1 The reasons for eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice are as follows:
"Tangyuan" is an essential food in the winter solstice, and it is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour. "Round" means "reunion" and "perfection", and eating tangyuan in the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice group". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older".
When Emperor Yao was in ancient times, he ordered Xi's and He's brothers to calculate the sun, moon and stars, and set the solar terms at the age. By the Zhou Dynasty, there was a winter festival, and the king would hold a ceremony to worship heaven on the winter solstice. After the Han Dynasty, every winter solstice, there were ceremonies to worship heaven, gods, ancestors, and He Dong. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the ceremony was even more grand.
All over the world, grand events are held as usual, and there is even a saying that the winter solstice is as big as a year. On the day of the Ming, Qing and Winter Solstice, each family will make dumplings to worship the gods and ancestors, and then the family will get together and eat dumplings around, which is called "adding years", so it is a folk custom that eating dumplings on the winter solstice will make them one year older.
2. The reasons for eating jiaozi on the winter solstice are as follows:
Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice originated from the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing. When he saw that the people's ears were damaged by freezing in the cold, he used bread to drive away the cold and cooked it to make "Jiao Er Tang" to cure the people's ears.
The winter solstice ranks first among the 24 solar terms, and it is called "sub-year". In 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, and it was said that the winter solstice was as big as a year. The court and the people always attached great importance to it, and there were sacrificial activities since the Zhou Dynasty.
After the winter solstice, the weather is mainly cold, so people tend to be warm and nourish yang to resist cold evil. Jiaozi is a kind of 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 human body.
The winter solstice is a severe winter season. People use food to keep warm and cure diseases. After thousands of years of development, they have gradually formed a unique seasonal food tradition, such as wonton, jiaozi, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, dog meat and mutton. Along with the winter solstice food customs, there are many Han folk tales.