Why do you want to eat jiaozi during the Spring Festival?

The Origin and Legend of Winter Solstice Festival

The Winter Solstice Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has been passed down to this day. Lu even said that the winter solstice is as big as a year. This shows that the ancients attached great importance to the winter solstice. People think that the winter solstice is a natural transformation of yin and yang and a blessing from heaven. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was the "Winter Festival", and the government held a congratulatory ceremony called "He Dong", which was a routine festival. There is such a record in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Before and after the winter solstice, a gentleman was prepared for danger in times of peace, refused to listen to politics, and chose an auspicious day to save trouble." So on this day, the imperial court had a holiday, the army was on standby, the frontier fortress was closed, the business trip was closed, relatives and friends sent meals to each other, visited each other, and had a "quiet" holiday happily.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the solstice in winter was the day of ancestor worship. On this day, the emperor went to the suburbs to hold a ceremony to worship heaven. On this day, people must worship their parents. There are still some places to celebrate the winter solstice.

One of the winter solstice legends

There used to be a saying in old Beijing that "winter solstice wonton, summer solstice noodles". According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu in the north often harassed the frontier, and the people were restless. At that time, there were two leaders, Xiongnu tribe and Tun tribe, which were very cruel. The people hated it, so they wrapped it into a corner with meat stuffing and called it "wonton" with the sound of "muddy" and "swallowing". I hate eating, and I want to quell the war and live a peaceful life. Because wonton was originally made on the winter solstice, every family eats wonton on the winter solstice.

Eating "frozen ears" is a common name for Henan people to eat jiaozi in winter solstice. Why is there such a diet custom? According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a doctor from Nanyang, was an official in Changsha. When he retired in his later years, it was a snowy winter and the wind was biting. He was very sad when he saw the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River in Nanyang dressed in rags, and many people's ears were frozen rotten. He asked his disciples to set up a medicine shed in Guandong, Nanyang, and put mutton, peppers and some cold-dispelling herbs in a pot, fished them out and chopped them up, imaged their ears with leather bags, and then put them down in the pot to make a medicine called "cold-dispelling and ear-correcting soup" for the people. After eating it, the villagers' ears will be fine. Later, on the solstice of winter, people imitated and cooked, thus forming the custom of "pinching ears". Later, people called it "jiaozi", while others called it "flat food" and "instant noodle jiaozi". It is also said that people will not be frozen in jiaozi after eating the winter solstice.

The legend of winter solstice 2

It is said that the custom of eating dog meat on the solstice began in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, ate dog meat cooked by Fan Kuai on the solstice in winter, which was particularly delicious and full of praise. Since then, the custom of eating dog meat from winter solstice has been formed among the people. Nowadays, people eat dog meat, mutton and all kinds of nutritious food on the solstice of winter, which is a good sign for the coming year.

The legend of winter solstice 3

In Jiangnan water town, there is a custom that the whole family get together to eat red beans and glutinous rice in the evening from winter to Sunday. According to legend, there was a man named Gong. His son was incompetent and evil. He died on the Winter Solstice. Become a plague ghost after death and continue to harm the people. However, this epidemic ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook red bean rice from winter solstice to drive away the epidemic ghost and prevent diseases.

The Winter Solstice Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has been passed down to this day. Lu even said that the winter solstice is as big as a year. This shows that the ancients attached great importance to the winter solstice. People think that the winter solstice is a natural transformation of yin and yang and a blessing from heaven. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was the "Winter Festival", and the government held a congratulatory ceremony called "He Dong", which was a routine festival. There is such a record in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Before and after the winter solstice, a gentleman was prepared for danger in times of peace, refused to listen to politics, and chose an auspicious day to save trouble." So on this day, the imperial court had a holiday, the army was on standby, the frontier fortress was closed, the business trip was closed, relatives and friends sent meals to each other, visited each other, and had a "quiet" holiday happily.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the solstice in winter was the day of ancestor worship. On this day, the emperor went to the suburbs to hold a ceremony to worship the gods. On this day, people must worship their parents. There are still some places to celebrate the winter solstice.

Every winter solstice, jiaozi is an indispensable holiday feast for the rich and the poor. As the saying goes, "Every family eats jiaozi in November when the winter solstice arrives." This custom is to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage" in Nanyang. He wrote: Treatise on Febrile Diseases >:> Zhang Zhongjing has a famous saying, "If you advance, you will survive; If you retreat, you will save the people. You can't be a good doctor. " In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changsha was a satrap, seeing a doctor and practicing medicine in the lobby. Later, he resolutely resigned and went back to his hometown to treat his neighbors. When he got home, it was already winter, and he saw many villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were sallow, hungry and cold. On the day of winter solstice, he drank glue soup to dispel cold and treat chilblain. He boiled mutton, pepper and some herbs for dispelling cold in a pot, then took out mutton and medicine, chopped them, cooked them in ear-shaped "pepper" bread, and gave everyone who wanted medicine two "pepper" and a big bowl of broth. People ate "pepper" and drank "Quhan's soup".

Eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is the kindness of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", in his "soup for dispelling cold and charming ears". Up to now, there is a folk song in Nanyang that says, "The jiaozi bowl is not served well on the solstice in winter, and nobody cares about the frozen ears.".