We all know that the beginning of spring is one of the twenty-four solar terms, which means the change of four seasons. With the arrival of spring, all things will enter the season of growth. Modern times don’t pay much attention to the Beginning of Spring, but the ancients attached great importance to the Beginning of Spring. At that time, they even established a special Beginning of Spring food custom. For example, during the Jin Dynasty, there was a dish called "Wuxin Plate", which was the Beginning of Spring. gift dishes. So what kind of vegetables are in the five-spice dish? Everyone must be curious about this question, so let’s talk about the ingredients prepared at the ancient Beginning of Spring Festival, let’s take a look together.
After the Spring Festival, it means that spring is getting closer.
The frozen rivers will gradually unblock, and the spring breeze will melt away the long-frozen plant body temperature like a warm current.
"The beginning of spring is the end of the four seasons." "Historical Records" writes the festive significance of the important symbol of the beginning of spring in a concise way. Because on this day "the air of spring trees begins to arrive here, so it is called the beginning of spring." Therefore, the beginning of spring has become people's greatest expectation for a beautiful season.
In fact, as early as the pre-Qin period, quite grand ceremonies had been held for the beginning of spring. The classic "Book of Rites" at that time left a relatively comprehensive record for future generations. On the day of the beginning of spring, the emperor will lead the three princes, nine ministers, princes and officials to line up in a mighty long queue to hold sacrificial activities in the eastern suburbs. The main character being sacrificed is the spring god of "Jumang". He is in charge of the east and is therefore regarded as the decisive god for a good harvest. So we pray to him for good weather and abundant grains.
This sacrificial activity still became an important national ceremony in the Han Dynasty. Since Jumang belonged to the god of vegetation and was also called the "Qing Emperor", all officials of the Han Dynasty wore the same attire when worshiping Jumang. All sacrifices and sacrificial objects must be in blue, and officials must also wear blue headscarves. Under the drift of the spring breeze, the crowds of Han people are stirring, creating a scene of a sea of ??blue.
If the rapeseed flowers had just turned green at that time, everything would be full of life. However, the desire for green was warned in the "Four People's Monthly Order": "On spring days, don't eat too much lettuce, just to welcome the new year." Therefore, the solar terms at this time are still too cold, so people should taste it before eating. Be careful not to be greedy when it comes to spring food.
Since then, the research on spring foods has become more and more abundant, and some gourmets also invented a kind of spring vegetables called "Wuxin Pan", which may be a collection of five kinds of early spring wild vegetables. In the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a record of "making a five-sin plate on the first day of the Yuan Dynasty". It is said that eating this can remove the fire from winter and "generate the energy of the five treasures." However, it has never been clear which five wild vegetables these "five pungents" are, and future generations may not be able to guess the specific information, but this beautiful state makes future generations envious. From the Five-Pin Plate to the Spring Plate, Zhou Chu's "Fengtu Ji" in the Jin Dynasty records: "The Five-Pin Plate was made on the first day of the Yuan Dynasty. The "five pungents" refer to garlic, garlic, leeks, cloud moss (rapeseed seedlings), coriander ( Coriander).
People think that these foods can "rejuvenate the five internal organs and relieve heat", but they are not limited to these five vegetables. Spicy or bitter vegetables can also be substituted. Nowadays, it seems that these can also play a role in sterilizing and dispelling cold. In the Tang Dynasty, the five-spice dish evolved into a better-tasting spring dish. You can see the white radish and radish in the dish. Lettuce leaves, spring cakes and sauce. What exactly is lettuce? To the ancients, it refers not only to vegetables such as lettuce, but also to all vegetables that can be eaten raw. In the literature, radish and leeks were also mentioned. It is called lettuce.
Therefore, a lot of cultural flavor has been injected into spring eating, which makes people smell the fragrance.
Sacrifice to Jumang has been gradually followed since then. Later, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was also widely valued. In the Tang Dynasty, the activity of "whipping spring cattle" appeared. The so-called whip symbolized the agricultural activity of driving cattle, which reflected that cattle were an important member of traditional agriculture. The "Tu Niu Jing" was written, so it was forbidden to kill cattle casually in the Song Dynasty. The later "Tokyo Menghua Road" used many words to record records about farming and cattle.
On the day before the beginning of spring, Kaifeng. The government has already begun to prepare the items for the sacrificial activities and is carrying out the "Spring Ox Whipping" ceremony very seriously.
Naturally, the people of Kaifeng also actively participated and actively expressed their deep trust in the good year. On this day, the emperor personally led this sense of ritual to a climax, because on this day the emperor wanted to invite the ministers to have a meal and drink. What to eat? It is naturally related to spring. It was found that they would eat lettuce, radishes and pork, a combination of meat and vegetables, with bright colors. In the Southern Song Dynasty, this kind of pomp became even more luxurious, with "green silk threads, extremely exquisite preparations, and each plate was worth ten thousand dollars." "Looking at the banquets of the Song Dynasty palace, we can indeed see the exquisite taste and the cultural tradition contained in them. This tradition continues to this day, we call it "gnawing spring", but just the word "gnawing" loses a lot of the beauty of the picture , replaced by a kind of roughness and informality, but the wish seems to be the same, that is, to "gnaw out a better future", but the carrots that can be eaten are really boring.
But the people of the Northern Song Dynasty were not careless about such days. Compared with the spring dishes of the emperor's family, the homemade vegetables were more lively and attractive.
Yang Wanmo brought spring in. Pan) says: "Cake is like paper seedlings but cannot be blown away; vegetables are like green and its bad qualities can be maintained." The leek sprouts are rolled into Huang Yingshu Su, and the reed clothes (shielding) are used to cut the ice and remove the teeth.
"The spring cakes are white and moist, as thin as cocoon paper, and the vegetables are finely chopped, as light as silk. The chives and leeks are twisty and soft, and the cakes are as crisp as chewing ice and chewing snow. All the fun of spring is gathered into a full bundle, rolled. Fang Yue from the Song Dynasty also described the spring pancake like this: "The crispy green moon cakes curl up in the moonlight, and the taste of the palace merchants is sour when chewed." "Such a dish with both beautiful appearance and sound is perfect as the beginning of a new year.
Among all kinds of spring vegetables, people in the Song Dynasty seemed to be particularly fond of leeks and leek. Su Shi had " "Try the Spring Plate with Artemisia annua, Yellow Chives", Huang Tingjian's "Chives and Yellow Chives Shine on the Spring Plate", and Yang Wanli's "Leek Buds Rolled with Yellow Chives to Smooth Purple" are obviously also talking about leek. However, with the development of society, the colors of vegetables in spring dishes are becoming more and more colorful. As the food became more and more popular, the leading role of leeks gradually became less obvious. In the Yuan Dynasty, Yelu Chucai, a Khitan man, listed silver-threaded lotus root slices, scallions, peas, and bean sprouts in his "Poor Spring Dishes in the Lichunri Station". Artemisia, chives and other ingredients are complex and rich, and the shadow of today's spring cakes can already be seen. Everything seems to promote people's desire for production, and farming has always been closely connected with green.
In the Song Dynasty. The theme of Spring Festival activities has always been related to encouraging farmers, but in the Ming Dynasty, this activity became a bit dull and became more of a group activity for entertainment.
As recorded in "Ziuzhongzhi", the beginning of spring. The day before, the Shuntian Prefecture held a Spring Welcome Ceremony outside Dongzhimen. "Honored relatives, ministers, high-ranking officials, and warriors" all rode horses in the spring field. It is not a delicate spring dish worth tens of thousands of dollars. Regardless of the high or low, "everyone chews radish, which is called 'biting spring'", and they also entertain each other and eat "spring cakes and vegetables"
Spring dishes in the Tang and Song Dynasties. There are naturally spring cakes here, but they are not the absolute protagonist. In the Ming Dynasty, people began to call them "spring cakes", and the name "spring pans" was rarely seen. According to "Yandu Tour Chronicles", the emperor would greet all officials at the Meridian Gate on the first day of spring. Rewarding spring cakes. However, this custom is obviously inherited from the tradition of the Song Dynasty.
Since then, in the Qing Dynasty, this activity has become increasingly simple and direct, describing it as "biting spring". There is a strong desire to bite the green hills, so radish becomes the most direct choice among all vegetables. In addition, eating some "spring rolls" completes the "biting spring" activity. It is worth watching that in "Tiao Ding Ji". "Spring rolls" which record deep-frying methods: use dry dough to wrap ham, pork, chicken, etc., or use seasonal vegetables, roll them up and fry them in a pan. There are also "wild duck spring rolls", which use raw wild duck meat cut into pieces. Shredded yellow sprouts and scallions are mixed with various seasonings and simmered, then rolled up with spring pancakes and fried until crispy. It can be seen that this spring roll is directly evolved from spring pancakes, and the method is also different from the spring rolls we are familiar with. Not much. The fried spring rolls are crispy and light, and they break easily between the teeth, releasing the freshness and sweetness of the fillings, which is another kind of "spring biting" fun.