1, Ningbo people are too young to eat rice cakes. The rice cake has a beautiful meaning of "getting taller every year". In the past, almost every family in old Ningbo had to make their own rice cakes for the New Year. Generally, rice cakes are striped and colored. Some people will make vegetable rice cake soup and divide it door to door. On each bowl of rice cake soup, there will be two pieces of boiled pork belly.
2, the old foundation Ningbo people are very particular about eating New Year's Eve. Generally, the New Year's Eve dinner is no less than 12 dishes, which symbolizes the peace and smoothness of twelve months of the year and the rolling financial resources. Most people have to prepare a "warm pot" at home, that is, hot pot, which is not used on weekdays and is served on New Year's Eve. Eating "warm pot" is also to win a "good color". Warm pot is steaming, which means "reunion, prosperity, warmth and harmony".
Warm pot is the "main course" of old Ningbo New Year's Eve dinner. Generally, the pot is full of "three delicacies", meatballs, egg dumplings and smoked fish. At that time, the egg jiaozi was shaped like an ingot, which meant "good luck and make a fortune in the coming year". Now, many old Ningbo families still continue the tradition of eating "warm pots" in the New Year.
In addition to rice cakes and "warm pots", there is also a reserved program for the New Year's Eve dinner in old Ningbo, which is frozen meat. This dish pays great attention to the heat when cooking. After it is cooked with yellow croaker, it is melted in the pork, making the pork crystal clear. More importantly, this dish is not cooked now, but eaten after freezing. "Frozen" is a highlight of this dish.
Besides eating, there are many rules in old Ningbo for the New Year, especially on the first day of the first month. "Don't water, don't clean, don't beg for fire, don't knife and scissors, don't visit, don't entertain guests, don't wash, don't beat and scold children, don't say unlucky things. Housewives rest all day, and their families are not allowed to go out without sleeping, lighting, and turning off the gun. They think it can avoid pests in summer, which is commonly known as "peaceful night"