The reasons for eating jiaozi on the winter solstice in China are as follows:
Eating jiaozi in winter comes from doctor Zhang Zhongjing. When he saw people's ears were frozen in the cold, he used bread to drive away the cold and cooked bread to make Joule soup to cure people's ears.
Winter solstice ranks first among the 24 solar terms, and it is called "sub-year". During the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, the day before the winter solstice was the end of the year. In ancient times, the winter solstice was a very important festival. It was said that the winter solstice was as big as a year. The imperial court and the people have always attached importance to it, and there have been sacrificial activities since the Zhou Dynasty.
On the solstice after winter, the weather is mainly cold, so people often use warming yang to resist cold evil. Jiaozi is a delicious food with comprehensive nutrition and easy digestion and absorption. It can be stuffed with mutton, Chinese cabbage, green onions, leeks and radishes. These dishes are warm and have a certain warming effect on the human body.
People in Hangzhou eat rice cakes on the solstice in winter. From the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to the present, people in Hangzhou have always liked to eat rice cakes on the solstice of winter. On the solstice of winter, you can make rice cakes with different flavors, eat rice cakes on the solstice of winter and get old. This is auspicious. In Sichuan, it is the time to eat mutton soup from winter solstice, and mutton is the first tonic in winter. In the two lakes region, red beans and glutinous rice must be eaten on the solstice in winter.
In winter solstice, different places have different customs. In the north, there are customs of slaughtering sheep, eating jiaozi and wonton on the solstice in winter. In the south, there is a custom of eating dumplings and long noodles from winter solstice, while in Su Beiren, there is a custom of eating tofu with scallions from winter solstice. Eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter is also said to be a good deed of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", in "Quhan Joule Soup". Until now, there is still a folk song in Nanyang, which says, "The solstice in winter ruined the jiaozi Bowl, and no one cares if you freeze your ears." .
Every winter, during the Lunar New Year, jiaozi is an indispensable holiday feast, regardless of the rich or the poor. As the saying goes: "On October 1st, every household will eat jiaozi on the solstice of winter." This custom was left in memory of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", who gave up medicine from the winter solstice.