What are the origins and customs of the winter solstice festival?

1. On the solstice in winter, the sun shines almost directly on the tropic of Capricorn, with the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. Therefore, the folks along the Yongding River are also commonly known as the "short day" in winter solstice. They believe that the sun is in full swing because of the winter solstice, and there is a saying that "the winter solstice is a sun." Therefore, the winter solstice has three meanings: first, the arrival of the anode; Second, the sun is the spirit; Third, the day travels south to the solstice, so it is called "winter solstice"

2. There are 998 1 day from the winter solstice to six days after the date of the fright, of which nine days are called "Nine", that is, the Gregorian calendar runs from 65438+February 2 1 or 22 to March1or/kloc-. The folks along the Yongding River called this period "nine days of cold". There was once a ballad: "Don't shoot in 1929, walk on the ice in 3949, and watch the willows by the river in 5969. 79 rivers open, 89 geese come, 99 plus 19, and cows go everywhere. "

3. There is a folk saying on both sides of Yongding River that "the solstice in winter is as big as a year", commonly known as "Cliff Year". In the old society, every few days before the winter solstice, every household had to prepare fish, vegetables and other foods, first to worship their ancestors, then their parents and elders.

4. People will eat jiaozi on the winter solstice, which comes from a story: Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage, was originally an official, and he retired to his hometown in the cold winter. On the way, he saw that many poor people were sallow, emaciated and naked, and many people's ears were even frozen. Sun Zhongjing is very sad to see this situation. On the day of winter solstice, he set up a shed and a big pot in the open space, using mutton. Zanthoxylum bungeanum and some herbs for dispelling cold and warming up are boiled into "Joule Decoction for Eliminating Cold". After cooking, give everyone a bowl. In addition, the mutton and medicinal materials were mashed, and the dough bags were made into ear-shaped "corners" and distributed to two people with frostbite. After eating, people suddenly feel hot all over and their ears are hot. From the solstice of winter to New Year's Eve, Zhang Zhongjing cured people's ear frostbite in this way. From then on, every winter solstice, people imitated the appearance of Joule and made it "jiaozi".

5. After the 11th lunar month, it is the winter solstice (around December 21st or 22nd in the solar calendar). Count to nine. After entering the ninth year, folk cooling activities became popular. On the ninth day, people drink to cool down. During the dinner, they used to set up nine dishes and nine bowls, and the people at the table used "nine flowers" to sit in the seat, which meant enjoying the cool in the ninth year.

6. The Ming and Qing emperors had a ceremony to worship heaven, which was called "the winter solstice suburb". There was a ceremony in the palace where hundreds of officials congratulated the emperor. They also threw thorns at each other and congratulated each other, just like New Year's Day. However, people do not regard the winter solstice as a festival, but have some timely activities.

7. The Manchu people, on the other hand, invited their first cousins, closest relatives and friends to sit on the floor in the yard at five o'clock from the winter solstice, killing pigs to sacrifice to heaven, that is, to sacrifice "the pole of ancestors." In the southeast corner of the gate, a tall flagpole with a gourd-shaped top is erected, and the square wooden frame is slightly lowered, and there is rice mixed with pork intestines and pork cavity bones, which is used to sacrifice crows. Crow is the totem of ancient clans (clan symbol, most clans in the north take birds as clan symbol), and relatives and friends sit around and eat "white meat", commonly known as "God Yu".

8. After the winter solstice, all parts of China have entered the cold season. This coincides with the slight cold and severe cold solar terms in China. As the saying goes, "La Qibala freezes his chin", and there is also a saying of "slight cold ice mass". Slight cold refers to the degree of cold. Literally, great cold is greater than slight cold, but in meteorological records, it is often slight cold but colder than great cold, which can be said to be the coldest solar term among the 24 solar terms all year round. As the saying goes, "Cold is in Sanjiu", and "Sanjiu" is just a slight cold solar term. It is called a slight cold rather than a great cold, because solar terms originated in the Yellow River basin. "Twenty-four solar terms" said: "When it is cold at the beginning of the month? It will be big in half a month. " According to the situation at that time, it has continued to this day. It is said that in early years, whenever farmers in the Yellow River valley caught a slight cold, their families used the "99-year Cold Protection Plan" to keep out the cold. Because of this, people should pay special attention to the cold protection and health care in the cold winter, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, to spend the coldest season of the year safely and celebrate the Spring Festival.

9, especially young people in the cold1February, some people wear "as long as the demeanor is not temperature." This extreme dressing is unreasonable. The warmth retention of clothes is related to the thickness of the air layer inside the clothes. Down jacket has a certain thickness, and the pores of wool fabric are not straight through, so both of them have good warmth retention. When you go out in cold winter, you should pay attention to keep warm. "Cold starts from the feet", so it is particularly important to keep people's feet warm.