Is the Winter Solstice a festival or a solar term? What else is the Winter Solstice called?

The winter solstice is coming soon. I heard from the elders that there are many traditional customs and habits during the winter solstice in my hometown, which is as lively as a festival. I wonder if the winter solstice is considered a festival or a solar term?

Is the Winter Solstice a festival or a solar term?

It is both a festival and a solar term.

Winter Solstice, also known as Day Solstice, Winter Festival, Ya Sui, Winter Worship, etc., is the 22nd solar term among the twenty-four solar terms, and is also a traditional Chinese folk festival, belonging to the four seasons and eight festivals. 1. It is regarded as a big festival in winter. In ancient times, there was a folk saying that "Winter Solstice is as big as the New Year". Therefore, the ancients called the Winter Solstice "Yasui" or "Little New Year". Many areas attach great importance to the Winter Solstice and will treat it as Worship gods and ancestors, hold banquets, and eat ginger rice, dumplings, glutinous rice balls, mutton soup, steamed buns and other delicacies to celebrate.

What else is the winter solstice called?

Four o'clock and eight festivals, winter festival

Four o'clock: refers to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter; eight festivals: refers to the beginning of spring and the vernal equinox , Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumnal Equinox, Beginning of Winter and Winter Solstice, among which the Winter Solstice is one of the four seasons and eight festivals.

Winter Solstice was called "Day Short Solstice" or "Day Short Solstice" in ancient times. The ancients believed that the Winter Solstice solar term was the starting point for calculating the twenty-four solar terms in our country, because as soon as the Winter Solstice arrives, the New Year is just around the corner, so, The ancients believed that the winter solstice was as important as the New Year. There is a saying in "Qing Jia Lu" that "the winter solstice is as important as the new year". In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was regarded as the "winter festival", and the government held a congratulatory ceremony called "winter greetings". ", routine holiday. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the winter solstice was a day to worship heaven and ancestors. On this day, the emperor would go to the countryside to hold a ceremony to worship heaven, and the people would worship their parents and elders on this day. Moreover, in ancient times, wanderers who wandered away would go home for the winter festival at this time, so-called "having a destination at the end of the year."

Is the Winter Solstice a traditional festival?

Yes.

my country’s traditional festivals mainly include the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Heading Up, Sheri Festival, Shangsi Festival, Cold Food Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine’s Day, Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Xiayuan Festival, Winter Solstice Festival, New Year's Eve, etc., among which the Winter Solstice is a traditional festival with both natural and humanistic connotations among the 24 solar terms.

Folk customs of the Winter Solstice

1. Worshiping ancestors

In the early morning of the Winter Solstice, the family goes up the mountain with glutinous rice balls, fruits, incense candles, paper money, etc. to pay homage to their ancestors' tombs. Because the Winter Solstice Festival is the last tomb-sweeping festival of the year, there are more people sweeping tombs than during the Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival, which means to be cautious about the end and pursue the future.

2. Cold-repelling activities

The winter solstice means the beginning of counting nine, and after the ninth day, some literati and scholar-bureaucrats engage in so-called cold-repelling activities, choosing a "nine" One day, nine people meet for a drink. Nine dishes and nine bowls are served on the banquet. The table is served with a "flower nine pieces" banquet to take the meaning of ninety-nine to relieve the cold.

3. Eating mutton

In Sichuan, there is a habit of eating mutton and other nourishing foods during the Winter Solstice to "tonic". In the evening, mutton and mutton soup are eaten to warm up and ward off the cold. Praying for a good omen in the coming year. , eat winter solstice dumplings, eat brains, winter solstice dumplings, worship ancestors during winter solstice, eat bean dough, and eat mutton.

4. Eating dumplings

When it comes to the Winter Solstice, we have to talk about eating dumplings. Every year on the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, dumplings are an essential holiday meal for everyone, rich or poor. A proverb goes: "On October 1st, when the winter solstice arrives, every household eats dumplings." This custom was left to commemorate the "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing who gave up medicine during the winter solstice.

5. Eating dog meat

The custom of eating dog meat during the Winter Solstice is said to have started in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, ate dog meat cooked by Fan Kuai on the day of the winter solstice. He thought it tasted particularly delicious and was full of praise. Since then, the folk custom of eating dog meat during the winter solstice has been formed. Nowadays, people eat dog meat, mutton and various nutritious foods on the day of the winter solstice in order to have a good omen in the coming year.

6. Eat Winter Solstice Pills

Also known as "Winter Solstice Pills". Food for Han Chinese Winter Solstice Festival. Popular in the south. Every year on the Winter Solstice, glutinous rice flour is ground, stuffed with sugar, meat, vegetables, fruits, cowpeas, shredded radish, etc., rolled into balls, called "Winter Solstice Balls", and given as gifts to relatives and friends. There are also times when the whole family gathers for breakfast, which means reunion.

7. Eating Leiyuan

People in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province love delicious food. On the important solar term of the year, they will make special dishes and food. First, they must pay homage to their ancestors and pray for them. Wish the whole family all the best in the coming year, and then the whole family happily gathers together to drink and eat. Among them, eating "Winter Solstice Yuan" is an old tradition in Taizhou. The "Winter Solstice Yuan" means roundness and reunion.