The winter solstice, also known as' One Yang Sheng', is an important solar term in the China lunar calendar and a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The winter solstice is commonly known as "Winter Festival", "Long Festival" and "Ya Sui". As early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,5 years ago, China had observed the sun with Tugui and determined the winter solstice, which was the earliest of the 24 solar terms, and the time was between December 21st and 23rd of the Gregorian calendar every year.

historical origins

according to records, in the Zhou and Qin dynasties, winter and November were the first month, and the winter solstice was the beginning of the New Year. There is a saying in Hanshu: "The sun is shining in the winter solstice, and the monarch is long, so congratulations ..." In other words, people began to celebrate the winter solstice festival to celebrate the arrival of the new year. The ancients believed that since the winter solstice, the sun be the spirit of heaven and earth began to flourish, representing the beginning of the next cycle and the day of good luck. Therefore, the custom of ancestor worship and family dinner during the Spring Festival is often chosen in the winter solstice. The winter solstice is also called "off-year". First, it shows that the year is approaching and there are not many days left. The second is to show the importance of the winter solstice.

celebrating the winter solstice as a festival originated in the Han dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and has been in existence ever since. The first month of the Zhou calendar is November in the summer calendar, so the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equal to November in the Gregorian calendar now, so there is no difference between worshipping the New Year and celebrating the New Year. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the summer calendar that the first month was separated from the winter solstice. It can also be said that the simple "Winter Solstice Festival" has only existed since the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has been in existence ever since.

Winter Solstice Customs

The two most common customs on the winter solstice in China are:

1. Families get together to have a reunion dinner, which generally includes the most distinctive local winter solstice ingredients. Eating jiaozi has become the winter solstice custom of most people in China.

2. Sacrificial activities. Many families will go to the grave on this day or the day before, and those who are inconvenient to return to their hometown will also make a small altar at home and put some jiaozi, wine, fruit, etc. as a memorial.

of course, after thousands of years of development, the winter solstice has formed a unique seasonal food culture. There are also some special customs in different regions. Here are some simple examples:

North

Every year on the winter solstice of the Chinese Lunar New Year, jiaozi is an indispensable holiday meal for the rich and the poor. With the development of China's transportation, job migration, North-South communication and so on, eating jiaozi has now spread to many areas in the south.

The custom of eating mutton on the winter solstice in Tengzhou, Shandong

It is said that it began in the Han Dynasty. This day is called Fujiu. Before the festival, gifts such as mutton will be given to elders, and everyone in Fujiu will drink mutton soup, which is a good sign for individuals, elders and families.

Jiangnan water town

It is a custom for the whole family to get together and eat red beans and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice.

Ningbo

In the traditional customs of Ningbo, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat delicacies on the winter solstice. In Ningbo people's understanding, eating sweet potatoes on the winter solstice is to "turn over" all the bad luck of the past year.

Taiwan Province

In Taiwan Province, China, the tradition of worshipping ancestors with nine-layer cakes on the winter solstice is still preserved.

Taizhou, Linhai

Taizhou, Linhai, on this day, you should eat the "Winter Solstice Round" (also called hard round, rough round), which means roundness and reunion.

Suzhou

Gusu region attaches great importance to the solar term of the winter solstice. There is a saying in Gusu region that "the winter solstice is like a New Year". Traditional Gusu people will drink winter wine on the night of the winter solstice. Winter wine is a kind of rice wine, which is brewed with osmanthus flowers and has a pleasant aroma.

Jiangxi

Mazi, a specialty of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, is also a traditional snack of Fujian people and a sacrifice of Fujian people. It is suitable for steaming, frying, roasting and sand frying after hemp nourishing yin is dried.

Hefei

In Hefei, Anhui Province, people in Hefei have to eat pumpkin pie and a bowl of hot egg noodles on the winter solstice, which is considered as a winter solstice.

Chaoshan

After people in Chaoshan eat winter festival dumplings, they still have to stick two winter festival dumplings on the doors, windows, tables, cupboards, ladders, beds and other conspicuous places of their homes, even the bow of fishermen, the horns of cattle cultivated by farmers and the fruit trees planted by fruit farmers are no exception. In order to keep the family safe.

Jiaxing

The winter solstice was a big festival in ancient times. Jiaxing emphasized the winter solstice, and people advocated the winter solstice tonic, including red bean glutinous rice and ginseng soup. White fungus, walnut stew, longan boiled eggs, etc.

What is the custom of the winter solstice?

The winter solstice is an important festival of Shanxi folk in November of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the "Winter Festival".

during the yin and Zhou dynasties, the day before the winter solstice was defined as the end of the year. The winter solstice festival is essentially equivalent to today's Spring Festival. Later, the summer calendar was implemented. However, the winter solstice has always ranked first among the 24 solar terms, and there is a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year", which is called "sub-year". Since the Han Dynasty, celebrations have been held. During the peak period, the imperial court took a three-day vacation, and you did not listen to politics. The people closed the city for three days to celebrate the festival. Its excitement is no less than that of the New Year.

Today's Winter Solstice Festival still retains many historical relics. From the date of the winter solstice, it entered the cold weather for several days. There is a folk custom of painting the "Nine-Nine Cold Relief Map" in various forms.

There is a plum blossom, and 9981 flowers are drawn in plain ink. Dye a petal with a red pen or a black pen every day, and the petals will come out in 99, which is called the 99-99 cold elimination map.

Some of them are horizontal and firm, making a 9981-grid square chart. Apply one grid and nine grids every day, which is called the 99-99 cold elimination table.

Draw a few empty squares, choose a few words, and each word must be a few strokes. Write a stroke every day, and finally become a sentence, such as "looking at the bones of Jin Bai Feng in front of the pavilion and behind the house", which is called the sentence of "99 eliminating cold"

The most elegant thing is to make nine-body couplets. Each couplet has nine characters, and each character has nine pictures, and each couplet is filled in every day. For example, the couplet reads "Spring springs hang down, spring blooms and spring blooms"; The second couplet is called "Autumn Persimmon Hanging in Autumn Courtyard to Send Autumn Fragrance in Autumn", which is called "99 Cold Eliminating and Spring Welcoming".

the specific form of each family often depends on the owner's hobbies and cultural quality. There is still a folk proverb about "Eliminating Cold in 1999": "It's cloudy and sunny, and the left wind is foggy and snowy. The point in the picture is dark, and the grass is outside the door. "

On the Winter Solstice Festival, the folk custom of giving shoes has a very ancient origin. "Notes on Chinese Ancient and Modern Times" said: "There are embroidered mandarin ducks in the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Zhao ordered his aunt to go to the winter solstice." Cao Zhi's "Winter Solstice Offering Socks and Footwear Table" also has a sentence of "Welcome to the sample in the next year, and celebrate when you are long." Later, the custom of giving shoes to aunts and uncles gradually became that aunts and uncles gave shoes and hats to nephews. Mainly reflected in children. In the past, it was mainly hand embroidery. As gifts for men, hats are mostly made in the shape of tigers and dogs, and embroidered shoes are also beasts. For girls, hats are mostly made in the shape of phoenix, and embroidery on shoes is mostly flowers and birds. Most of the current supply is purchased from collecting coins, and the form follows the trend of the times. On holidays, adults always like to drop in with their children and boast about the shoes and hats presented by their aunts and uncles.

On the Winter Solstice Festival, boys in northern Shanxi are used to playing gang games. Hold a square stone piece the size of a palm, one side stands up, and the other side throws and hits in order according to the prescribed set of actions. When knocking down the post set by the other side, continue to move on. After the failure, exchange throws with each other. Whoever completes all the procedures first wins. Girls are used to kicking shuttlecock in various forms. People often have to join in the fun and play.

On the Winter Solstice Festival, the old customs should also be led by Xue Dong to host a banquet for teachers. Mr. Wang will lead the students to worship Confucius memorial tablet. Then Xue Dong led the students to worship Mr.. There is a folk saying in Shanxi that "teachers teach on the Winter Solstice Festival", which is the custom of respecting teachers. Up to now, there is still the custom of inviting teachers to dinner on the Winter Solstice Festival. Northwest Shanxi is used to entertaining teachers with stewed mutton, which is full of affection.

In the past, people who worked as domestic helpers used to settle their wages with their employers on the Winter Solstice Festival and prepare to go home. Traditionally, the owner will hold a banquet to entertain the guys and discuss the next year's affairs with each other. Today, some rural self-employed enterprises still keep this custom, and hold banquets and drinks on the Winter Solstice Festival.

Southern customs

The winter solstice is the longest night in a year. Many people use this night to make a "winter solstice circle" with glutinous rice flour. In order to distinguish it from the "resignation" on the eve of the Spring Festival, the day before the winter festival is called "adding the year" or "sub-year", which means that the year is not over, but everyone has grown one year.

although there are differences in customs and people's feelings in different parts of China, they are basically the same. When making the winter solstice circle, children often pinch some small animals, such as kittens, puppies, rabbits, tigers and so on. The children are very happy at this time. Before eating the Winter Solstice Round, a Winter Solstice Round should be pasted on the back of the bed lamp of the door, window, table, cabinet, respectively, which is called "Spending Day", and you can't bake food until you send it to the stove. If there is a pregnant woman at home at this time, the winter solstice will be round, and a boy will be born, otherwise a girl will be born. When eating the winter solstice, the entrances must be paired for good luck. There are only two tablets left in the end, and the married people will be all the best, and the single unmarried people will be all the best. In the evening, some families worship their ancestors with seasonal fruits and three animals. Also on this day&; q......> >

Pay attention to the custom of the winter solstice, and simply write ■ The winter solstice and the Spring Festival are the most important festivals in a year, so there are many taboos, such as: don't eat porridge on New Year's Day, eat dry rice, etc. What do you know? ■ After the winter solstice of the twelfth lunar month, it is commonly known as the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Laba porridge is eaten. Laba porridge is cooked with glutinous rice, red beans, longan, dates, chestnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, ginkgo nuts and pine nuts. It is said that Laba porridge originated in India. After Buddha Sakyamuni sat alone under a bodhi tree for six years, he finally became a Buddha on the night of the eighth lunar month. Tail teeth (on the 16th day of the 12th lunar month) are made as a token of gratitude to the land authorities for their blessing on the believers' agricultural harvest and business, so it will be more grand than usual, and the bosses of the company's line numbers will reward their employees in the company, at home or in restaurants as a reward for their hard work over the past year. The Day of Sending Gods (the 24th day of the 12th lunar month) is also an important day for Kitchen God and other gods, who used to observe the good and evil of people's words and deeds, to return to heaven once a year to tell the Jade Emperor God about the good and evil of the world, so as to determine the good and evil of people in the coming year. ▲ Kitchen God porridge as a souvenir. After Laba, I began to do year-end cleaning. The 16th day of the twelfth lunar month is the tail tooth. On this day, the land lord is worshipped, and the merchants entertain the employees on that day. In the past, if the boss wanted to fire the employees, it would be tacit to point the head of the boiled chicken at the employee. On this day, the food should be "cut". On the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, it is said that the Kitchen God was sent from heaven to live in every household. At the end of the year, he will return to the sky to report the good and evil of the family for one year, and the Heaven Emperor will give them good and ill luck respectively. In order to make the Kitchen God speak well, people will bribe him with rich sacrifices and stick his mouth to prevent him from tattling. ■ On New Year's Eve, all families who travel far away and go out separately go back to their hometown for reunion night, and eat New Year's Eve around the stove. The most important thing in the New Year's Eve is a big fish, but you can't finish it, which symbolizes "more than one year." After the New Year's Eve dinner, the oldest elder in the family sits in the main hall, and the younger generation pays New Year's greetings in turn. Usually, after the New Year's greetings are given, people are allowed to start gambling on small money. Regardless of whether they gamble or not, they usually keep their vigil until midnight, when firecrackers are set off, and the new year officially begins. In the middle of the night, I will go to a famous temple nearby to worship and prepare to "grab the incense." ■ On the first day of the lunar new year, the time is set according to the dry branches. When the time comes, firecrackers are set off, sweets such as red dates, white gourd, sugar and peanut sugar are offered before the gods, and golden paper is burned for worship. At dawn, Spring Festival couplets are posted on the door, candles are lit and incense is burned to offer tea, sweet tea, peanut candy and honey to worship ancestors' oranges, rice, hair @, sweet @, and rice. On the first day of the lunar new year, in addition to worshipping the gods and buddhas at home, you can also worship in the temples you believe in. In addition, the first day of the year is the beginning of the year. In order to get a good start, the family can't say unlucky words, reprimand, declare a breakdown, beat, etc., nor can they use knives and forks, let alone destroy things. The whole family, men, women and children, wear new clothes, or go to visit relatives and friends, or go for an outing in the suburbs, or participate in various games and gambling. □ Don't eat vegetable soup and sweet on the first day @ Eat vegetarian dishes in the morning of the first day, and don't eat meat or cook. Steam the food of the day before yesterday, instead of drinking vegetable soup, you can only drink iced sugar tea. Taiwan Province people think that if you drink vegetable soup, you will encounter heavy rain when you travel abroad. Some people lead such a life from the first day to the third day. Don't eat sweet @ on New Year's Day. You can only eat it on the second day of the second year. You should fry the oil in a pot. There is a common saying in Taiwan Province: "Fry red and red", which means poverty. -Disposal of garbage at home During the first day to the fifth day, the garbage at home should not be thrown out of the door, and it should be * * * together. This is that taking things out of the house means taking the blessings out of the house. So even garbage should stay at home. ■ The daughter who got married in the second day could have gone back to her parents' home any day, but it is said that going back to her parents' home at the first day will lead to poverty, so she will not go back until the second day. On the other hand, it is a mandatory social norm to return to one's parents' home on the second day of school, because in the past, women's status was not high, and they were worried that if a woman married, she might not be allowed to go home for the rest of her life, so there was this custom. On the second day of junior high school, married women, together with their husbands and children, bring some gifts back to their parents' home to pay New Year greetings. After returning to their parents' home, they first pay tribute to their grandparents and parents, and then distribute red envelopes to them. These elders also give red envelopes to their grandchildren brought back by their daughters. If you have siblings at home, of course, you have to give red envelopes. Therefore, on the second day of the first month of each year, the bride's family is full of joy and excitement. ■ Grade 3 ▲ Mouse ... > >

on the winter solstice, northern folk eat jiaozi? What's particular? The winter solstice, commonly known as the Winter Festival, was a grand festival in ancient times. Among the 24 solar terms, the winter solstice is also the most important. The winter solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has been in existence ever since. The winter solstice originated from the concept of Yin and Yang in China. Yin and Yang symbolize the balance and coordination of life. China people believe that when the winter solstice comes, it is the time when the dark power of Yin and the cold nature of Yin are strongest, and at the same time, it is also an extremely important critical moment, because the light and warmth of Yang will gradually ban the extremely cold nature of Yin. Therefore, the winter solstice is a happy moment of coordination and harmony. The ancients thought that by the winter solstice, although it was still in the cold season, spring was not far away. At this time, people who go out will go home for the winter festival, indicating that they will have a home at the end of the year. People in Fujian and Taiwan believe that the annual winter solstice is a festival for family reunion, because it is a day to worship ancestors. If you go out and don't go home, you are a person who denies your ancestors. The date of the winter solstice is on December 22nd or 23rd of the solar calendar every year. The date of the lunar calendar is not certain, but it generally does not exceed November of the lunar calendar. In the Book of History and Yao Dian, the winter solstice is called "short day", because the sun shines directly on the tropic of Capricorn on this day, so the day is the shortest and the night is the longest in the northern hemisphere. After the winter solstice, the sunlight moved northward, and the days became longer and the nights became shorter. The ancients said: "The winter solstice brings forth the sun", which means that the yin qi reaches its peak and declines at the winter solstice. On the contrary, the sun's spirit began to sprout. During the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, it was stipulated that the day before the winter solstice was the end of the year, and the winter solstice festival was essentially equivalent to today's Spring Festival. Later, the summer calendar was implemented. But the winter solstice