In fact, eating jiaozi on the winter solstice was left in memory of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", who gave up medicine on the winter solstice. Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is not forgetting the kindness of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", in "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction". Now, this custom has been passed down to today. There's a legend in here.
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The Origin of Eating jiaozi on the Winter Solstice;
According to legend, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", became the prefect of Changsha. Soon after the plague spread, he resolutely resigned from the office of the prefect, retired from his old age and decided to treat the people.
At this time, it was the middle of winter, and on his way back to his hometown, he saw the poor people who were rushing for survival, and their clothes were not covered. Many people's ears were frozen and rotten, and their hearts were even worse.
As soon as he got home, the door-to-door doctors flocked to him. However, Zhang Zhongjing is always thinking about the poor villagers with frozen ears. When the winter solstice arrived, he asked his disciples to see a doctor for him. He set up a medical shed in the open space of Dongguan, Nanyang, and put a large pot on the plate to give medicine to treat frostbite for the poor. He put mutton, peppers and herbs for dispelling cold in a pot, and when it is cooked, he fished out the mutton and herbs and chopped them up, cooked them in a pot with "jiao 'er" covered with flour bags like ears, and distributed them to the poor who treated the disease, each with a big bowl of soup and two "jiao 'er". This medicine is called "Quhan Jiao 'er soup". After eating, people feel warm all over and their ears are hot. From the winter solstice, Zhang Zhongjing gave up medicine every day until New Year's Eve. The villagers' ears were cured by him, and they had a good year happily.
On the first day of the New Year, people celebrate the New Year, and also celebrate the recovery of rotten ears. They cooked food for the New Year just like Jiaoer and ate it on the morning of the first day. People call this kind of food "dumpling ears", "jiaozi" or partial eclipse, and eat it on the winter solstice and the first day of the new year to commemorate the day when Zhang Zhongjing opened a shed to give medicine and cure patients.
Zhang Zhongjing is nearly 1800 years ago, but his story of "Quhan Jiaoer Decoction" has been widely circulated among the people. On the winter solstice and the first day of New Year's Day, people eat jiaozi, and they still remember Zhang Zhongjing's kindness in their hearts. Today, we don't need to cure frozen rotten ears with charming ears, but jiaozi has become the most common and favorite food for people.
Why do you want to eat jiaozi on the winter solstice?
In China's traditional custom, you must eat jiaozi on the winter solstice to prevent your ears from freezing, but many people don't understand why you must eat jiaozi on the winter solstice. In this important solar term, jiaozi is eaten to commemorate the famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing and thank him for cooking "Quhan Jiaoer Soup" with mutton, pepper and cold-dispelling herbs in winter to treat people's ear chilblain. Therefore, in some areas, there is a folk song "No one cares if you don't take jiaozi bowl on the winter solstice."
After the winter solstice, it entered the "nine cold days" and it was the coldest time of the year. Therefore, in order to keep warm, people like to eat some foods with higher calories. More commonly, there is a custom of eating jiaozi on the winter solstice in northern China. As the saying goes: "When the winter solstice comes, eat dumplings." In the south, we eat dumplings, but there are exceptions. For example, the custom of drinking mutton soup on the day of the winter solstice is popular in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, which means driving away the cold. Eating customs vary from place to place, but eating dumplings is the most common.