blossoming of sesame seeds. To cook dumplings in a pot, you can't stir them with a shovel, but rather shovel them in one direction, against the edge of the pot, forming a circle, the same as the meaning of placing the dumplings. In the eastern part of Shandong Province, the dumplings are usually cooked in such a way as to intentionally break a few of the dumplings, but they are not to be said to be broken, crumbled, rotten, etc., and are to be said to have "earned" or "risen". Because of the dumplings within the dish, the dish resonates with the "wealth", so the dumplings "earned", is "earned wealth", Figure a lucky, for a good luck, in order to increase the joy of New Year's Eve atmosphere. In some places in central Gansu, New Year's Eve when cooking dumplings, but also add a little noodle **** cooking, with food, beautifully called "silver wrapped around the treasure". Noodles should be thin, dumplings should be wrapped into the shape of a Yuanbao, a metaphor for longevity and wealth, but also to figure a good luck, send people's best hopes. \x0d\\\x0d\\ when eating dumplings, there are also customary rules. The first bowl should be first on the offerings, worship ancestors, for the gods. The offerings of dumplings also have to pay attention to, Hebei folk "God three ghosts four" said. That is, to the gods on the offerings of three bowls, each bowl of three; to the ancestors on the offerings of four bowls, each bowl containing four dumplings; only the Zaowang master is the least respected, on the offerings of only 1 bowl of dumplings, the bowl only 1, but some people are not happy about it, just a few. In some places, after the dumplings are brought to the offering table, the elderly members of the family will also recite a prayerful jingle, such as: \x0d\\\\x0d\ a flatbread with two pointed ends, \x0d\ down to the pot into the thousands. \x0d\\ gold spoon, silver bowl, \x0d\ to the table to honor the old heaven. \x0d\\ Heavenly Gods love it, \x0d\ all year round to keep you safe. \x0d\\\\\\x0d\\ second bowl of dumplings should be served to the livestock, to show the love and care for livestock. In the old days, large livestock such as cows and horses were the main tools of labor for farming families, and people also hoped that the livestock would usher in a safe and smooth year just like people. The third bowl is only begun to be eaten by the family. New Year's Eve New Year's Eve dinner, there were many kinds, but other can not eat, only dumplings must be eaten. Eat also remember to eat even better, can not eat singular. Some old people in the family say under their breath as they eat, "more vegetables (wealth), more vegetables," and other old sayings. After the meal, the plate and bowl in which the dumplings are served, the pot in which the dumplings are cooked, and the cover curtain in which the raw dumplings are placed must all be intentionally left with a few (even) numbers, which is called "Yearly surplus". Even the filling and dough used to make the dumplings had to be "left over".