The family dinner on New Year's Eve is commonly known as New Year's Eve, also known as reunion dinner. At this time, family members 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 dinner 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 days, due to the low standard of living, you couldn't make a rich diet at ordinary times, and you can only improve it when you are in 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, it is to satisfy your cravings. Second, this sense 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 the New Year's Eve dinner. Among them, the one that is widely circulated is a story about Qi Xin's concerted efforts to resist the "Year".
According to legend, in ancient times, there was a fierce monster with a head like a lion and a strong cow. In winter, when food was scarce in the mountains, it was necessary to run out of the mountains and break into the village, seeing people hurting people and animals hurting animals. Therefore, in winter, everyone is frightened and every village is uneasy. Everyone had to move to a distant place to escape the harm of Nian. After a long time, people find that Nian is fierce, but they are also afraid of three things: one is bright red color, the other is bright fire, and the third is 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 ferocious "Nian" is coming out of the mountain to invade the village. People in the village agree with each other that big wooden boards painted in red are hung on the doors of every household, and there is a prosperous fire burning at the door. At night, everyone stays up and knocks at home, making a huge noise everywhere. Late at night, "Nian" ran to the entrance of the village, only to see red everywhere, bright everywhere, and loud noise spread all over the place. He was very scared and quickly turned around and hid in the mountains, and never came out to harm villagers and animals again. Early the next morning, the whole village got together to congratulate each other on the victory in expelling the fierce beasts. What a hard-won day it is!
Every winter, people can't forget the days when they used to defend against the invasion of the village in "Nian". Every household still hangs red boards, lights fires and knocks all night. The next day, they also congratulate each other and celebrate peace. In this way, from generation to generation, the custom of "New Year" was formed, and in order to celebrate the New Year, the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner was handed down.
In ancient times, people thought that the New Year's Eve dinner also had the functions of expelling epidemics, exorcising evil spirits and keeping fit. Therefore, the New Year's Eve is characterized by a family reunion dinner, which all men, women and children should attend. For this reunion, the family members or children who go out must come home before New Year's Eve. If they fail to get back in time, a space should be left on the dining table for those who have not returned, and a pair of chopsticks should be placed to show family reunion.