The custom of the winter solstice: ancient commemoration

The Winter Solstice Festival is also called the Winter Festival and the Winter Festival. It is not only one of the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional festival in China. There was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year", which has always been attached great importance by the court and the people. Since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been sacrificial activities.

The custom of winter solstice: eliminating cold in September and September

After entering the ninth year, some scholars and literati engaged in so-called activities to cool down the cold. They chose a "ninth" day to meet nine people for drinking ("wine" and "nine" are homophonic), and nine dishes and nine bowls were used at the table, and those who became tables used "nine flowers" seats to get the meaning of "nine-ninth" to cool down the cold.

Customs of the Winter Solstice: Taiwan Province Folk Customs

In Taiwan Province, China, the tradition of worshipping ancestors with nine-layer cakes on the winter solstice is still preserved. Glutinous rice flour is used to knead animals such as chickens, ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, sheep, etc., which symbolize good luck and good luck, and then steamed in layers in a steamer to worship ancestors to show that they do not forget their ancestors. On the winter solstice or at the early date agreed before and after, people with the same surname and the same clan gather in the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors one by one in the order of seniority, commonly known as "ancestor worship."

After the ceremony, there will be a big banquet to entertain the clansmen who come to worship their ancestors. Everyone drinks heartily and connects with each other after a long separation, which is called "food ancestor." The ancestors of the Winter Solstice Festival have been handed down from generation to generation in Taiwan Province to show that they have never forgotten their roots.

The custom of winter solstice: modern folk custom

Many areas have the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors on the winter solstice, and there are still some places such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern Fujian that celebrate the winter solstice.

Winter solstice characteristics:

The winter solstice is the 22nd solar term of the "twenty-four solar terms", with the solar meridian reaching 270 degrees, and it is celebrated every year on Gregorian calendar1February 2 1-23. The winter solstice is the extreme point where the direct sunlight travels southward. On the winter solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Capricorn, and the sun is most inclined to the northern hemisphere, and the solar altitude angle is the smallest. It is the shortest day and the longest night in all parts of the northern hemisphere.

The winter solstice is also a turning point for the direct sunlight to return to the north. After this day, it will go back, and the direct sunlight will start to move northward from the Tropic of Capricorn (23 26' s), and the daylight in the northern hemisphere (China is located in the northern hemisphere) will increase day by day.

The origin of the winter solstice

The winter solstice is one of the "24 solar terms". During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, twenty-four solar terms were absorbed into the taichu calendar as a supplement to the calendar guiding farming, and the solar terms were divided by the method of "balancing qi" (that is, the average time method).

"Pingqi Method" uses photogrammetry to determine the shortest day in the Yellow River basin as the winter solstice, divides the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice into twelve equal parts, which is called "Zhongqi", and then divides the dates between adjacent "Zhongqi" into equal parts, which is called "solar terms"; On average, there is a "neutral gas" and a "solar term" every month, which are collectively called "24 solar terms".