Eating on New Year's EveNew Year's Eve dinnerThis is a traditional Chinese custom, but why is it eaten on New Year's Eve?BelowCooking websiteThe website's editor introduces the origin and legend of New Year's Eve dinner, so come and see if you're interested!

　　Recommended by editor:New Year's Eve dinner in 2017RecipeComplete http://www.zuocai.tv/zt/2015nianyefan/ 

Origin of New Year's Eve dinner

The family dinner on New Year's Eve is also called reunion dinner.At this time, family members should be as complete as possible, and many family members who are far away will also rush home before New Year's Eve dinner, so this New Year's Eve dinner is also called "Reunion".

As early as the Han Dynasty, there was a custom of eating reunion dinner on New Year's Eve in China.In the past, due to low living standards, it was not possible to have a rich meal, only on New Year's Eve, so the quality and content of New Year's Eve dinner were very high, and the dishes should be as rich as possible, one to satisfy cravings, and two, this feeling of fullness indicates that the next year will be prosperous and well-fed.

There are many interesting legends about the origin of New Year's Eve dinner.Among them, the most widely spread one is about people working together to resist "Year".

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a ferocious monster with a lion's head and an ox's body, and in winter, food was scarce in the mountains, so it would come out of the mountains to attack villages, harming people and animals.Therefore, everyone was terrified and the villages were uneasy.Everyone had to move to a distant place to escape the harm of "Year".Over time, people found that although "Year" was ferocious, it was afraid of three things: one was the bright red color, two was bright fire, and three was a loud noise.So everyone discussed that as long as everyone had these three things, "Year" would definitely not enter the village.

In winter, the ferocious "Year" was about to come out of the village, the people in the village made a secret agreement, and the big wooden boards on the doors of every house were smeared with red paint, and there were burning fires in front of the door, and everyone didn't sleep at night, and they made a lot of noise.As the night deepened, "Year" came to the village, and everywhere was red, bright, and noisy, so it was very scared, and it quickly turned and ran back into the mountains, and it would never harm villagers and animals again.The next morning, all the villagers gathered together to congratulate each other on their victory in driving away the beast.This is such an amazing day!

Every winter, people always forget the day when they defended against "Year" entering the village, and every family still hangs red wooden boards and burns fires, and they also celebrate and congratulate each other on the New Year.This tradition has been passed down for generations, and the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner has also been passed down.

In ancient times, people believed that New Year's Eve dinner also had the effects of preventing epidemics, dispelling evil, and exercising.Therefore, the characteristic of New Year's Eve dinner is a family reunion feast, and everyone, regardless of age, should participate. To achieve this reunion, family members or children must return home before New Year's Eve, and if they cannot return in time, they should leave a seat for the absent person at the table and place chopsticks, indicating a family reunion.

　Why should we close the door when eating New Year's Eve dinner?

In the Jiangnan area, every household closes the door when eating New Year's Eve dinner, and they cannot speak loudly or knock on the bowls and chopsticks.After eating New Year's Eve dinner, we need to clean up the table and open the door. This is called "making money" and "opening the door is good luck."This custom is said to have been passed down from Iron Crutch Li.

Originally, when eating New Year's Eve dinner, every household had open doors.The Jade Emperor wanted to understand the difficulties of the people, so he sent Iron Crutch Li to come down to earth to investigate.Iron Crutch Li is a crippled beggar.So, when people ate New Year's Eve dinner, they carried baskets and walked along the streets to beg for food.After getting the food, he would bring it back to the Jade Emperor to show, and who was poor and who was rich would be known immediately.Therefore, the rich would order the gods to cause them some disasters, but not too much; the poor would let them make some money.This story gradually spread among the people, and a family came up with a way to cope.

When eating New Year's Eve dinner, they closed the doors tightly, and no one was allowed to speak loudly, and when Iron Crutch Li came to beg for food, the family had already finished eating and opened the door, and there was nothing to offer, so Iron Crutch Li left a few yuan in front of the house and left.As a result, this family was very happy, but there was no way to keep the walls closed, and others also saw that the reason for their good fortune was because of Iron Crutch Li, so they also learned to do the same.

So, Iron Crutch Li knew that everyone had already known his task, so he would not come to the village to beg for food and investigate the poverty and wealth.However, the habit of closing the door when eating New Year's Eve dinner has been passed down.However, the tradition of eating New Year's Eve dinner while the door is locked has been passed down.