The winter solstice is the farthest day from the sun, the shortest day and the longest night in a year. As the saying goes, "After eating noodles on the winter solstice, a line grows a day." After entering the winter solstice, the weather enters the coldest stage of the year. People group this time every nine days and then count it, that is, count nine.
There are many customs of celebrating the Winter Solstice Festival in various places. For example, in the north, the customs of the Winter Solstice include: slaughtering sheep, steaming steamed bread, eating rice cakes, eating jiaozi, eating winter solstice meat, giving shoes and hats, hiding winter ice and eating wonton; Customs of the southern winter solstice: eating rice balls, long noodles, dumplings sticking to the door, eating meat, glutinous rice balls and making rice cakes. In some areas, there are customs of offering sacrifices to the ancestors and counting 99. I think among the many customs of the winter solstice, there are five that are most worth mentioning. Let's take a look with me:
? One of the customs of the winter solstice: for the winter solstice group?
For the "winter solstice group", this is mainly a custom in Jiangnan. Wudi has always had the custom of eating the Winter Solstice Ball, which is also called "Winter Solstice Pill". It is made by grinding glutinous rice flour, filling with sugar, plum bean paste, sesame seeds and peanuts, and wrapping it into a ball, which symbolizes family harmony and auspiciousness. The Winter Solstice Ball is made of glutinous rice flour and steamed with meat, vegetables, sugar, fruits and cowpeas, which are mainly used as offerings, and can also be given to guests or relatives and neighbors.
Wudi, "Yi people attach the most importance to the Winter Solstice Festival" and "all kinds of rituals are added to the regular festival", regards the Winter Solstice as a very important festival, and there is even a saying that the Winter Solstice is as big as a year. Before the Winter Solstice Festival, every household in old Suzhou made a winter solstice ball by grinding flour. "Qing Jia Lu" contains: Bihu grinding into a ball, with, sugar, meat, vegetables, fruits, cowpea paste and shredded radish as stuffing. It is called "Winter Solstice Mission" for offering sacrifices to ancestors and giving gifts to them. Winter solstice dumplings are also divided into large and small ones, with stuffing and the big ones are powder dumplings, and the winter solstice night sacrifice is also the first product. The small one without stuffing is a pink circle, and it is also offered to the gods in the winter solstice. Cai Yun's "Wu Biao" has a chant of "reunion of the big and the small, two confessions, and Yin Leichu listens to the grinding sound". Since then, Suzhou people have made cakes and made dumplings one after another, including New Year's Day cakes, thank-you-Zao dumplings, spring rice dumplings, and new year rice dumplings. Until the end of the year, there was a lot of grinding in the lanes.
In the concept of Wudi, the Winter Solstice Festival is not just a seasonal food, but a custom that has been continued from generation to generation. "Some eat, eat all night; Eat in a bowl and freeze for one night. " This sentence is enough to show the unshakable position of the Winter Solstice Corps.
? The second custom of the winter solstice: how many nine nine?
Counting nine is one of the popular customs in China. Count nine, that is, counting from the winter solstice (it is also said that counting from the winter solstice every nonunion day), every nine days counts as a "nine", and so on. As the saying goes, "it's hot in the dog days, but cold in the dog days", and the coldest period in a year is "the dog days". Count to nine until it's eighty-one days, when the peach blossoms bloom at nine. At this time, the cold is gone and the weather is warm. Due to the vast territory of China, the climate varies greatly from place to place. Corresponding to the winter solstice "9981 days, nine peach blossoms, deep spring and warm days", only some parts of China, not all parts of the country.
As the folk saying goes, "The summer solstice is three years old, and the winter solstice is nine." The number nine method has been passed down from mouth to mouth among the people in China, which has a history and lacks records. As for when it originated, there is no exact information. However, it was popular at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the Records of Jingchu Years, Zong Yi of the Liang Dynasty wrote: "The number of winter solstice days and 9981 days is the end of cold." In China's traditional philosophy, the ebb and flow of Yin and Yang, with Yang growing and Yin disappearing, symbolizes warmth coming and cold going.
According to different climatic conditions, landscape features, agricultural phenology and customs, the folks have compiled a jingle of "Counting 99": 1929 is not unexpected, 3949 is on the ice, 5969 is watching willows along the river, 799 rivers are open, 899 geese come, 999 is plus 19, and cattle are everywhere.
? The third custom of the winter solstice: eat winter solstice meat?
According to reports, on the winter solstice, most Cantonese people have the custom of "adding vegetables" to eat winter solstice meat. For Cantonese, the winter solstice is a very important festival, even more important than the Spring Festival. Therefore, there is a saying in Guangdong called "New Year's Day on the Winter Solstice".
Among them, roasted meat is an indispensable traditional food on the table of Guangdong people during the winter solstice. Prepare a table of big fish, big meat, bacon and sausage, and have a good meal with laughter, so as to pray for lucky strike and good luck in the coming year. Some Cantonese people also have the custom of sending bacon to relatives and friends on the winter solstice.
It is an ancient food custom that the ancestral hall of the clan with the same surname distributes "baked meat" according to the population after sweeping graves in the southern winter solstice. There are two kinds of meat, raw and cooked, and there are many rules for time sharing. Adding different levels of academic qualifications, there are four levels in Qing Dynasty, namely, young student, scholar, juren and scholar, and there are four levels in the Republic of China, namely, high school, middle school, university and studying abroad, to show encouragement; Give priority to the elderly, and in the age groups of 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90, the number will increase in turn to show respect. Winter solstice meat was purchased with ancestral temple provident fund or rich family donations, and the patriarch was regarded as a gift at that time.
The winter solstice is the best season for "winter tonic", and the folk proverb is known as "three nine supplements a winter, and there will be no illness in the coming year; This year's winter season will make up, and next year's tiger can be killed. "After the winter solstice," the cathode is yang ".At this time, the yang in the human body thrives, and it is the easiest to absorb foreign nutrition and exert its nourishing effect, which fully shows that it is most appropriate to take supplements around this day. As the saying goes, "medicine is better than food." After the winter solstice, it is very important to eat more warm food and eat less or even stay away from cold food, which is very important for balancing yin and yang and enhancing resistance.
On the winter solstice, most Cantonese people have the custom of "adding vegetables" to eat meat on the winter solstice, and some Cantonese people also have the custom of sending bacon to relatives and friends on the winter solstice. On the winter solstice, the whole family prepares a table of big fish and big meat, bacon and sausage, and will also buy some roasted meat to "add vegetables", such as roast meat, barbecued pork, roasted goose, roast duck and roast chicken, and have a meal with laughter, so as to pray for lucky strike and good luck in the coming year.
? The fourth custom of the winter solstice: Do you eat jiaozi in the north?
On the winter solstice, all ethnic groups in northern China have the custom of eating jiaozi. It is said that eating jiaozi on the winter solstice will not freeze the ears.
Zhang Zhongjing is a native of Gedong, Nanyang. He wrote Treatise on Febrile Diseases, which is a masterpiece of doctors and is regarded as a classic by doctors of all ages. Zhang Zhongjing has a famous saying: "If you advance, you will save the world; if you retreat, you will save the people;" You can't be a good doctor, but also a good doctor. " In the Eastern Han Dynasty, he served as the prefect of Changsha, visiting the sick and applying medicine, and practicing medicine in the lobby. Later, he resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown to treat his neighbors. When he returned home, it was winter. He saw that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were sallow and emaciated, hungry and cold, and many people's ears were frozen. He asked his disciples to set up a medical shed and a cauldron in Dongguan, Nanyang, and give up "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction" to cure chilblain on the day of the winter solstice.
He boiled mutton, peppers and some herbs for dispelling cold in a pot, then fished out the mutton and medicines and chopped them, and made them into ear-like "jiao-er" with bread. After cooking, he distributed two "jiao-er" and a big bowl of broth to everyone who came to ask for medicine. People ate "Jiao Er" and drank "Quhan Tang", and they were warm all over, with fever in both ears and frostbitten ears cured. Later generations learned the look of "Jiao Er" and packaged it into food, also called "jiaozi" or "flat food".
Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is not forgetting the kindness of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", in "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction". Up to now, there is still a folk song in Nanyang, which says, "The winter solstice misbehaves the jiaozi bowl, and nobody cares if you freeze your ears.". Therefore, on the winter solstice, people always eat jiaozi, forming the custom of eating jiaozi's ears without being frozen.
? The fifth custom of the winter solstice: eat dumplings in the south?
In the south, the custom of eating glutinous rice balls is popular on the winter solstice, and there is also a saying among the people that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". Tangyuan, also known as dumplings, is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour, and "round" means "reunion" and "perfection", so eating tangyuan on the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice dumplings". Tangyuan can be used to worship ancestors or to give gifts to relatives and friends.
Eating glutinous rice balls has been established in the Ming and Qing dynasties. On the winter solstice, it is necessary to "make rice balls" or "make glutinous rice balls". These are also officially recorded in historical materials, which are called "Winter Solstice, powdered glutinous rice is a pill, named' Tangyuan'". After making dumplings, you should worship the gods and ancestors, and then eat them around the family, which is called "adding years." Therefore, eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is ancient.
The winter solstice is the longest night in a year. On the day of the winter solstice, before dawn, women get up and make a fire to cook glutinous rice balls, first to worship their ancestors, and then the whole family will sit around and eat glutinous rice balls. Therefore, eating dumplings on the winter solstice not only means that the sun (sunshine) is gradually coming back, but also means reunion. Modern people prefer to regard it as a symbol of perfection.
During the Winter Solstice Festival, many traditional foods will be eaten. In some areas, steamed buns, rice cakes and rice cakes will be eaten, all of which are related to local eating habits and customs. In fact, no matter what you eat, everyone's original intention is the same, all to welcome the arrival of the winter solstice year and celebrate the coming of the new year.