Family dinner on New Year's Eve is commonly known as New Year's Eve, also known as reunion dinner. At this time, the family should be as complete as possible, and many family members who are far away from home always have to get home before the New Year's Eve, so this New Year's Eve is also called "the Year of the Group".
As early as the Han Dynasty, China had the custom of having a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve. In the old society, because of the low standard of living, we couldn't make a rich diet at ordinary times, so we could only improve it during the New Year. Therefore, the quality and content of the New Year's Eve dinner are higher, and the food should be as rich as possible. First of all, it is to satisfy your desire. Second, this feeling of fullness indicates that you will have plenty of food and clothing in the coming year.
There are many interesting legends about the origin of New Year's Eve. Among them, a widely circulated story is about Qi Xin and Qi Xin's concerted efforts to fight against "Nian".
According to legend, in ancient times, there was a fierce monster with a lion-like head and a strong cow. In winter, when food is scarce in the mountains, we have to run out of the mountains and break into the village, seeing people hurting people and animals hurting people. So in winter, everyone is frightened and every village is uneasy. Everyone has to move to a distant place to escape the injury of 2008. After a long time, people find that Nian is fierce, but they are also afraid of three things: bright red color, bright fire and loud noise. So everyone discussed that as long as every family has these three things, "Nian" will definitely not dare to enter the village.
In winter, the fierce Nian is coming out of the mountains and invading the village. Everyone in the village agrees that big boards painted red are hung on the doors of every household, and the door is burning brightly. At night, everyone stays up late knocking at home, and there is a lot of noise everywhere. Late at night, Nian ran to the entrance of the village and saw red everywhere, bright everywhere and loud noises everywhere. He was so scared that he quickly turned and hid in the mountains and never came out to hurt villagers and animals again. Early the next morning, the whole village got together to congratulate each other on the victory of expelling wild animals. What a hard-won day!
Every winter, people can't forget the days they used to defend against village invasion in "2008". Every household still hung red boards, lit fires and knocked all night. The next day, they also congratulated each other and celebrated peace. In this way, from generation to generation, the custom of "Chinese New Year" was formed. In order to celebrate the New Year, the custom of eating New Year's Eve was handed down.
In ancient times, people thought that the New Year's Eve dinner also had the functions of expelling epidemic diseases, exorcising evil spirits and strengthening the body. Therefore, the New Year's Eve is characterized by a family reunion dinner, which is attended by men, women and children. For this reunion, family members or children who go out must go home before New Year's Eve. If they don't come back in time, leave a space on the dining table for those who don't come back and put a pair of chopsticks to show family reunion.