Why Suzhou winter night is like a big year

Suzhou people have "winter solstice as big as the year" called, that is, pay special attention to this festival. Before the festival, friends and relatives to food gifts, baskets and boxes, filling the road, called the winter solstice plate. The night before the festival, commonly known as the winter solstice night, the family reunion to eat the winter solstice night meal. All married women must return to their husbands' homes, if they stay in their mothers' homes, unfavorable relatives, will be poor, "ten rice bucket nine empty". Pumpkin can not be placed in the home overnight, must be placed in the open air on the roof, otherwise it will be disaster. Before the night meal ancestor worship, ancestor worship dishes must be burned back to the pot, or eat will have poor memory. Night meal dishes are particularly sumptuous, rich people at least eight pots of a warm pot, plus whole chickens, whole ducks, big blue fish, and stewed feet. If you have a family member who is out of town, put a set of chopsticks and bowls as usual. Various dishes have auspicious names: egg dumplings are called "Yuanbao", meat dumplings are called "Reunion", noodles are called "Golden Chain", chicken is called "Pupu Teng", and fish is called "Fish". ", fish called "eat surplus", soybean sprouts called "Ruyi vegetable", green vegetables called "Anle vegetable", as the New Year's Eve New Year's Eve dinner custom. Putting soybeans inside the rice is called "Yuanbao rice", and two hot water chestnuts are put in the rice bowl in advance, which is called "digging Yuanbao" when you clip them out during the meal. At the evening meal, they drank a kind of winter wine made with herbs and molasses at a very low degree, and children and women were allowed to drink it. As for the poor families, after paying the rent, there is not much left, so they have to "have money to eat all night, no money to freeze all night".

The winter solstice morning, eat the winter solstice ball (round or pumpkin dumplings). This day began to start nine, called even the winter nine, until nine nine eighty-one days and the end of the cold. In addition, the common winter solstice before and after the rain and snow, the main year clear. If the winter solstice days clear, the end of the year more rain and snow, muddy roads. Therefore, there is a "clean winter solstice sloppy year, sloppy winter solstice clean year" said.

To figure out why only Suzhou "winter solstice is as big as the year", first of all, we have to figure out the origin of the winter solstice: sheep thousands of years, our country has been in the farming society, and in order to adapt to the farming civilization, our ancestors have always attached great importance to the seasons of the weather and changes in seasonal changes. 3,000 years ago, the summer and business dynasties of the "Shangshu - Yao Dian During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, there was already a record of the winter solstice, which was called the "short day" at that time. In the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, the winter solstice was officially mentioned in the 24 solar terms formed in China, and it was also mentioned in Kapitsuka Zhoushu (汲冢周書-时训解). For the winter solstice, many people now understand the literal meaning of the winter solstice, thought the winter solstice, from this day onwards, winter came, but in fact, its original meaning is not the arrival of winter, but "winter solar activity to the southern pole", "to", is the "pole", "to", is the "pole". "The first time I saw this, I was able to see the sun's energy in the sky, and I was able to see the sun's energy in the sky, and I was able to see the sun's energy in the sky.

Mention of the Suzhou prevailing "winter solstice is as big as the year", the time is indeed not short, there should have been more than 3,000 years of history. Ming "Jiajing - Gusu Zhi" said "especially heavy winter solstice, three days off the market, as on New Year's Day", Qing Dynasty "Wu County years Hua Ji Li" also recorded: "County people most important winter solstice festival", it can be said that the folk "winter solstice is as big as years! It can be said that at that time there was a folk saying that "winter solstice is as big as the year". In our country's tradition, for the four seasons of the year, we always have spring plowing, summer plowing, autumn harvest, winter storage. And the so-called winter storage, is the rest day after the fall busy, is to celebrate the harvest festival. Suzhou, with its warm mountains and soft water, has always been the country's granary, and since the Song Dynasty, the popular saying "When Suzhou and Lake are ripe, the world is full" should not only be attributed to the importance the country attaches to Suzhou as the backbone of food, but also to the importance that the people of Suzhou attach to agriculture and water conservancy. As for the ancestors of Suzhou, it is well known that since the end of the Shang Dynasty, Tai Bo ran to Wu, which brought not only the migration of population, but also the culture because of the migration of residents. In a sense, many of the inhabitants of Wu are part of the descendants of the Zhou Dynasty. Suzhou is a place of very strong cultural heritage, it has a strong ability to inherit civilization, and for folklore, naturally, also get the best inheritance: according to the Zhou calendar, the beginning of the year is the first month of the lunar month of November, so it is not surprising that we in Suzhou, following the customs since the Zhou, pay special attention to the winter solstice. Qingjiazhu" cited Cai Yun "Wu Yu owe" said "winter fat and skinny life respectively, still attacked Ji family Jianzi spring". Tang Dynasty people also have to the winter solstice for a new start of the year, then called the night before the winter solstice for the "New Year's Eve".

I hope it helps you~~~