The origin of solar terms in winter solstice

Winter solstice is one of the "24 solar terms". During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, twenty-four solar terms were absorbed into the calendar as a supplement to the calendar guiding farming, and the division of solar terms adopted the method of "balancing qi" (that is, the average time method).

The method of "balancing the air" is to use photogrammetry to determine the shortest day in the Yellow River basin as the winter solstice, divide the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice into 12 equal parts, which is called "neutral air", and then divide the date between adjacent neutral air into "solar terms", with an average of one neutral air and one solar term per month, which are collectively called "twenty-four solar terms".

Winter solstice festival customs

1, South

Many places in southern China will celebrate the winter solstice. Many areas along the southern coast have the traditional custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors during the winter solstice. Every household is dedicated to ancestor statues, memorial tablets, etc. Go to the hall at home, place an altar, set up incense burners, offerings, etc. In some places, while offering sacrifices to ancestors, they also offer sacrifices to gods, land gods and deities, so as to make the next year's weather favorable and the family prosperous.

Cantonese people eat barbecue and ginger rice on the solstice in winter. On this day, most Cantonese people have the custom of eating meat and "adding vegetables" during the winter solstice. In Chaoshan area, there is a folk saying that "Winter Festival Pills, once eaten, celebrate the New Year", commonly known as "Adding New Year". Hakkas believe that the taste of water is the most mellow in winter solstice, so it has become a custom for Hakkas to make wine in winter solstice.

People in Hangzhou eat rice cakes on the solstice in winter. From the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to the present, people in Hangzhou like to eat rice cakes on the solstice in winter. In winter solstice, you can cook rice cakes with different flavors, eat rice cakes in winter solstice and get old, which is auspicious. In Sichuan, it is the solstice to eat mutton soup in winter, and mutton is the first tonic in winter. In the area around the two lakes, red beans and glutinous rice must be eaten on the solstice in winter.

2. North

In many parts of northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi every winter solstice. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage, saw the frozen people when he retired in his later years, so he wrapped mutton, some cold-dispelling herbs and dough in his ears and made the medicine of "Joule Decoction for Eliminating Cold" for the people to eat.

Later, on the solstice of winter, people imitated eating and formed a custom. Most parts of northern China want to eat jiaozi on this day, because jiaozi means "driving away the cold". Up to now, there has been a saying among the people that "jiaozi bowls are not delicious in winter, and nobody cares about frozen ears".