What are the winter solstice customs in Suzhou?

1. It is essential to brew wine on the winter solstice night, because there is a proverb in the ancient city of Suzhou: "If you don't drink winter wine on the winter solstice, you will be frozen overnight." This winter wine is brewed only once a year. This is a kind of rice wine made of osmanthus fragrans.

As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, ancient wine was the embryonic form of yellow rice wine and yellow rice wine. Osmanthus fragrans winter brewing in Suzhou, Jiangnan is an ancient and authentic wine taste of China people. Turning to the classics, osmanthus winter brewing is also called "three wines", that is, "soaking white glutinous rice with clear water and making koji with white flour".

This wine is brewed only once a year from winter to the day before, with sweet and light taste and fragrant smell. When the wine is poured into the cup, the aroma gradually rises, then spreads, and finally the room is full of warm and sweet aroma, which makes people drunk before drinking. However, the wine in winter is very weak, and all ages, women and children can drink two cups.

2.wonton

It is said that Suzhou people also have the custom of eating wonton on the solstice in winter. According to legend, at a banquet in wuyue during the Spring and Autumn Period, Beauty Shi presented a dustpan-shaped snack to the King of Wu. The king of Wu ate a big bowl in one breath and repeatedly asked, "What kind of snack is this, so delicious?" "Stone thought, this stupid king can't get rid of chaos, so he casually replied," chaos. In order to commemorate the wisdom and creation of stone, Suzhou people regard it as the appropriate food for the winter festival.

The ancients said that the sky is round and the earth is round. The square wonton skin represents the ground, and the stuffing in the tundish is the weather, which is a "chaotic world" that is inseparable from heaven and earth. People eat "wonton" on the winter solstice, which means eating the "chaotic world" and making it a peaceful world.

3. Potted vegetables

After the winter solstice, besides drinking winter wine, another custom of Suzhou people is to eat pot-stewed vegetables. In the past, there was a saying among the people that "there is a copper coin to eat all night, but there is no copper coin to freeze all night". Now, of course, there is no overnight freezing, and we won't really eat overnight, but it is still the custom of many Suzhou families to buy some ready-made braised dishes and have a good reunion dinner at home. Therefore, without exception, the pot-stewed food shops in Sioux City will welcome the best business one or two days before the winter solstice.

Don't buy pot-stewed vegetables too early from winter to Sunday night. Pot-stewed vegetables can only be kept for two or three days, and it is easy to breed bacteria if they are kept for too long. It's not too late to buy before the winter solstice night.

4. Winter to Japan Group

Suzhou people also have the saying of "winter solstice group", also called "rice cake group" On the night before the winter solstice, it was ground into a ball and stuffed with minced meat, vegetables and fruits, red bean paste and shredded radish, and was sacrificed and given to each other. There is still the custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice in Wudi countryside.

Since ancient times, Taihu Lake has been rich in rice, and cakes made of glutinous rice flour are the most distinctive and common snacks in the area. The round winter solstice group is a must-have snack during the dinner.

It is said that in Suzhou, January Lantern Festival, February 2nd mat cake, March green dumplings, April 14th fairy cake, May fried dumplings with meat stuffing, June 24th crab jujube dumplings, July cowpea cakes, August glutinous rice balls, September 9th Chongyang cakes, October radish cakes, November winter solstice cakes, December sweet-scented osmanthus lard sugar rice cakes, and twelve snacks after eating.

5. Mutton

"Killing tigers in winter and spring" is a popular proverb among Wu people. Suzhou people also began to make a big tonic from the winter solstice, and also formed the peak of eating mutton after autumn.