The Spring Festival is getting closer and closer, and every year on Chinese New Year's Eve, the family gathers together to spend this unforgettable moment together. On Chinese New Year's Eve, the most important thing is the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, where families sit around the dinner table, and the table is filled with a variety of delicacies, which is mouth-watering.
The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is very rich, but if you want to talk about the most representative dish, it must be fish. In Chinese culture, fish symbolizes the surplus of each year, implying family reunion and a bright future. Sitting around and eating fish together not only expresses the warmth and unity of the family, but also makes people feel the joy and hope of the New Year.
However, have you ever heard that eating fish at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is also particular? In traditional culture, there are all kinds of attention to fish, and among them there are three kinds of "unlucky" fish, even if they are delicious, they should not be served on the table of Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.
The first type: salted fish
Every year, many areas have the custom of pickling preserved fish, because the winter weather is cold and dry, which is the most suitable for making salted fish or preserved fish. Salted and dried fish can not only prolong the preservation time, but also have a unique flavor that is even more delicious than fresh fish.
However, no one eats salted fish at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, because salted fish is not suitable for the table of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and even if it is usual, it will not be served to the guests. Salted fish gives a cheap, disrespectful connotation. Moreover, because the homonym of the word "salty" is similar to the word "risk", salted fish is considered to symbolize "change" and "ominous", so it is avoided by those who eat it.
The second type: scaleless fish
There are two types of fish, one with scales and the other without scales. There are many fish with scales, such as crucian carp, carp, grass carp, sea bass, osmanthus fish, etc., which are all symbols of good luck. And phosphate-free fish, such as catfish, yellow eel, loach, etc., these are not suitable for the Chinese New Year's Eve table.
Scaleless fish is considered to symbolize "bad luck" and "unsatisfactory" in traditional culture, so it should not appear at Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. People hope that they will have a good weather in the new year without suffering from ups and downs, so the taboo against scaleless fish also comes from this good expectation.
The third type: incomplete fish
Eating fish for Chinese New Year's Eve symbolizes reunion and reunion. Therefore, it is generally served to the table with a whole fish, such as braised fish, steamed fish, etc., which are all cooked and served to the table in whole fish.
Incomplete fish is regarded as a symbol of "incompleteness" and "incompleteness" in traditional culture, and on the day of the New Year, people hope to welcome the new year with a good start, so it is not appropriate to put incomplete fish on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, so as not to bring ominous and incomplete meaning to the new year.
At this time when the flavor of the year is getting stronger, we might as well pay more attention to these traditional cultures, and perhaps when we reunite with our families for dinner, these small details can add more joy and beauty to the new year.