What are the customs of winter solstice?

Winter solstice, also known as solstice, winter festival, child year, etc. , with both natural and humanistic connotations, is an important solar term among the 24 solar terms. The solstice in winter is one of the eight festivals in four seasons, and it is considered as a big holiday in winter. In ancient times, there was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as a year. Therefore, the ancients had many rich custom activities from winter to Sunday, such as offering sacrifices, shoes and socks, attending ceremonies, counting nine, awarding calendars, eating glutinous rice balls or jiaozi, eating barbecue and ginger rice, eating sweet potato soup, brewing rice wine, drinking mutton soup and so on.

1. Sacrifice

Tokyo Dream: Solstice in November Winter. This festival is the most important festival in the capital. Although it is for the poor, it is easier to get new clothes, prepare meals, enjoy the worship of ancestors and celebrate exchanges, just like the New Year. In fact, important traditional festivals in China are all related to sacrifice, and the solstice in winter is no exception. The winter solstice is the first month of the Zhou Dynasty, so naturally there are all kinds of sacrifices. According to "Li Zhou Guan Chun Shen Shi", "winter solstice brings ghosts, summer solstice shows things, and the country is fierce and the people are lost." It can be seen that the scope of sacrifice from winter to the sun is very wide, and heaven, gods, people and ghosts all need to be taken care of.

Provide socks and shoes

Ancient women gave shoes to their in-laws on the solstice of winter. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei Caozhi said in the table of socks and shoes offered in winter: "The Asian year welcomes auspiciousness, but the foot celebrates." The Tang Dynasty novel Youyang Za wrote: "Women in the Northern Dynasties often wear socks and boots from winter to day." Notes on Ancient and Modern Chinese in the later Tang Dynasty said: "There was an embroidered mandarin duck in the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Zhao ordered his aunt to go to the winter solstice." Since then, women have given socks and shoes to their in-laws on the solstice in winter, and they are used to each other. In the old customs, this custom is popular in both north and south, which means "the sun is born in the lower place, the sky is always in the sky, and the scenery is blessed for a long time." As for 100 million years. " Therefore, in the past, the winter solstice was also called the Long Festival.

3. Line up, award the calendar and count to nine.

In the concept of the ancients in China, they attached great importance to the starting point of everything, so there was a saying that "a year's plan lies in spring". The solstice in winter is the starting point of the 24 solar terms. Judging from the orbit of the sun, it is actually the starting point of a year. Nature can easily be regarded as a special time to predict personnel and year. Therefore, in the folk custom of winter solstice, it is very important to predict the future year and harvest.

3. Eat glutinous rice balls/jiaozi

Eating dumplings is a traditional custom in winter, which means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating dumplings on the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice circle". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older". In many parts of northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi every winter solstice. Northern China will eat jiaozi on this day. Up to now, there is a folk saying that "jiaozi bowls are not delicious on the solstice in winter, and nobody cares about frozen ears".

Eat barbecue and ginger rice.

Some places in the south want to eat barbecue on the solstice in winter. On the solstice of winter, roasted meat becomes an indispensable delicacy on the table of Guangdong and Guangxi people, which means adding vegetables to add new year. On the solstice of winter, Wuchuan people have the custom of "eating ginger rice" on the solstice of winter, which is suitable for the season and is a seasonal food. Ginger rice, as its name implies, should contain ginger, which is not simple, but consists of seven different varieties and colors of ginger, so it is also called "seven-color ginger". A small bowl of ginger rice is not only delicious, but also the yearning for a better life for family reunion.

Edible sweet potato soup

In Ningbo, Zhejiang, there is a custom of eating sweet potato soup on the solstice in winter. The word "fan" in sweet potato is homophonic with the word "fan" that has been turned over and over, taking the meaning of "turning over" the past year's bad luck. I hope everything will be smooth and healthy in the new year. In fact, the shape of Tang Guo is similar to that of Tangyuan, but it is relatively small and has no stuffing. It is also often called jiaozi, which has the same meaning of reunion and perfection as Tangyuan.

Brew rice wine

On this winter solstice, it is appropriate to drink a bowl of delicious winter wine. Taste the fragrance of time and nature, and look forward to the beauty and happiness of the future. Who says that this unique way of opening the winter solstice festival is not elegant? In the season of sweet-scented osmanthus, slowly pick sweet-scented osmanthus from branches, screen out impurities, air dry naturally, add white sugar to make sweet-scented osmanthus honey, then mix with glutinous rice wine fermented by glutinous rice, and seal and age. When the winter solstice is open, osmanthus fragrance surrounds the room, and the smell of wine is refreshing.

7. Drink mutton soup

In fact, eating mutton from winter solstice originated in Sichuan. On this day, Sichuan is used to offering sacrifices to ancestors, and mutton is one of the things to offer sacrifices to ancestors. In addition, the winter solstice belongs to the New Year, so on this day, young people should give their elders and students their blessings to their teachers, and mutton is one of the prepared gifts. In addition, mutton tastes delicious in winter, and mutton is hot and nourishing. Since ancient times, it has been a habit to eat mutton soup on the winter solstice. Now, no matter in the south or the north, on the winter solstice, everyone will drink a bowl of hot mutton soup to celebrate the arrival of the winter solstice.

The winter solstice is an important solar term in China. People regard this day as the alternation of the old and the new, which contains endless energy. In this poor winter, although everything rustles, plum blossoms have begun to bloom, and willow trees are pregnant with spring, people feel that spring is coming.