Why do Cantonese people celebrate the winter solstice festival and call it the off-year festival? Want to eat jiaozi. When did it originate?

Eating dumplings is a traditional custom from winter solstice, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. "Tangyuan" is an essential food from winter solstice, and it is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour. "Round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is also called "the winter solstice group". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". The winter solstice group can be used to worship ancestors or give gifts to relatives and friends. In the past, Shanghainese were most particular about eating jiaozi. An ancient poem said, "Every family beats rice to make glutinous rice balls, knowing that it is the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty." Winter solstice is a rich festival. It is said that New Year's Day was the winter from the Japanese to the Zhou Dynasty in history, which used to be a very lively day. In today's Jiangnan area, there is another saying that eating winter makes you one year older, commonly known as "adding years"

Extended data:

Winter solstice, commonly known as "Winter Festival", "Dragon solstice Festival" or "Children's Day". The solstice in winter has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only an important solar term among the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The solstice in winter is considered as a big holiday in winter. In ancient times, there was a saying that the winter solstice was 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 many areas, there are customs such as ancestor worship in winter solstice, and some places celebrate this festival in winter solstice. ?

The winter solstice is June 65438+February 2 1 ~ 23 in Gregorian calendar every year. It is worth noting that around the winter solstice, the earth is located near the perihelion, and its running speed is slightly faster, resulting in that the time of direct sunlight in the southern hemisphere is about 8 days shorter than that in the northern hemisphere in a year, so the winter in the northern hemisphere is slightly shorter than that in summer.