The winter solstice, also known as "Winter Festival" and "Happy Winter", is one of the twenty-four solar terms in China and one of the eight astronomical solar terms. It is opposite to the summer solstice, and it is about 65438+February 22nd in the Gregorian calendar every year.
It is said that eating wonton in the winter solstice in the north means breaking the yin and releasing the yang, expressing the meaning of handing over the old and the new from winter solstice and welcoming the new. Even the solstice of winter was once regarded as the New Year's Day of the Zhou Dynasty in history, and it was once a very lively day. Eating jiaozi is also commonly known as "Ann's ear". According to the folk custom, if you don't eat jiaozi in the winter solstice, your ears will be frozen, which is not conducive to agricultural harvest.
Jiaozi, wonton and steamed buns are the foods that family members sit around the dining table and are called "steamed winter". In Sichuan and Zaozhuang, Shandong, it is also popular to drink mutton soup on the solstice in winter, which means driving away the cold. Although dietary customs vary from place to place, eating jiaozi is the most common.
Southerners eat jiaozi, and jiaozi is wrapped in red and white, symbolizing the friendship between Yin and Yang. Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice also symbolizes getting one year older. In addition, jiaozi with stuffing is also used to worship ancestors, while without stuffing is used to worship gods. There is also a custom of "drying winter rice" in coastal areas. After washing the white rice, they are put in the sun on the solstice in winter, and left to the sick to cook porridge in the future.