There are three main reasons why jiaozi is always eaten on the winter solstice. First, eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is a custom handed down for many years. Second, eating jiaozi on the winter solstice means seeking money, because the jiaozi looks like an ingot, and it rolls up and down in boiling hot water, which is like rolling money. Northerners often say that the more jiaozi drinks, the more he drinks. This is not only a toast word when people push a cup for a change on the wine table, but also people's expectation and expectation for a happy life. Third, it is said that jiaozi was first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Jiaozi's original name was Jiao 'er. One winter, the weather was particularly cold. The people were hungry and cold, and many people's ears were frozen. On the day of the winter solstice, Zhang Zhongjing treated frostbite with Quhan Jiaoer decoction. Jiaoer ears are shaped like ears, and there is a layer of skin on the outside, which is covered with various Chinese herbal medicines for treating chilblain. After cooking in a pot, patients eat Jiaoer ears and drink Jiaoer soup. After people take Jiaoer soup for removing cold, their bodies are warm and their ears are hot, and chilblain gradually heals. Later, people learned to look like Jiao Er and wrapped them into food, which was called jiaozi. Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is for posterity to commemorate the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing.
The winter solstice is one of the 24 solar terms and an important festival. In ancient times, it was the most important festival of the year. There is a saying called "New Year's Day on the Winter Solstice". That is to say, I valued it more than New Year. Why pay so much attention to it? It has something to do with people worshiping the sun. On the winter solstice, the sun went to the farthest south, and it was time to return. It seems that a baby was born, and it grew bigger and bigger. Many nationalities in the world regard the winter solstice as the birthday of the sun, so they regard it as an important festival.
To sum up, eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is not only a folk custom passed down from generation to generation, but also people's longing for a happy life, as well as people's gratitude and commemoration for the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing. There is not such a folk song in the north, which is called "Eat jiaozi for the New Year when it is chilly". The north has always had the habit of eating jiaozi for the New Year holidays, and it has been inherited ever since.