jiaozi on the winter solstice, of course.

The winter solstice is a severe winter season. People eat to keep warm and cure diseases. After thousands of years of development, they have gradually formed a unique seasonal food tradition, such as wonton, jiaozi, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, dog meat and mutton. Along with the winter solstice food customs, there are many Han folk tales.

There is a common custom of eating wonton on the winter solstice, which has a long history. According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu in the north often harassed the frontier, and the people were restless. At that time, there were two leaders of Hun tribe and Tun tribe, which were very cruel.

The people hated it, so they wrapped it in meat and called it "Wonton" with the sound of "Hun" and "Tun". They hated it and prayed for peace and tranquility. Because wonton was originally made on the winter solstice, every family later ate wonton on the winter solstice. In the Southern Song Dynasty, people in Lin 'an also ate wonton on the winter solstice, which also contained hatred for foreigners and longing for peace.

People in Henan have the custom of eating jiaozi on the winter solstice, which is called "pinching frozen ears". There is also a legend: according to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage of Nanyang, was originally a medical officer, and it was a snowy winter when he retired from his old age. He saw the villagers in Nanyang suffering from cold and hunger, and many people's ears were frozen and rotten.

So he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed in Guandong, Nanyang, and put mutton, peppers and some cold-dispelling medicinal materials in a pot to cook, then took them out and chopped them, kneaded them into ears with a flour bag, then put them in a pot to cook them, and made them into "soup for dispelling cold and correcting ears" for the villagers to eat. After the villagers took the food, their frozen ears were cured. Later, on the winter solstice, people imitated this kind of "pinching ears" to eat, saying that eating jiaozi on the winter solstice did not freeze people.

in Jiangnan water town, there is a custom of eating red bean porridge on the night of the winter solstice. This is also due to the ancient legend, the son of the southern tribal leader * * * Gong failed and did many evils. He died on the winter solstice and became a plague ghost after his death, continuing to harm the people.

Because this epidemic ghost is most afraid of red beans, people cook and eat red bean porridge on the winter solstice to ward off the epidemic ghost and prevent diseases. Later, this kind of red bean porridge was also called "winter solstice porridge", in which besides red beans, red dates and walnut meat were also added to replenish the body.