The custom of eating dumplings

On many important festivals, dumplings undoubtedly play a very important role in the diet. For example, dumplings are eaten on New Year's Eve, dumplings are eaten on "Po Wu", dumplings are eaten on Fufu, dumplings are eaten on Beginning of Autumn, and dumplings are eaten on Winter Solstice. There are many, many more. Why do we eat dumplings these days?

Dumplings are a folk food with a long history and are very popular among the people. There is a saying among the people that "dumplings are not as delicious as dumplings". During the Spring Festival, dumplings have become an indispensable delicacy.

In the north, eating dumplings during the New Year is a very common custom. Dumplings must be eaten at the New Year’s Eve dinner. No matter how poor you are, you must make dumplings to eat if you borrow money. In rural areas of Northeast China, eating dumplings on New Year's Eve is more particular. For example, putting a few coins in the dumplings means whoever eats them will get rich in the coming year. In addition, a few dumplings filled with white sugar are also made, which means that the coming year will be sweet and sweet. In short, through this dumpling meal, you should wrap up your expectations for the new year.

Dumplings, a special delicacy, not only bring joy to people during the New Year, they have also become an important part of Chinese food culture.

Introduction to the origin of the custom of eating dumplings

1. Why eat dumplings on New Year's Eve?

"Dumplings" and "Jiaozi" are homophonic, and the dumplings are named after "Gengsui" The meaning of "Jiaozi". Although dumplings are a daily staple food among people in northern China and can be eaten every day, they are also the most important New Year delicacy. The first ten o'clock of the Lunar New Year is the "right time" to eat dumplings. Dumplings are usually made before 12 o'clock in the evening on New Year's Eve, and even boiled in water at 11 o'clock in the evening. After the Lunar New Year bell rings at midnight and the New Year firecrackers are set off, everyone exchanges New Year blessings, and then the whole family Sitting around happily eating steaming dumplings means "happy reunion" and "good luck".

The Chinese people who want good fortune attach great importance to the meaning of fillings in New Year dumplings. For example, celery filling means "diligence and progress" and "diligence in wealth"; leek filling means "long-lasting" and " "Long-term wealth"; cabbage stuffing means "hundred years of good marriage, growing old together" and "hundreds of wealth"; mushroom stuffing means "encouraging wealth" and a bulging wallet; pickled cabbage stuffing means "calculating wealth" and being good at managing money.

In addition, according to older northerners, in the past, when making dumplings during the New Year to bring good luck, a few coins would be washed and wrapped in a few dumplings. Whoever eats the dumplings and gets the coins will be considered rich in the coming year. , and some people put a few pieces of candies into individual dumplings. Whoever eats the dumplings with candies will be considered to have a sweet life in the coming year.

There are many ways to fold and wrap dumpling wrappers. The most common folding method is to add an appropriate amount of filling and fold the dumpling wrapper in half to seal it into a semicircle. "Four-flavored dumplings" are made by kneading larger dumpling skins into "field-shaped" squares, putting different fillings into each square, and then steaming them into "Four-Xi Steamed Dumplings." In addition, there are fish-shaped dumplings, white rabbit dumplings, sun dumplings, crescent moon dumplings, ingot dumplings... Dumplings can be made into various shapes as long as you like.

Some restaurants serve colorful dumplings which are very popular. Use spinach, carrot and other vegetable juices of different colors to make noodles, or mix different colors of grain noodles into white noodles to make dumpling skins of different colors such as red, green, yellow, purple, black and so on.

2. Why eat dumplings on the fifth day of the first lunar month:

In addition to eating dumplings for the New Year's Eve dinner, dumplings are also eaten on the fifth day of the first lunar month called "Powu". There is a saying that there are many taboos in the few days from the first to the fifth day of the lunar month, and people should not "act rashly". Once the fifth day of the lunar month is over, it is basically the New Year's Eve and there are no more taboos, so dumplings are eaten to celebrate.

3. Why eat dumplings during Futian:

Futian is the hottest, humid and sultry day of the year, and there are "three volts" in a year. This is what the common people call the "bitter summer". When entering Fu, the wheat harvest is less than a month old, and every house is full of grain. People take advantage of this opportunity to make tooth sacrifices and eat white noodles. The dumplings are rare and top-quality, so old Beijing has "Toufu dumplings and Erfu noodles". ” statement.