What is the significance of the winter solstice?

The winter solstice means: cold is coming, and the winter solstice symbolizes reunion.

Winter solstice means cold coming: winter solstice is the earliest of the 24 solar terms, which originated in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the solstice of winter, direct sunlight reaches the southernmost part of the year, and the northern hemisphere gets 50% less sunlight than the southern hemisphere, and the daytime in the northern hemisphere reaches the shortest.

Winter solstice is regarded as a big holiday in winter. There is a folk saying that winter solstice is as big as a year, so the ancients called it "sub-year" or "off-year". Most northerners have the custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice, while most southerners have the custom of eating sweets.

The winter solstice symbolizes reunion: the winter solstice was considered as a very important day in ancient times, and people even called it off-year. Every year when we celebrate the winter solstice, we have to make a lot of preparations, and there are even many celebrations among the people.

So the solstice in winter often symbolizes reunion. In addition, among the 24 solar terms, the winter solstice is also an important solar term. Its arrival means that the days outside will be longer and longer, the nights will be shorter and shorter, the temperature will gradually drop, and it will gradually enter the severe winter.

Winter solstice

Winter solstice, commonly known as "Winter Festival", "Dragon solstice Festival" or "Children's Day". Winter solstice is an important solar term in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar, and it is also a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The winter solstice is a "winter festival", so it is considered as a big holiday in winter. In ancient times, there was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year".

In ancient times, people wandering in other places had to go home for the winter festival at this time, which was called "having a home at the end of the year". In ancient times, there was a saying that "the winter solstice will bring the sun", that is to say, from the winter solstice, the spirit of the sun slowly began to recover.

origin

On the winter solstice, due to the characteristics of solar terms, "the sun rises in the winter solstice, and the sun rises in the heavens and the earth". The ancients thought that it was a good day for the sun to rise in the heavens and the earth from the winter solstice, representing the beginning of the next cycle. Therefore, the gods and ancestors were sacrificed on the winter solstice, and the custom of this festival was formed.

In all parts of the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice is the shortest day in a year, and the farther north, the shorter the day. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is below the horizon all day, which is the widest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. For all parts of the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice is also the day with the lowest sun height at noon all year round.

Chinese dumpling

In the traditional custom of China, you must eat jiaozi on the solstice in winter to prevent your ears from freezing, but many people don't understand why you must eat jiaozi on the solstice in winter.

In this important solar term, jiaozi is eaten in memory of the famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing, thanking him for cooking "cold-dispelling Joule soup" with mutton, pepper and cold-dispelling herbs in winter to treat people's ear chilblains. Therefore, there is a folk song in some areas, "Nobody cares if you don't take the jiaozi bowl on the solstice in winter."

tangyuan

"Every family knows that it is the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty when they make dumplings." Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is a traditional custom in China, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". Tangyuan can be used to worship ancestors, give gifts to relatives and friends, and represent reunion. The ancients had a poem about eating dumplings: "Every family smashed rice to make dumplings, knowing that it was the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty."

Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is a traditional custom in China, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". Tangyuan is also called jiaozi, and eating jiaozi on the winter solstice is also called "jiaozi on the winter solstice"; Tangyuan can be used for ancestor worship or as a gift to relatives and friends.