Today is one of the twenty-four solar terms of the winter solstice, and when it comes to the winter solstice festival, not every child may know it. The pace of modern people's life is too fast, and some grand and warm, rich and meaningful traditional festivals and customs are being forgotten and simplified. But in fact, as long as we pay attention, we will find that the immortal civilization has always exuded fascinating charm. On November 30, 2016, China successfully applied for the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms" and was officially included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List, and the Chinese nation demonstrated to the world the "wisdom of time" she gave to farming civilization.
Inheriting civilization and cultivating sentiments has always been the education we hope to give to children. On the occasion of the winter solstice, let us take this opportunity to give our children a vivid and interesting life lesson!
- Twenty-four solar terms -
● ● ●
The twenty-four solar terms refer to the twenty-four seasons and climate, and are a supplementary calendar established in ancient China to guide agricultural affairs and to guide agricultural cultivation.
The twenty-four solar terms are: Li Chun, Rain, Sting, Spring Equinox, Qingming, Valley Rain, Li Xia, Xiao Man, Mangzhong, Summer Solstice, Little Summer, Great Summer, Li Qiu, Chu Xia, White Dew, Autumn Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost Fall, Li Winter, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Winter Solstice, Little Cold, and Big Cold.
"Twenty-Four Solar Terms"
Spring rain shocks the spring valley days, summer is full of summer and summer are connected.
Autumn dew autumn frost falls, winter snow snow winter small cold.
In the first half of the year, every 621, and in the second half of the year, every 823.
The dates of the two festivals per month are set, with a maximum difference of one or two days.
- Winter Solstice -
The winter solstice is one of the twenty-four solar terms and is the day when winter really comes. "To" means the ultimate, and the qi of winter is extreme. It contains three meanings: the cold reaches the extreme, the sky is the coldest; the yang qi begins, and the rise forces the weather to be cold; the sun travels to the southernmost point, so the day is the shortest and the night is the longest.
Winter solstice, long nights and short days, the ancients on this day to worship the ancestors, and then celebrate each other winter. "On the night of the night, the house is worshipped in front of the gods and Buddhas and the master bedroom is lit up with lamps, and the main house is bright, and the fire is built around the stove, and the family sits together to help the yang qi", which is almost the same as the vigil of the Chinese New Year's Eve, so there is a saying that the winter solstice is as big as the year. The ancients believed that since the winter solstice, the day is getting longer and longer, the yang qi rises, and the yang qi of heaven and earth begins to grow stronger, representing the beginning of the next cycle, which is the day of great luck. It is also from the date of the winter solstice that it entered the "number nine", commonly known as "nine", and every nine days thereafter is a unit, called "nine", after nine "nine", just eighty-one days, that is, "out of nine", then spring and warm flowers bloom.
The "Nine Nine Cold Song" of the winter solstice, commonly known as the "Nine Nine Songs" and "Counting Nine Songs", which is widely circulated by han folk, vividly and vividly records the climate and phenological changes between the winter solstice and the spring equinox of the next year, and also expresses some laws of agricultural activities.
"Nine Nine Songs"
Nineteen twenty-nine does not shoot,
Three-nine-four-nine walk on ice,
Five-nine-six-nine along the river to see the willows,
Seven-nine rivers open,
Eight or nine swallows come,
Nine nine plus one nine,
Ploughing cattle are everywhere.
- Winter Solstice -
The ancient Chinese divided the winter solstice into three seasons: "one waits for earthworm knots; two wait for elk horn solution; and three wait for water springs to move." ”
Earthworm knot: Legend has it that the earthworm is a creature of yin and yang, although the yang has grown at this time, the yin is still very strong, and the earthworm in the soil is still curled up;
Elk horn solution: elk and deer are of the same family, but yin and yang are different, the ancients believed that the horns of elk are born backwards, so it is yin, and the winter solstice is a yang, and the elk sense yin qi gradually retreats and dissolves the horns;
Water Spring Movement: Since the Yang Qi is born, the spring water in the mountain can flow and be warm at this time.
- Winter Solstice Customs -
Ancient China attached great importance to the winter solstice, which was regarded as a larger festival, and there was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the year", and there was a custom to celebrate the winter solstice.
People also celebrate the winter solstice as a festival. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep on the winter solstice, eating dumplings, and eating wontons, while the southern region has the habit of eating winter solstice rice balls and winter solstice long-term noodles on this day. On the day of the winter solstice, various regions also have the custom of worshipping ancestors.
Chaoshan has a folk proverb of "winter festival pills, a meal on the New Year", commonly known as "Tim Age", although the year has not yet passed, but everyone has added one year. Children are most eager to eat this bowl of sweet pills, and often wake up at night to ask about the dawn? However, the sky seems to be joking with the children, it is always not bright, so the fashion custom has a nursery rhyme of "winter night, long, sweet pills are not boiled in the sky".
Hakka winter solstice - winemaking
Hakka people believe that the water tastes the most mellow during the winter solstice, and the wine brewed with it can be stored for a long time, soft and refreshing, sweet and fresh, and full of stamina. Therefore, Hakka winter solstice winemaking has become a custom. For this day, Hakka housewives often pick an auspicious day, specially go to the market to buy wine-making utensils, move the aged wine altar to the stream, wash the dirt with yellow sand, and then let the cool spring water rinse repeatedly, and finally put it in the shade to dry.
Sichuan Winter Solstice - Mutton soup
Hangzhou people winter solstice - rice cake
Eat rice cakes from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the People's Republic of China until now Hangzhou people like to eat rice cakes on the winter solstice. In each winter solstice to make three meals of different flavors of rice cakes, in the morning to eat sesame powder mixed with sugar rice cake, at noon is oil dun er vegetables, winter shoots, shredded meat fried rice cake, dinner is snow li, shredded meat, bamboo shoot soup rice cake. Eat rice cakes on the winter solstice, grow old and tall, and figure a lucky one.
Southerners winter solstice - tangyuan
Eating tangyuan on the winter solstice is a traditional custom in China, especially in Jiangnan. There is a folk saying that "eating tangyuan is one year older". Tangyuan is also called soup dumplings, and eating soup dumplings on the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice dumplings". There are also many famous tangyuan products in the north and south, such as Ningbo tangyuan filling with thin skin, sticky but not sticky; Changsha sisters Tangyuan is white and crystalline, sweet and delicious; Nowadays, not only eat the winter solstice, you can eat tangyuan all year round, and for more about the practice of tangyuan, you can consult the recipe.
Cantonese people winter solstice - roasted wax
On the day of the winter solstice, most Cantonese people have the custom of "adding vegetables" to eat winter solstice meat. Among them, roasted pork is an indispensable traditional food on the winter solstice table of Cantonese people. In addition to the ancestor worship, the whole family prepared some bacon and sausages to eat, in order to pray for good fortune in the coming year.
Beijingers winter solstice - wontons
Wontons, in the past, old Beijing had a saying of "winter solstice wontons and summer solstice noodles". Legend has it that during the Han Dynasty, the Northern Xiongnu often harassed the frontier, and the people were not at peace. At that time, there were two leaders of the Hun clan and the Tun clan in the Xiongnu tribe, which were very fierce. The people hated him to the bone, so they wrapped it in meat filling into a horn, took the sound of Hun and Tun, and called it ravioli. Hate to eat it, and seek to calm the war and live a peaceful life. Because the ravioli was originally made on the day of the winter solstice, every household eats wontons on this day.
Henan people winter solstice - pinch frozen ears
Eating "pinched ears" is the common name for people in Henan who eat dumplings on the winter solstice. Why is there such a food custom? Every winter solstice, people imitate and eat, which is why the custom of "pinching the ears" is formed. Later, people called it "dumplings", some called it "flat food" and "hot dumplings", and people also said that the dumplings that ate the winter solstice did not freeze people.
Xiamen people winter solstice - ginger duck
Xiamen people eat ginger duck on the winter solstice. Ginger hen duck is made by sautéing the duck in sesame oil with sesame oil, then adding ginger (ginger mother) and rice wine. Ginger hen ducks make less at home, so as soon as the winter solstice arrives, many people begin to queue up to buy ginger hen ducks.
Hunan winter solstice - red bean sticky rice
In the Hubei area of Hunan, on the day of the winter solstice, you must eat red bean sticky rice. Glutinous rice taste sweet, warm, can nourish the body's righteous qi, after eating will be feverish, play a role in cold, nourishing, the most suitable for winter to eat. If you can use black glutinous rice, it is even better, black glutinous rice helps women nourish the weakness caused by postpartum, is conducive to increasing milk, breastfeeding babies. According to legend, there was a man named Gonggongshi, whose son was not talented, who did many evil deeds, died on the day of the winter solstice, and after death became a plague ghost, continuing to harm the people. However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the day of the winter solstice to drive away the plague ghosts and prevent disasters and diseases.
Disclaimer: The material in this article comes from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author, and the editor of Fujian Preschool Education Network is sorted out.