The custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice in Northeast China

The custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice in Northeast China is said to be related to the relief of the people by Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint.

At that time, Zhang Zhongjing saw that the people were cold, so he told his disciples to cook in the greenhouse and cook mutton, peppers and herbs together to drive away the cold. Then chopped and wrapped in dough into the shape of ears, which was called "ear correction" at that time. After eating, people have a good warm-up effect, so the custom of eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter has been passed down.

The winter solstice, known as the "southern solstice", is a solar term reflecting the direct sunlight movement. On the winter solstice, the sun goes south to the extreme, and the sun shines directly on the tropic of Capricorn. Since the winter solstice, the direct point of the sun has returned to the north. The solstice in winter is the turning point of a day's journey from south to north. The solstice in winter is an auspicious day. For example, it is said in Hanshu that the winter solstice is sunny and the monarch is long, so congratulations. After the winter solstice, the days are getting longer and longer and the sun rises. This is the beginning of a round-trip cycle of direct sunlight, which should be celebrated.

folk custom

After thousands of years of development, the winter solstice festival is still firmly spread among the people, and the folk customs have not changed much, such as worshipping ancestors, wearing new clothes, preparing family banquets, eating delicious food and so on. From winter to Sunday, that is, the day it entered the "cold day", the weather became colder and colder. The ancients believed that every nine days from the winter solstice was "September 19", and the cold would dissipate when it counted to 998 1 day.

In order to end the cold winter urgently, people invented the method of drawing the "99 cold current map" to the time. The winter solstice, commonly known as the "winter solstice", is an important solar term in the China lunar calendar. On this day, because the sun points directly to the Tropic of Capricorn, the northern hemisphere has the shortest days and the longest nights. After the winter solstice, the days in the northern hemisphere will become longer and the nights will become shorter.