1February 22nd, winter solstice.

As the ancients said, when the cathode reaches, the yang begins to grow, the sun goes south, the day is short, and the shadow is long, so it is called "winter solstice".

The winter solstice, also known as "a sunny day", was thought by ancient people to be an auspicious day, indicating that Puji Tai Lai came, so there was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as a year, and there was a custom to celebrate the winter solstice.

The winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. It is like a turning point. From this day on, the night is getting shorter and the day is getting longer. "The winter solstice gives birth to spring again" is a new beginning.

Three phases of winter solstice

Wait for the earthworm to knot. Earthworms, curled up with yin, stretched with yang, and corrected like knots when the cathode is cold.

Second, wait for the elk horn solution. Deer belong to yang and mountain animals, and they feel yin and get rid of their horns on the summer solstice. Elk is a yin and lustrous animal, and it feels yang, so it solves its horns on the winter solstice.

Waiting for the spring to move. Water was born by the sun in the sky, and now the sun is born, so the water spring flows secretly.

Uttar Dakshin

About how to spend the winter solstice, there have been such collisions in the office:

"Remember, on the winter solstice, the whole family got together to eat jiaozi and drink mutton soup, and the elders taught the children to count to nine. 」

"You Shandong people eat jiaozi no matter what festival, right? ! 」

"You can say that. However, eating jiaozi is also exquisite. There is a lot behind this dish of jiaozi on the winter solstice! 」

"The winter solstice custom in Shanghai is very different from that in the north. Shanghainese have the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves on the winter solstice, and the eating customs include glutinous rice balls, longan and red dates, red beans and glutinous rice, and so on. The night of the winter solstice is also called the winter solstice night. Many elders will remind the younger generation to go home early at night and not stay out late. 」

……

The so-called different winds in ten miles, different customs in a hundred miles. The winter solstice in Shanghai can be said to be a slightly sad festival similar to Qingming.

As a "new Shanghainese" who grew up in Shandong and now works in Shanghai, the memory of the winter solstice is more in the north.

A dry flower is fragrant, Lan.

Eat jiaozi in the north.

In the north, the proverb says, "On October 1st, when the winter solstice comes, every family eats dumplings." This is the portrayal of jiaozi as the exclusive flavor of the winter solstice.

When I was a child, my grandmother would say, "I want to eat jiaozi on the winter solstice, or my ears will be frozen off." When this comes out, I will be surprised to eat several more jiaozi, because jiaozi in the north is very sincere. Later, I learned that the folk story was originally to commemorate the "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing's giving up medicine on the winter solstice.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing used to be the prefect of Changsha, visiting patients to apply medicine and practicing medicine in the lobby. After that, 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, so he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed and a cauldron in Dongguan, Nanyang, and give alms to the people 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 gave everyone two "Jiao Er" and a big bowl of broth. 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". Therefore, the custom of eating jiaozi's anti-freezing ears on the winter solstice has been inherited in the north.

In my memory, at the dinner table on the winter solstice, my mother always brought hot dumplings. The whole family gathered together and spent the longest winter night in a steaming and laughter.

When I grow up, I work outside and the geographical barrier makes this sense of ceremony in front of the winter solstice table only turn into a long rope of missing and tie it to my heart.

"Count to nine"

The winter solstice begins at nine, and in the eyes of the older generation, the days after the winter solstice are spent on it. From the date of the winter solstice, take nine days as a unit, and count nine days in a row, and then it will be eighty-one days, just when winter goes and spring comes again.

Don't make moves in 1929

Three nine four nine ice walk

5969, look at willows along the river

Seven or nine rivers open and eight or nine geese come.

99 plus 1, plowing cattle everywhere.

-"Jiujiu Song"

I may be afraid of the cold and wet "magic attack", so after coming to Shanghai, I prefer "counting nine". I hope that spring will come.

Wen Yi Jiang Yemeng

Figure, Yu Yue, Jiang Yemeng

(Some pictures are taken from the Internet)