The origin of the winter solstice, customs in various places, how to celebrate the winter solstice?

1. The origin of the Winter Solstice: The Winter Solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and continues to this day. "Qing Jia Lu" even said that "the winter solstice is as big as the New Year". This shows that the ancients attached great importance to the winter solstice. People believe that the winter solstice is the natural transformation of yin and yang and a blessing from God. In the Han Dynasty, the Winter Solstice was regarded as the "Winter Festival", and the government would hold a congratulatory ceremony called "Hedong" and have a routine holiday. There is such a record in "Book of the Later Han Dynasty": "Before and after the winter solstice, a gentleman settles down, keeps all officials in charge, does not listen to politics, and chooses auspicious times to save trouble." Therefore, on this day, the court has a holiday and rest, the army is on standby, the border fortress is in retreat, and the business travel is closed. , relatives and friends each give each other delicious food, visit each other, and happily spend a "settle and quiet" festival.

2. Customs of the Winter Solstice:

(1) Taiwan Winter Solstice Folk Customs: In Taiwan, we still preserve the tradition of using nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors during the Winter Solstice, using glutinous rice flour to make chicken, Ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, sheep and other animals that symbolize good fortune, wealth and longevity are then steamed in layers in a steamer to worship ancestors to show that they do not forget their ancestors.

(2) Winter Solstice custom in the north: Eating dumplings on the Winter Solstice is to remember the kindness of "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing's "Quhan Jiao Er Tang". There is still a folk saying in Nanyang that "if you don't bring dumpling bowls during the winter solstice, your ears will freeze off and no one will care".

(3) Winter Solstice customs of Suzhou people: During the winter solstice, Suzhou people also have the custom of eating wontons.

(4) Ningxia Winter Solstice Customs: On the day of Winter Solstice, Yinchuan has a custom of drinking rice noodle soup and eating mutton rice noodle soup dumplings. Yinchuan people also have a special name for mutton noodle soup - "brain".

(5) Shanghai Winter Solstice Customs: Shanghainese are used to eating glutinous rice balls on the day of the Winter Solstice to celebrate the arrival of the Winter Solstice.

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3. Celebration activities include: Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties held ceremonies to worship the sky, which is called "Winter Solstice Suburban Sky". There is a ceremony in the palace where officials present congratulations to the emperor, and they also congratulate each other, just like New Year's Day. However, the folk do not regard the winter solstice as a festival, but there are some activities that suit the time. After entering Jiu, some literati and scholar-bureaucrats engaged in so-called cold-relieving activities. They chose a "Nine" day to meet nine people to drink ("wine" and "jiu" are homophones). There were nine dishes and nine bowls on the table. Use the "Nine Pieces of Flowers" mat to take the meaning of ninety-nine to relieve the cold.