Brief introduction to the origin and customs of winter solstice festival

The Winter Solstice Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and continues to this day. The ancients believed that since the winter solstice, the yang of heaven and earth has gradually become stronger, representing the beginning of the next cycle, which is a lucky day. In the folk, the solstice of winter is called "off-year". 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.

Winter solstice, commonly known as "winter festival", "long festival" and "dividing the year", is the earliest of the 24 solar terms. As early as 3000 years ago, the Duke of Zhou measured the sun's shadow with the soil gauge method, and concluded that Luoyi was the central geographical location of China, and determined the national capital construction plan.

Then through detailed observation, it is found that the solar calendar 65438+February 2 1 or 23 is the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. After this day, the days will get longer day by day. Duke Zhou designated this day as the beginning of the new year, which is the origin of the winter solstice.

The ancients explained the winter solstice: "When the cathode arrives, the yang begins to grow, the sun goes south, and the days are short and the shadows are long, so it is called the winter solstice." According to modern astronomical science, from winter to the sun, the sun shines directly on the tropic of Capricorn, and the sun is most inclined to the northern hemisphere, which has the shortest day and the longest night. After this day, the sun gradually moved to the north. Therefore, astronomy stipulates that the winter solstice is the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Calendar phenomenon of winter solstice;

The date of winter solstice in 2020 is 65438+February 2 1, and the date of winter solstice in 2026 is also 65438+February 2 1. The date of winter solstice for two consecutive years is 65438+February 2 1, which is a very rare calendar phenomenon. According to statistics, this strange calendar phenomenon last appeared in 1896 and 1897, that is, 124 years ago.

According to statistics, from 2056, for three consecutive years (2056-2058), the date of winter solstice is 65438+February 2 1. Stranger still, since 2088, the date of winter solstice has been 12 (2088- 1999), and now it is 12,21. This calendar phenomenon has never been experienced by anyone in the world today.