What are the traditions of the winter solstice?

The winter solstice, with both natural and humanistic connotations, is not only an important solar term among the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional folk festival in China, which is known as "the winter solstice is as big as a year".

The solstice in winter is the starting point for the return of the sun. Since the winter solstice, the sun has risen to a high place, and the days are getting longer and longer. The solstice in winter marks the rebirth of the sun and the movement of the sun back and forth into a new cycle. Therefore, the ancients regarded the solstice in winter as a "good day". Among the eight festivals in a year, the solstice in winter is as important as New Year's Day in spring.

In southern China, there are customs of offering sacrifices to ancestors and enjoying the winter solstice. In northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi from winter to Sunday every year.

Traditional customs, such as:

First, "Painting Nine"

The so-called Figure 9 is actually a graph to calculate the warm date from winter to the following spring. In the Ming Dynasty, "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" contained: "From winter to the sun, draw a plum flower, one in eighty petals. Dye one petal a day, and 99 petals will come out, then the spring will be deep, saying that 99 will eliminate the cold. " There are three patterns in "99 Cold Map", namely characters, circles and plum blossoms.

Second, eat jiaozi.

Eating dumplings is a traditional custom from winter solstice, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. "Tangyuan" is an indispensable food in winter solstice, and "round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is also called "the solstice in winter". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older".

Third, eat sweet potato soup.

In the traditional customs of Ningbo, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat foods in winter solstice. "Fan" and "Fan" are homophones. People in Ningbo believe that eating sweet potatoes on the solstice in winter means "reversing" all the bad luck of the past year. Tang Guo is similar to jiaozi, much smaller and without stuffing. Tang Guo is also called jiaozi, which means "reunion" and "perfection". There is also a saying in old Ningbo that "you are one year older after eating soup". People in Ningbo are used to adding wine to sweet potato soup. In Ningbo dialect, wine-making is also called "pulp board", and "pulp" is homophonic with "sheng" in Ningbo dialect, taking its lewdness of "high luck" and "high happiness"