Interpretation of winter solstice

Winter solstice (English: Winter solstice), also known as "Winter Festival" and "Happy Winter", is one of the 24 solar terms in China and one of the eight astronomical solar terms, as opposed to summer solstice. The winter solstice begins when the sun reaches 270 degrees of the yellow meridian, which is about 65438+February 22 of the Gregorian calendar every year. According to legend, the solstice in winter is the New Year's Day of the Zhou Dynasty in history, and it was once a very lively day.

On the winter solstice, the direct position of the sun on the ground reaches the southernmost point of the year and almost directly reaches the Tropic of Capricorn (23 26' south latitude). On this day, the northern hemisphere gets the least sunshine, 50% less than the southern hemisphere. The days in the northern hemisphere are the shortest, and the farther north they are, the shorter they are.

More generally, there is a custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice in northern China. As the saying goes, "When winter solstice comes, eat jiaozi." In the south, we eat jiaozi, but there are exceptions. For example, in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, the solstice in winter is called Jiujiu, and the custom of drinking mutton soup on that day is very popular, which means driving away the cold.