In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a famous doctor named Zhang Zhongjing in Nanyang. His medical skill is very high, no matter what intractable diseases can be cured by hand, people praise him as a medical sage and a wonderful hand to rejuvenate.
Zhang Zhongjing is an official in Changsha. When he retired, it was winter. The wind is biting and the snow is fluttering. He walked to the bank of Baihe River and saw the poor villagers who were running around to make a living. They are sallow and emaciated and naked. Many people's ears are rotten with cold, and his heart is very uncomfortable.
As soon as Zhang Zhongjing got home, many people came to see a doctor. Busy as he is, he always remembers those poor villagers with his frozen ears. He told his disciples to set up a shed in an open space in Dongguan, Nanyang, put a big pot on it, and open it on the day of winter solstice to give medicine to the poor to treat frostbite. The drug of abstinence is called "Quhan Joule Decoction". The practice is to use mutton, pepper and some cold-dispelling herbs to cook in a pot. After cooking, take out the mutton medicine and chop it up, and use the dough bag to form ear-shaped "dumplings". Then give a big bowl of soup and two charming ears to the people who come to ask for medicine. People eat Joule and drink Quhan decoction, but they feel hot all over and their ears are burning.
Besides, when Zhang Zhongjing was an official in Changsha, he often treated the local people well and was loved by the people there. After he retired and returned to his hometown, Changsha people missed him. Every year, several venerable old people are selected to visit him with the wishes of the villagers. That year, Zhang Zhongjing was seriously ill, and the old man in Changsha said: There is a good place in Changsha, and I want him to die and be buried in Changsha. Where will Nanyang people follow? We quarreled about it within two minutes. Zhang Zhongjing said: "I have eaten Changsha water and never forget the feelings of my parents in Changsha;" I was born in Nanyang and never forget my hometown. When I die, you carry my coffin to Changsha. Just bury me where the spiritual rope is broken. " Hearing this, the crowd stopped arguing.
On the solstice of that winter,
Zhang Zhongjing passed away. Many people came to Changsha to mourn and transport his body to Changsha. According to his will, people in Nanyang and Changsha carried coffins on the road, and when they arrived at the place where the soup was given to dispel cold and jiao 'er, the spiritual rope suddenly broke. All the people are busy playing with graves, getting out of coffins and filling graves. You pick, I carry, day and night, making Zhang Zhongjing's grave very big. Another temple was built in front of Zhang Zhongjing's grave, which is now the medical shrine.
Zhang Zhongjing died from the winter solstice, and opened the soup of dispelling cold and charming ears on the winter solstice. To commemorate this day, every family eats jiaozi every year on the winter solstice, and says that if you eat jiaozi on the winter solstice, your ears will not freeze.
Legends and culture of jiaozi.
According to legend, jiaozi was first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage in China. For a long time, jiaozi, as a New Year's food, has been loved by people and spread to this day.
In fact, jiaozi originated from the ancient trough. Jiaozi was called "Joule" in Song Dynasty, which is the etymology of the word "Jiaozi" in later generations. This way of writing, in the following Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China, we can still see that the Yuan Dynasty called jiaozi "flat food". During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" recorded: "New Year's Day, New Year's greetings, making plaque food." Liu Ruoyu's "Proceedings" records: "Eating fruit snacks is also a plaque on the first day of the New Year's Day." The "plaque" of the "plaque food" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties is now commonly used as "ping". A kind of "flat food" may come from Mongolian.
Some new names about jiaozi appeared in Qing Dynasty, such as "jiaozi", "Water Snack" and "Boiled Bean". The increase of jiaozi's name indicates that its spreading area is expanding, and the custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has become quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck". There are many legends about eating jiaozi in the New Year. In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people. When Nuwa soil caused people, the ears of loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to prevent the ear from being fixed, Nuwa put a small eye on the ear, tied it with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess man to bite, so that the ear would be fine. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.
Jiaozi is a kind of food. Representatives who mention Chinese food to friends will always mention it. Every part of it contains Chinese culture, which is a must-have food for every family on New Year's Eve and expresses people's yearning for a better life. All kinds of jiaozi have different meanings. For example, celery stuffing is called Cai Qin jiaozi, which is a blessing for diligence and pragmatism. The leek stuffing is called jiaozi with nine colors, which means wishing people long-term health, harmony, happiness and happiness. Cabbage stuffing is called jiaozi, which is a blessing to all kinds of wealth and is also a good wish for newlyweds to grow old together. Mushroom stuffing is called drum wealth jiaozi, which is a good wish of the rich or the younger generation to get ahead.