What are the customary foods eaten in the north during the winter solstice?

Winter Solstice customs: Most northerners will eat dumplings, mutton or dog meat on the Winter Solstice to celebrate the arrival of the Winter Solstice.

In Jiangnan, eating glutinous rice balls is a traditional custom on the Winter Solstice. Eating glutinous rice balls on the Winter Solstice is also called winter solstice dumplings, which means perfect circles. Most Cantonese people will "add dishes" on the Winter Solstice, and barbecue has become an indispensable traditional delicacy on the table. Taiwan Province of China still has the tradition of using nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors during the Winter Solstice. Chickens, ducks and other animals are made from glutinous rice flour and steamed to worship ancestors to show that they do not forget their ancestors.

Winter Solstice (also known as Number Nine, Winter Festival, Changjie, Yasui) is the 22nd solar term among the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms". The longitude of the sun reaches 270°, and the date is December 21st, 22nd, or 23rd every year in the Gregorian calendar. This is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The winter solstice is the southernmost point where the sun shines directly. On the day of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer. The sun is most tilted toward the northern hemisphere, and the sun's elevation angle is the smallest. It is the day with the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere.

The meaning of the winter solstice

The winter solstice is also the turning point when the direct sunlight point returns to the north. After this day, there will be a "retrograde movement", and the direct sunlight point returns from the Tropic of Cancer (23°26′ s) begins to move north, and the daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere increase day by day. The winter solstice heralds the coming of the cold season, and people start counting nine to count the cold days. There is a folk saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year", but different places have different customs on the winter solstice.

Most northerners have the custom of eating dumplings, while most southerners have the custom of eating sweets. Around the winter solstice is a good time to build water conservancy projects, build farmland resources, and accumulate fertilizer. At the same time, apply wax fertilizer and do a good job of antifreeze. In the Jiangnan region of my country, it is more important to strengthen the management of winter crops, clear ditches and drains, cultivate soil for rooting, and hard till the unploughed winter soil to loosen the soil, enhance water storage and retention capacity, and eliminate overwintering pests.