The winter solstice is a very important solar term in the Chinese lunar calendar. The winter solstice festival is one of the traditional festivals of the Han people. It originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and continues to this day. Different regions have different customs during the Winter Solstice. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep, eating dumplings, and eating wontons on the winter solstice. The southern region has the custom of eating winter solstice rice balls and winter solstice noodles on this day. People in northern Jiangsu eat winter solstice noodles. Fried tofu with green onions.
In rural areas, there is a saying that "If you don't bring dumpling bowls at the beginning of winter, your ears will freeze off and no one will care." So why do you eat dumplings on the day of beginning of winter? Will eating dumplings prevent your ears from freezing? In fact, the custom of eating dumplings at the beginning of winter is a custom passed down to commemorate the medical saint Zhang Zhongjing.
Every year on the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, dumplings are an essential holiday meal for everyone, rich or poor. A proverb goes: "On October 1st, every household eats dumplings during the winter solstice." This custom was left in memory of the "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing who gave up medicine during the winter solstice.
Zhang Zhongjing was from Gendong, Nanyang. He wrote Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases, which is a collection of medical achievements and is regarded as a classic by doctors of all ages. Zhang Zhongjing has a famous saying: "If you advance, you will save the world; if you retreat, you will save the people; if you cannot be a good prime minister, you should also be a good doctor."
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, he served as the prefect of Changsha, visiting patients and administering medicine, and practicing medicine in the lobby. Later, he resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown to treat his neighbors. It was winter when he returned home. He saw that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were sallow and thin, hungry and cold, and many of them had their ears rotten by the cold. He asked his disciples to set up a medical tent and a large pot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and make "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction" to treat chilblains on the winter solstice.
He put the mutton and some cold-repelling medicinal materials in a pot and boiled it. Then he took out the mutton and the medicinal materials, chopped them into pieces, and used bread to make ear-like "Jiao Er". After cooking, he distributed them to Those who came to seek medicine were each given two "Jiao ears" and a large bowl of broth. People ate "Jiao Er" and drank "Qu Han Tang", their whole bodies became warm, their ears felt hot, and their frostbitten ears were cured. Later generations imitated the appearance of "Jiao Er" and wrapped them into food, also called "dumplings" or "flat food". ?
Eating dumplings at the beginning of winter is a commemoration for the local people in Nanyang to remember the kindness of the medical saint Zhang Zhongjing's "Jiaoer Tang" to dispel cold. The ancients also believed that the beginning of winter is the "Jiaozi time", which is the transition season between autumn and winter. Naturally, you must eat dumplings during the "Jiaozi" time.