"The weather and human resources are urging each other, and the winter solstice brings spring.". In the traditional folk customs of China, the winter solstice is a very important solar term, which even overshadows the vernal equinox, autumnal equinox and summer solstice, and is known as "the winter solstice is as big as a year". So, how did this statement come from? Apart from jiaozi, what other special winter solstice foods are there in different places?
The word "Winter Solstice" is recorded in Hanshu: "Winter Solstice starts with the sun's spirit, so you are long, so congratulations ..." Because the ancients thought that the night was the longest from the winter solstice, and then the daytime began to get longer, which meant that the sun's spirit gradually increased, representing the beginning of the next cycle, which was very auspicious, so they paid special attention to the winter solstice festival. Later, during the Spring Festival, customs such as ancestor worship and family dinners often appeared in the winter solstice.
Later, the ancients called the day before the winter solstice "Xiaozhi", and every family pounded rice to make glutinous rice balls, which were used for reunion around the table on the winter solstice. Generally speaking, after the winter solstice, the New Year will be ushered in, so there is a saying that the winter solstice is as big as a year, which means that the celebration custom of the winter solstice is almost the same as that of the Spring Festival.
of course, from the astronomical point of view, the first month of the weekly calendar is November in the summer calendar, so the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equal to November now, so there is no difference between worshipping the New Year and celebrating the Winter. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the summer calendar that the first month was separated from the winter solstice. Therefore, it can also be said that the "Winter Solstice Festival" has only existed since the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has been in existence ever since.
at that time, the government took the winter solstice as the "winter festival" and held a congratulatory ceremony called "He Dong" as a routine holiday. There is such a record in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Before and after the Winter Solstice, a gentleman lived in peace, refused to listen to politics, chose auspicious days and then saved trouble." That is to say, on this day, hundreds of officials in the imperial court will have a holiday and rest, and relatives and friends will visit each other and have a "quiet life" festival.
"In the past, there was a particularly interesting saying called' Long Footwear'. On this day, the younger generation sent shoes and socks to their elders. It was also because the days became longer and longer after the winter solstice, and the longevity of the elders was blessed, which had an auspicious meaning." Wang Juan, a folklorist, said that in addition, the ancient government also held a ceremony of "drilling for fire instead of fire", which was a symbolic ceremony to show sympathy for the people.
Many solar terms or festivals have always had specific seasonal foods. On the winter solstice alone, jiaozi is probably the most popular food. Wang Juan said that in fact, on the winter solstice, the north eats more jiaozi, but some people also eat mutton and mutton soup. In the south, they eat more delicious food on the winter solstice.
Different regions prefer different diets on the winter solstice. For example, Fuzhou and other places will eat a kind of food called "Mishi". For example, Wang Juan said that some places like Hangzhou should eat fish, and the head and tail of the fish should stay when eating, which is called "Yu Yu"; Some places in Shanghai want to eat wonton; In other places, glutinous rice flour should be made into glutinous rice dumplings to eat; Red bean porridge (also known as red bean porridge) is a delicious food to eat in Shaanxi during the winter solstice.
In addition, the area of Gusu (now Suzhou) attaches great importance to the solar term of the winter solstice. The traditional custom is to 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 tastes very good. When people in Gusu cite winter brewing, they will also serve side dishes such as braised beef and braised mutton, which not only drives away the cold, but also expresses their hope for a better life.
"Although the diets in different places in the same solar term are quite different, in the final analysis, they all come from the specific connotation and definition of the' winter solstice'." Wang Juan explained that, as mentioned above, the ancients thought that the longest yin qi was the most abundant on the night of the winter solstice and the shortest yang qi was the weakest during the day, so they should supplement the yang qi by eating mutton, eating jiaozi and drinking red bean porridge. "In addition, some places will deliberately eat some green vegetables, because green is easy to remind people of spring, and when the yang qi grows after the winter solstice, eating green vegetables also hopes that spring will come soon.