Compared with the Qing dynasty, the dietary customs in the early spring of the Republic of China changed little. For example, in "Tianjin dialect Wei Zhi" written by Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, "beginning of spring eats radish, which is called biting spring. On the first day, I greeted the Mang God and gave a banquet to celebrate "Knowing Spring in Tianjin County" and light cakes. " Xu's account of Tianjin's government is exactly the same. However, there is no mention of the official welcome ceremony in Tianjin Chronicle of the Republic of China, but there is a detailed record of beginning of spring's diet among the people: "When you are in beginning of spring, eat more spring cakes, prepare all kinds of meat with sauce, smoke, cook, marinate and stir-fry all kinds of vegetables, such as spinach, leeks, Chinese cabbage, vermicelli and eggs, but bake pancakes with flour and roll them up to eat. Women eat more purple radishes, which is called descendants radish, which is called biting spring. " Of course, what is described here is a wealthy family in a relatively rich area, but even in a poor area, beginning of spring's eating habits have not changed.
For example, in the "Lin County Records" of the Republic of China in Henan Province, "After the Republic of China, the ceremony was abolished, and the people ate pancakes and shredded radish, which was called biting spring." Although holiday food is relatively simple, beginning of spring's dietary customs are still inherited. This is in sharp contrast with the official customs. This is the basic situation of the northern early spring diet custom.
In the vast southern region, the custom of eating lettuce in early spring has not changed. The Records of Kaiping County and Xinning County in the late Qing Dynasty recorded the etiquette of welcoming the spring, and also recorded the folk custom of "spitting lettuce and spring wine to welcome the spring". Chixi County Records of the Republic of China does not record the etiquette of welcoming the Spring Festival, but it also records the eating custom of beginning of spring: "On beginning of spring Day, spit lettuce and drink spring wine to meet anger." These records clearly show that in the social changes from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the official etiquette and customs of welcoming the Spring have undergone tremendous changes, while the folk food customs have remained unchanged.
Due to the disappearance of the etiquette of welcoming the Spring Festival, no formal spring banquet was held in the Republic of China.
Although Liaoning, Sichuan and other places occasionally celebrate the Spring Festival, there is no record of spring banquets. This shows that the spring banquet associated with official etiquette either no longer exists or no longer occupies a position worthy of a book, but the spring banquet and spring wine at home still exist. In fact, the diet records of spring in Tianjin Zhilue during the Republic of China are descriptions of spring family banquets. There are not only beginning of spring's holiday food spring cakes, but also sauces, smoked, pickled, fresh meat and eggs, as well as all kinds of stir-fried dishes, including spinach and leeks, which are rare in winter and spring. The dishes are quite rich.
Spring cake was still the favorite food of the people in the north during the Republic of China, even after the founding of the People's Republic of China. At the age of 20, it almost became a national specialty food. In 1950s and 1960s, beginning of spring was also popular in Heilongjiang to eat spring cakes to roll cabbage, while Zhejiang used spring cakes to roll soybean sprouts, water spinach and mung bean sprouts.
Of course, the most distinctive and popular start of spring food in northern China is radish. In my hometown of surabaya county, radish is one of the important vegetables in winter, and it is also a favorite vegetable. It is not only used as a substitute for raw fruit, but also often used as a hanging flowerpot. Cut the radish from the middle, dig out the pulp, put the garlic cloves together and hang them in the sun outside during the day. A few days later, radish and garlic cloves all grew green buds. After a long time, radish can still blossom. In the north of late winter and early spring, when trees and flowers are dying, this vibrant green is very precious.
As a kind of holiday food, adequate food sources and physiological demand for this kind of food are necessary preconditions, but people's judgment on the value of this kind of food also plays an important role. In the framework of holiday food customs, physiological needs often constitute the hidden deep function, while value judgment constitutes the external surface function. As long as the basic conditions of food sources remain unchanged and the structure of the corresponding physiological needs-value evaluation can remain relatively stable, then this kind of food and the corresponding dietary customs can continue. In many northern areas, for a long time after the Republic of China, the natural environment and living conditions in rural areas have remained basically unchanged, and the symbolic meaning of radish has not changed, so the custom of eating radish to "bite the spring" still existed in beginning of spring.
Cantonese people still like lettuce very much. But the time is not limited to the beginning of spring, mainly in the Spring Festival. On the 26th day of the first month, when worshipping Guanyin, people will have a lettuce party, that is, friends get together to eat lettuce bags made of clams, lettuce and leeks.
However, the family's spring banquet in beginning of spring has disappeared. According to the author's questionnaire survey in, beginning of spring is no longer regarded as a festival in many areas. Xinxiang, Shangqiu and Anyang have not surpassed beginning of spring for many years.
Linyi only regards beginning of spring as an agricultural festival.
People don't regard beginning of spring as a formal festival. Of course, they don't buy wine and cook, and they don't invite relatives and friends to celebrate. This weakening trend of folk customs is closely related to the disappearance of official customs. In the Qing dynasty, when the etiquette and customs of Spring Festival prevailed, the scene of Spring Festival was huge and the festive atmosphere was strong. When you come back from watching spring, you invite guests to drink heartily, just as Penglai County Records said: "Spring Festival, watching spring in the eastern suburbs, regardless of age, will not accompany you, and relatives will invite you to drink, which is called a spring banquet." Fully explain the influence of official Spring Festival etiquette on folk spring banquet customs. However, after the custom of welcoming the Spring Festival disappeared, not only did the festive atmosphere in beginning of spring plummet, but also the guiding role of the official spring banquet ceased to exist. With the passage of time, people's opposition to the concept of Spring Festival Day has faded, and beginning of spring is only regarded as an agricultural festival, so the booze prepared on a bigger festival will naturally be cancelled gradually. If the ultimate reason is investigated, it should be said that the disappearance of the official welcoming ceremony led to the gradual disappearance of the spring banquet of folk families.
Although spring wine and spring banquet disappeared at the beginning of the spring festival diet custom, spring cake, as the main holiday food of spring banquet, did not disappear. Spring cakes are also called pancakes and lotus leaf cakes in Shandong. You can eat it with roast duck at the banquet, and the next one is rolled with chopped green onion and paste. It is attached to the daily life of the people and is a "universal product" in the cake, which is deeply loved by the people.
Green onions are spicy and one of the five spices. Spring cakes are eaten with five seasonings, which is the legacy of the ancient spring diet.
Today, spring rolls have become a worldwide food. Where there are restaurants in China, there are spring rolls. Spring rolls are even regarded as the representative of China cuisine in Germany. Of course, the spring rolls here are not directly related to beginning of spring, and you don't have to eat them in beginning of spring. Most people don't know that spring rolls were originally associated with the beginning of spring and used to be a holiday food at the beginning of spring.
After the etiquette of welcoming the Spring disappeared and beginning of spring's holiday role faded, beginning of spring food "walked out" of beginning of spring, not only "walked into" people's daily life, but also "headed for" high-class banquets, and some of them even went abroad and became China food with characteristics.