Eat dumplings and drink lamb soup, what are the customs of the winter solstice?

"The days and hours of personnel are urged, and the winter solstice and the yang are born and spring is coming again." The winter solstice is the fourth festival of winter, and it is also an important festival, and the folk have always had the saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the year".

The ancients believed that the winter solstice was an important solar term for the transformation of yin and yang, representing the beginning of the next cycle, the day of great luck, and the "number nine" also began. Dumplings, tangyuan and other foods are the "seasonal rice" at this time, and the footsteps of the New Year are near.

The winter solstice arrives and the "counting nine" begins

The winter solstice is one of the twenty-four solar terms, as opposed to the summer solstice, which occurs around December 22 of the Gregorian calendar every year. At this point, the Sun reaches 270° ecliptic longitude.

On the day of the winter solstice, the sun's direct position on the ground reaches the southernmost point of the year, almost directly hitting the Tropic of Cancer. On this day, the northern hemisphere receives the least amount of sunlight, with the shortest number of days, and the further north the day, the shorter the day.

Similarly, it is also because the sun has the lowest altitude and the shortest sunshine time on the winter solstice, the ground absorbs less heat than the lost heat, and the weather is generally colder. The winter solstice begins to "count nines", one "nine" every nine days. When it comes to "nine nines", the weather is warmer, and most parts of the country have entered spring, also known as "nine nine sunny days".

According to the traditional theory of the five elements of yin and yang, the winter solstice is an important solar term for the "transformation of yin and yang", so there is also a saying that "the winter solstice is a yang birth". At the same time, the setting of leap months is also based on the winter solstice.

Why is it called the "Winter Festival"?

Historically, the winter solstice is a festival that has been valued by people, also known as "Winter Festival" and "He Winter".

According to records, the first month of the Zhou calendar is November of the summer calendar, that is, the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equivalent to our current November. At that time, the Zhou Dynasty celebrated the New Year with the winter solstice as the first year, so there was no difference between the New Year and the Hedong.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty adopted the summer calendar, separating the first month from the winter solstice. The Book of Han records that "the winter solstice yang qi rises, the monarch is long, and the old congratulations..." indicates that people originally celebrated the winter solstice festival to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

The ancients believed that from the winter solstice, the yang qi of heaven and earth began to grow stronger, representing the beginning of the next cycle, which was the day of great luck. Therefore, later customs such as ancestor worship and family dinners during the General Spring Festival often appeared at this time.

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the winter solstice was also called "sub-year". On this day, people pay homage to their parents and elders. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the winter solstice and the age were equally important. The Southern Song Dynasty Mengyuan's Tokyo Dream Record describes the winter solstice this way: "... Although the poorest people accumulate false loans within a year, they are more likely to wear new clothes, prepare food and drink, and enjoy the ancestors. Officials let go of the gate and celebrate the exchanges, just like the New Year's Festival. ”

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperors held a ceremony to sacrifice the heavens, called "winter solstice suburban heaven". There were hundreds of officials in the palace who presented congratulatory tables to the emperor, and they also congratulated each other. The people will also celebrate this festival with joy.

Eat dumplings, drink lamb soup... What are the customs of the winter solstice?

As a festival that lasts for a long time, the winter solstice naturally has many interesting customs.

As the saying goes, "The winter solstice is coming, eat dumplings". In northern China, there is a custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice, and in the south, most of them eat tangyuan, of course, there are exceptions, such as in Tengzhou, Shandong and other places, it is popular to drink mutton soup on the day of the winter solstice, which means to drive away the cold.

In addition, in Jiangnan Water Town, the whole family gathers on the night of the winter solstice and eats red bean sticky rice together. According to legend, there was a son of the Gonggong clan who committed many evil deeds, died on the winter solstice, and after death became a plague ghost to harm the people. But the plague ghosts are particularly afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red beans on the winter solstice, hoping to prevent disasters and get rid of diseases.

Interestingly, Suzhou also has the custom of drinking "winter wine". Winter winemaking is a type of rice wine, brewed with osmanthus flowers. On the night of the winter solstice, the people drink delicious winter wine while tasting various brine dishes such as brine beef, and the family is full of joy and laughter.

After the "number nine" began, it was popular to fill in the nine-nine cold map for entertainment. The Nine-Nine Cold Map is usually a double-hooked red calligraphy, which is filled with one stroke every day from the winter solstice in the order of strokes, and after the Spring Return to the Earth after the Ninety-Nine, a Nine-Nine Cold Map is completed.

Winter is the time of winter, when the north wind whistles and the earth freezes. Folklore expert Xiao Putin mentioned in the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms and Folklore" that the winter solstice is an important seasonal node, and people hold a series of seasonal ceremonies around the winter solstice.

"The winter solstice is in the season of the replacement of the old and the new, and in the concept of the ancients, it naturally has extraordinary cultural significance, and many beliefs and rituals in the winter solstice festival come from people's feelings about this season." Xiao Fang explained.

Source: China News Network

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