The Han and Tang dynasties were a transitional period from the beginning of the Spring Festival to the modern Spring Festival. It is manifested in two evolutionary processes: one is that the festival date is centered on the beginning of spring, and gradually transitions to the first day of the first lunar month, as stated in the "Jing Chu Chronicles": "The first day of the first lunar month is the day of the three yuan. That is, the yuan of the year, the yuan of the time, and the yuan of the month, so the Han and Tang people call it New Year's Day; The second is the gradual transition from a single type of Lichun agricultural festival to a composite type of New Year's festival. As a result, a series of dietary customs for the purpose of eliminating the epidemic and prolonging life have been produced, and their main manifestations are drinking pepper and cypress wine, Tusu wine, peach soup, eating Wuxin plate, glue tooth dumpling, etc.
As early as the Han Dynasty, New Year's Day was combined with the custom of drinking pepper and cypress wine. Pepper wine was the liquor of the Chu people in the pre-Qin period. In the Han Dynasty, "Jiao" was hooked with the Big Dipper, one of the gods of longevity. According to the Eastern Han Dynasty Cui's "Four Peoples Moon Order", "Pepper is the essence of Yuheng Xingjing, and taking it makes people light and old (resistant), and cypress is an immortal medicine." It can be seen that at that time, people had believed that drinking wine soaked in pepper and cypress leaves on New Year's Day could make people healthy in the New Year, eliminate all diseases, and prolong life.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, in addition to drinking pepper and cypress wine on New Year's Day, people also arose the custom of drinking Tusu wine. "Jing Chu Years Chronicles" said: New Year's Day, "the young and old are dressed up, congratulate each other, enter pepper and cypress wine, and drink peach soup; Enter Tu Su wine, glue tooth glue, and go down to five Xin plates; Applying the stasis and taking the ghost pill; Enter a chicken each. Tu Su is a kind of medicine, and Shen Yue, a Liang man in the Southern Dynasty, said in "Sayings": "Tu Su, the name of the hermitage." In the past, there were people living in the hermitage, and every year in addition to the night to send a dose of Lu medicine, so that the well was soaked, and on New Year's Day, the water was taken and placed in the wine honor, and the family drank it, so as not to get sick and plague. Today, there are people who have the right way, and they don't know their names, but their names are Tusu. Obviously, the earliest Tusu wine is a traditional Chinese medicine preparation for the prevention of epidemics, and the well water soaked in Tusu medicine is taken and drunk on New Year's Day, which contains the meaning of new water worship. Later, Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty used to brew Tusu wine with fine spice and dry ginger, which gradually evolved into using some traditional Chinese medicine to brew wine to cure and prevent diseases.
Eating Wuxin Pan is also for fitness. In the Wei and Jin dynasties, garlic, small garlic, leeks, brassica, and coriander were called five spices, and on New Year's Day, people put these five kinds of spicy things together to eat, intending to exude the five organs. Sun Simiao, a famous medical scientist in the Tang Dynasty, said in "Food Taboo": "On the festival of the first lunar month, eat five spices to dispel the qi." He Yiyun in "Health Tips": "Take five bitter foods on New Year's Day, which makes people open the five organs and remove the heat." "According to modern science, New Year's Day, when the cold and spring come, are the time to be susceptible to colds. The use of Wuxin to dredge the dirty qi and disperse the surface sweat undoubtedly has a certain effect on the prevention of epidemic influenza. Eating Wuxin Pan reflects that people in the Han and Tang dynasties pinned their pursuit of health in the New Year on New Year's Day.
Wuxin Pan is the prototype of spring cakes in later generations. In the Tang Dynasty, people made improvements to Wuxin Pan, added some seasonal vegetables, and gathered them into a plate, called the Spring Pan, which took the meaning of its germination and welcoming spring, and ate it during the period from New Year's Day to the beginning of spring. As the Tang Dynasty "Four Seasons Treasure Mirror" said: "Spring cake lettuce on the spring day, spring plate." "Guanzhong Ji" also said: "The Tang people made spring cakes on the beginning of spring, and wrapped them with spring artemisia, yellow leeks, and knotweed buds." "With the passage of time, the names of spring plates, spring cakes, and spring rolls have been updated one after another, and their production has become more and more exquisite.
Some other foods on New Year's Day also have auspicious meanings, expressing people's yearning for a better life in the New Year. For example, on New Year's Day, eat "glue tooth dumpling", which is a kind of starch sugar, in ancient Chinese, "glue" and "solid" are connected, glue teeth are fixed teeth, and it is commonly said that after eating this sugar, the teeth can be firm and not fall off.
Since about the Han Dynasty, it has become a practice to eat and drink heavily during New Year's Day. According to the records of "Han Guanyi" and "Later Han Shu Etiquette", the Han system stipulates that every New Year's Day, the ministers must congratulate the emperor, called the "Zheng Dynasty", and the emperor will hold a feast to entertain the ministers, and the monarchs and ministers will drink and feast to celebrate the festival. Since then, from the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, the emperor's banquet has become customized, such as Cao Zhi's poem "Yuan Hui" describing the New Year's Day banquet cloud in the Three Kingdoms Wei Dynasty: "The first year of Yuan Zuo, the auspicious day is only good." It is a Jiahui and a banquet. "When the emperor was congratulated on New Year's Day in the Jin Dynasty, the emperor wanted to increase the number of officials and give each person two liters of mash wine. At the banquet, "the crown is gathered, and the stars are Chen." Steamed dishes, eight treasures change. Yujue has no calculation, and he is very happy. "The Tang Dynasty court New Year's Day court meeting not only followed the old customs of the Han and Jin dynasties, but also because of the unification of the world and the prosperity of economy and culture, the New Year's Day court banquet naturally became a move of the dynasty. On New Year's Day, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty not only had to be congratulated by the Han officials, but also the leaders and envoys from distant ethnic minorities and vassal states also came to congratulate him. Therefore, the feast in the main hall of the court is full of feasts, the bells and drums are noisy, the silk and bamboo are deafening, the singing and dancing are leveled, and the national fortune of the New Year is prospered.
The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, is the first full moon night of the new year. The Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, but there are several theories about the origin of the Lantern Festival since ancient times, one of the main sayings is that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the recital of the Fang Shi Fallacy and set up the "Taiyi Divine Worship" in the Ganquan Palace, starting from the dusk of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and worshipping the "Taiyi" god in the lamps all night long, thus forming the custom of putting up lanterns in this night. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced to China, and the custom of gathering to watch lanterns in Buddhism was combined with it. In this way, the glorious activities on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month have both the old custom of worshipping the Taiyi God and the piety of lighting the lamp to worship the Buddha, and it has become a unique traditional festival.
During the Han and Tang dynasties, the Lantern Festival was not about eating soup yuan, which began in the Song Dynasty. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, people mainly drank bean porridge on this day, and the "Jing Chu Years Chronicle" said: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, make bean porridge, add oil and anoint it, and use it as the door of the ancestral hall." "The first half of the first month should be made as white porridge and pan cake. ”
The above-mentioned Lantern Festival food customs in the Han and Tang dynasties were mainly some small snacks, and after the Song Dynasty, the diet of the Lantern Festival became more and more abundant.
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