1. The winter solstice is the 22nd of the 24 solar terms in China, when the sun reaches 270° of ecliptic longitude. "The Manuscript of Ke Zun Xian Du" records: "When the cathode reaches the cathode, Yang Qi begins to grow, the sun reaches the south, the day is short, and the shadow of the sun is long, so it is called the winter solstice." On the winter solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer, and the day is the shortest and the night is the shortest in the northern hemisphere. longest. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago, China had already used Tugui to observe the sun and determine the winter solstice. It is the earliest one of the twenty-four solar terms to be formulated, and the time is from December 21 to 23 of the Gregorian calendar every year. day.

2. One of the winter solstice legends: It comes from the ancient emperors-Yellow Emperor and Yao Emperor. There are two theories that the Winter Solstice Festival originated from Emperor Huang and Emperor Yao. "Historical Records: The Benji of Xiaowu" records that a minister said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "The Yellow Emperor obtained the treasure of the God of the Cauldron, it was the winter solstice on the first day of the first month of the year, and the order of heaven came to an end and began again. So the Yellow Emperor welcomed the sun and pushed the God, and later At the age of twenty, he got the Shuodan Winter Solstice." This record shows that the Yellow Emperor regarded the winter solstice as the first day of the year and rode the "Shuodan", but there is no relevant record in "Historical Records: Huangdi Benji", so it is difficult to verify it alone. Another theory is that Emperor Yao once ordered his uncle to live in the north to observe the movement of the sun and then determine the time of the winter solstice. "Shangshu Yaodian Yushu" once recorded: "Shangshu and his uncle lived in Shuofang, which is called Youdu. Peace is in Shuoyi. The days are short and the stars are in the Pleiades, so it is mid-winter." The time when "Shangshu" was written was relatively close to the time of Emperor Yao. , the credibility of the documents is relatively high, and the historical materials contained are closer to historical facts. It can be seen that the winter solstice as a festival has been valued by people in ancient China.

3. Winter Solstice Legend 2: The custom of southerners eating red beans and glutinous rice is related to plague ghosts. In most people's minds, eating glutinous rice balls during the winter solstice in the South is related to the original name of glutinous rice balls "Winter Solstice Tuan", and glutinous rice balls have the meaning of reunion, which indicates the meaning of reunion after the winter solstice and during the Spring Festival. Nowadays, people often use the second explanation, which means reunion. Fewer and fewer people know about the custom of eating red beans and glutinous rice during the Winter Solstice. In fact, this custom comes from folklore. According to legend, there was a man named Jianggong. He had an underachieving son who did many evil things and died on the winter solstice. After his death, he turned into a plague ghost and continued to harm the people. But this epidemic ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the winter solstice to ward off the epidemic ghost and cure diseases and prevent disasters. In ancient times, people actually used glutinous rice to wrap various vegetables and meat as fillings on the Winter Solstice, both to worship ancestors and to give to relatives and friends.