The Hakka people live in the remote areas of the mountains all the year round, and there are few guests, but whenever a guest arrives, no matter what time or which house they enter, the host will immediately take out “tea rice” and make a cup of strong tea as a respect. The Hakka people call tea “tea rice” and regard tea as the same as rice, which shows how much they attach importance to tea. One Hakka people become obsessed with drinking tea by themselves, and the other become a custom to treat guests with tea. Visitors enter the door to offer tea first, and after tasting it, they start to make household chores or talk about serious things.
The Hakka people like to live in earthen buildings, and they have a strong sense of community. When the family has problems, the neighbors will lend a helping hand, as if it is their own business. Reciprocity of courtesy and intimacy between each family. They are also very civilized. For those who are accepted for help or congratulated, the head of the household will always look for an appropriate opportunity to invite the relevant people to the house and invite them to drink tea as a kind of gift. Therefore, a unique Hakka ritual tea culture has been formed. The festive gift is expressed in the form of “Lei Cha” unique to Hakkas.
Whenever a visitor comes, the Hakka people must first make a cup of strong tea to respect the guest. This is not the case with gift tea, which has its own special custom, which is the unique Hakka culture of gift tea. There are many items that need to be answered, such as a baby’s full moon, an old man’s birthday, a child going to school, a child entering an official, a patient recovering, a false alarm, a son’s marriage, a daughter’s marriage, and so on. Usually the gift is answered in the form of “Lei Cha”, which is considered a generous gift.
Lei Cha is made from tea leaves, ginger and rice. The production is very particular. First, put the three kinds of raw materials in a pottery bowl or a mortar made of bluestone, and then use a hammer made of hawthorn wood or camellia oleifera, and pound them repeatedly to form a paste. Then add leeks, tangerine peel, sweet potato vermicelli, dried japonica rice flour and an appropriate amount of salt, add water and cook in a large pot to form a gruel. When eating, sprinkle some spices, such as fried peanuts, fried soybeans, fried sesame and so on.
People in coastal areas are warm and welcome guests with Lei Cha. There are two types of lei cha for hospitality: meat and vegetables. For vegetarian guests, add peanuts, cowpea or soybeans, glutinous rice, kelp, sweet potato vermicelli, dried japonica rice noodles, cold dishes, etc.; for those who eat meat, add fried shredded pork or small intestines, sweet bamboo shoots, shredded mushrooms, Fried tofu, vermicelli, chives and other ingredients.
During their journey to the south, the Hakka people traveled thousands of miles, trekked mountains and rivers, ate the wind and drank the dew, and endured untold hardships. When they arrived at the place where they lived, they needed to start from scratch, and gradually developed a character of perseverance, hard work, outward development, and courage to take risks. It is this kind of character that gives the Hakka people the impetus to tirelessly search for a new world.
The character of Lei Cha has something in common with the Hakka spirit. Leicha is taken from the mountains and fields, cooked on the journey, reflecting the sun, moon and stars, dyed in wind, frost, rain and snow; tasting it, it presents an elegant and leisurely feeling, adding a bold and heroic concept. It is the treasure of the Hakkas and the “source” of trekkers… Every food culture is a kind of poeticization and inspiration of life philosophy.
The Lei Cha of the Hakka people has a pure tea flavor and a strong aroma. It can not only produce body fluids and quench thirst, cool and relieve heat, but also has the function of strengthening the spleen and stomach, and nourishing longevity.
Leicha is the earliest method of making tea in my country, and sipping Leicha is the earliest way of drinking tea in China. It is an important part of Chinese tea culture. Although with the advancement of the times, tea making methods and tea drinking methods have also been continuously improved and perfected, but it is still undeniable that the root of Chinese tea culture – Lei Cha, and the use of tea cannot undergo fundamental changes.
Throughout the ages, tea has never been possible without tea, whether to connect feelings, entertain guests, celebrate weddings, offer sacrifices to ancestors, or do business. For example, “tea party” refers to a social gathering where refreshments are used to connect feelings and entertain guests, and such gatherings have continued.
For example, “tea ceremony” refers to a term in “rituals”. In the old days, the gift for bribing officials was called “tea ceremony”. For example, “tea ceremony” refers to the dowry gift, also known as “shoucha”, which is synonymous with women’s engagement in old times. Chen Yaowen’s “Tianzhongji” Volume 44 “Tea Planting” says: “Every tea tree planted will bear fruit, but it will not regenerate when transplanted. Therefore, tea must be a gift for a woman who hires a woman, and the righteousness is inherent.” For example, “tea food”, It refers to entertaining guests with pastries and snacks during weddings.
“Dajin Guozhi Marriage” says: “When the son-in-law accepts the money, he visits the door first, and the relatives accompany him, and go with wine and food… The next time he enters the honey cake, each of them has a plate, and it is called tea and food.” For example, “tea party” refers to the old China. A gathering of merchants conducting business in a teahouse. All trades and gangs generally have their agreed teahouses as meeting places, and merchants discuss the market and conduct transactions while drinking tea. and so on.
If Lei Cha is a simple and unpretentious “mother”, then later tea is a “daughter” who has been dressed up, and the blood relationship between “mother and daughter” cannot be severed no matter what. This cultural background is an important prerequisite for Lei Cha to be passed down in the Hakka area.
