The court attaches great importance to ceremonies on New Year's Eve.
In the history of our country, most people are so lovely: literati have no chance to read history, and the life of court nobles depends on drama storytelling and daily imagination. But think about it carefully, in fact, the royal meals in ancient courts may not be much more gorgeous than ordinary people think.
Not all ancient people thought the Spring Festival was the most serious time of the year. For example, in the Song Dynasty, there were many festivals, and the birthday of the son of heaven was also celebrated with dinner. There are so-called three festivals in Qing dynasty, namely, Chinese New Year, May Festival and August Festival. The Spring Festival is about one year old. The ancient, the old, and Jupiter. The ancients feared more than loved. In addition, the imperial court usually eats well, unlike ordinary people, who have an appetite and eat a big meal on New Year's Eve. If so, the sense of ceremony is much more important than the taste.
For example, during the Spring Festival in the Tang Dynasty, the court was not busy eating and drinking, and everyone watched the dance arranged by Taichang Temple. This is not the kind of Spring Festival Gala, and they can't hear Zheng Sheng's lewd music, but a powerful Nuo dance to drive away monsters and plagues. Royal gentlemen are prepared for danger in times of peace, knowing that humans generally can't help them, so they especially worship God. When the ghosts and gods are driven away and the emperor is in high spirits, why do you have to put on a banquet? This is the beginning of New Year's Eve.
Needless to say, the palace New Year's Eve dinner is extremely gorgeous, but it also has limitations. For example, the roast goose and roast duck invented by Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, and the handsome man favored by Wu Zetian? Fill the goose and duck with sauce and vinegar and roast them alive? Can't eat. This is not right. Straight men can only eat big meat.
In the past, when the British didn't find a turkey, they ate wild boar at Christmas. Tang Xuanzong also had this good thing: wild boar was cooked and dried, sliced and mixed with rice, served with Cornus officinalis and salt, dried and steamed? It looks dazzling, not losing to the eggplant that Wang Xifeng used to joke with Granny Liu in a Dream of Red Mansions. At first glance, it seems strange that wild boar has dogwood blindly. As we all know, "Cornus officinalis is short of one person", which can be used as medicine and cooking. Isn't that weird? This is the logic of the ancients: Chinese New Year should focus on dispelling wind and cold and avoiding evil spirits. So we should drink not only dogwood, but also pepper and cypress wine? Wine soaked in pepper and cypress leaves. When Chu people offered sacrifices to immortals, they used Chili wine. In the Han Dynasty, people believed that pepper could make people live longer and cypress trees were evergreen. Drinking this kind of thing will naturally lead to a long life.
Tu Su was also drunk during the Spring Festival in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Needless to ask, it is also a good thing to warm yang, dispel wind and cold, and avoid evil spirits. Biography was created by Hua Tuo and warmly recommended by Sun Simiao. Finally, the court thought it was ok to drink, so it tried to drink. The wonderful thing is that cellar liquor and Tu Su liquor are quite unique to drink: teenagers drink first, because a year later, young people are "old"; Old people drink after drinking, because they are one year older, and the old people "lost their years"? Another sense of ceremony. But Su Shi is also very open-minded. As long as he lives long, how about being the last to drink Tu Su? "But if you are poor and strong, you will not hesitate to drink Tu Su in the end."
Half eat the rules, half eat the medicated diet.
Cixi Lafayette was said to be extravagant and wasteful. In fact, her old man has spent a lot of money since the beginning of the year, but she is not rich enough. Have a New Year's Eve dinner, or Ningshou Palace, or a sports hall, and arrange three tables. Lafayette sits at the middle table, the emperor sits at the east table and the queen sits at the west table. The emperor holds a pot to pour wine, the queen holds a lamp to bless the queen mother and Lafayette with three glasses of wine. It is really delicious. The first course is the most common, that is, the bird's nest is longer than Nanshan, which is more auspicious and beautiful, but the taste is not necessarily good. In fact, most auspicious dishes are on chickens and ducks, such as red and white shredded pork duck with the word "shou" in bird's nest, three fresh fat chickens with the word "nian" in bird's nest, Baxian duck with the word "Ru" in bird's nest and shredded chicken with the word "Yi" in bird's nest. The second category is typical dishes, which are quite satisfactory? Think about it from another angle: most of the chefs who work in the command do not seek merit, but seek nothing. Good supervisors in the Qing Dynasty thought very clearly: What are the rare seasonal foods? The son of heaven eats well, and if he wants it every day, he can't live in the imperial dining hall. The third category is tribute dishes, such as bear's paw, deer breast and lobster, which are rare and authentic. Unfortunately, no matter how delicious it is, the queen mother used to have three chopsticks per plate, so she withdrew them.
Finally, according to Manchu rules, you must eat a boiled cake? That is, cooking jiaozi. But even making cakes has a pattern: there are ingots in the cake, and whoever eats them will be happier and live longer in the coming year. Needless to ask, Lafayette finally arranged dinner carefully, so everyone pretended to be surprised and happy, and just wanted to be happy together.
Therefore, in the final analysis, at the palace New Year's Eve, half of them eat the rules and half eat the medicated diet. For example, jiaozi must be eaten in the north for the New Year, and braised hooves are always indispensable for the New Year's Eve dinner in the south of the Yangtze River. . Curiosity must not count, and the last person to eat is a down-to-earth person who asks for nothing but nothing.