Dumplings are eaten on the winter solstice.

Dumplings on the winter solstice are said to be related to Zhang Zhongjing, a famous medical doctor at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to legend, when Zhang Zhongjing returned to his hometown in his old age, it was a snowy winter. Many of the people displaced by the war in the streets had nothing to eat, no clothes to cover their bodies, and many of them had their ears frozen. Seeing this situation, Zhang Zhongjing could not bear it in his heart, so he caused a medical hut to be set up on the east side of Nanyang Pass.

He asked his disciples to make stuffing with mutton, chili peppers and some cold-repelling herbs, and then wrapped them into dumplings. Alms were given to the people. The dumplings cured many folks of their frozen ears.

Since then, every time the winter solstice into the nine, everyone has to compete for the dumplings, there is a proverb "winter solstice dumplings do not freeze ear".

Morals of eating dumplings at the winter solstice

Moral I: If you don't eat dumplings at the winter solstice, you'll freeze your ears off and no one will take care of you.

A proverb says: "On October 1, the winter solstice arrives, and every family eats dumplings. This custom is said to be left behind in honor of Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of medicine, who gave up his medicine on the winter solstice. Therefore, in northern China, on the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, no matter rich or poor, dumplings become an essential holiday meal.

Moral 2: Eat dumplings on the winter solstice to be reunited.

In some places, on the winter solstice, the family will be busy preparing all kinds of dumpling skins and fillings, and then the family will sit together to make dumplings, eat dumplings, and spend the winter solstice in unity. In addition to eating dumplings in the north, the custom of eating dumplings in the south, symbolizing, full circle, reunion.