What are the traditional folk customs on the Winter Solstice?

Eating Dumplings The Winter Solstice is one of the twenty-four solar terms in my country. It is commonly known as "Winter Festival", "Changzhi Festival", "Yasui", etc. It is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The custom of winter solstice originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and is still used today. "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. Because of this, the Winter Solstice food culture is rich and colorful, such as wontons, dumplings, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, millet rice cakes, etc., and there are dozens of kinds. After thousands of years of development, a unique seasonal food culture has been formed.

Eating wontons Many places in my country have the custom of eating wontons during the winter solstice. According to "Records of the Years in Yanjing": "Winter Solstice Wontons and Summer Solstice Noodles." On the Winter Solstice, people in the capital eat more wontons. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin'an (now Hangzhou) also had the custom of eating wontons every winter solstice. Zhou Mi from the Song Dynasty said that Lin'an people eat wontons during the winter solstice to worship their ancestors. It was only in the Southern Song Dynasty that the custom of eating wontons to worship ancestors during the Winter Solstice became popular in my country.

Since its development, wonton has become a famous snack with many names, different preparations, delicious flavor, spread all over the country, and deeply loved by people. Wonton has many names. Most places such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang call it wonton, while Guangdong calls it wonton, Hubei calls it Baomian, Jiangxi calls it Qingtang, Sichuan calls it Chaoshou, Xinjiang calls it Ququ, etc. There are many special wontons in various places that are highly praised by diners. The famous ones are Chengdu Long Chaoshou Restaurant, which has many varieties, thin skin and tender fillings, and delicious soup; Chongqing Guoqiao Chaoshou, which is exquisite in wrapping and pinching. , with a variety of seasonings, and can be eaten with seasonings; Shanghai Old Town God's Temple Songyunlou Three Fresh Wontons have exquisite fillings, thin skin and delicious flavor; Ququ from Urumqi, Xinjiang, has mutton as the filling, thin skin, tender fillings, and clear soup Fresh and so on.

Eating glutinous rice balls during the winter solstice is a traditional custom in my country, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older". Tangyuan is also called glutinous rice balls, and eating glutinous rice balls during the Winter Solstice is also called "winter solstice dumplings". According to records from the Qing Dynasty, people in Jiangnan used glutinous rice flour to make dough and stuffed it with sugar, meat, apples, bean paste, shredded radish, etc. The Winter Solstice group can be used to worship ancestors, and can also be used to exchange gifts with relatives and friends. In the old days, Shanghainese were most particular about eating glutinous rice balls. They tasted newly brewed sweet liquor, flower cakes and glutinous rice dumplings at the family feast, and then used meat pieces on the plate to worship their ancestors. There is a poem from the ancients: "Every family pounding rice to make glutinous rice balls knows that it is the winter solstice in the Ming Dynasty." Glutinous rice balls are also a traditional delicious food in my country. There are many famous glutinous rice balls in various places in the north and south. For example, Ningbo glutinous rice balls have thin fillings and are glutinous but not sticky; Changsha sisters glutinous rice balls are white and crystal clear, sweet and delicious; Wenzhou County Qian glutinous rice balls are famous for their exquisite ingredients and are sweet and delicious. In addition, Taiwan’s vegetable and meat glutinous rice balls, Chengdu’s Lai glutinous rice balls, Guiyang’s Babao glutinous rice balls, and Anqing’s Weijiaxiang glutinous rice balls are also delicious foods with unique flavors. Nowadays, glutinous rice balls can be eaten not only during the winter solstice, but also all year round.

Eating "Pinched Frozen Ears" "Pinched Frozen Ears" is a common name for Henan people eating dumplings during the winter solstice. Why is there such a food custom? It is said that Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage of Nanyang, once served as an official in Changsha. When he retired and returned to his hometown, it was a snowy winter with biting cold wind. He saw that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River in Nanyang were not fully clothed, and many people's ears were rotten by the cold. He felt very sad, so he asked his disciples to set up a medical tent in Guandong, Nanyang, and put pots with mutton, chili peppers and some anti-cold medicinal materials. Cook it in a pot, take it out, chop it into pieces, wrap it in dough to look like ears, put it in a pot and cook it, and make a medicine called "Cold-Expelling Ear-correcting Soup" and given to the people. After taking it, the villagers' ears were cured. Later, during the winter solstice, people would imitate the cooking process and eat it, thus forming the custom of "pinching frozen ears".

Eating rice cakes. From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China until now, Hangzhou people like to eat rice cakes during the winter solstice. During the winter solstice, we make three meals of rice cakes with different flavors. In the morning, we eat rice cakes with sesame powder mixed with white sugar. At noon, we eat fried rice cakes with fried vegetables, winter bamboo shoots, and shredded pork. For dinner, we eat rice cakes in soup with mustard mustard, shredded pork, and shredded bamboo shoots. Eating rice cakes during the winter solstice will make you grow taller every year, which is auspicious.

Eating Buckwheat Noodles Every winter solstice in Zhejiang and other places, the whole family, men, women and children, gather together, and married daughters also rush back to their in-laws’ homes. Every household makes soba noodles. It is customary to believe that eating buckwheat during the Winter Solstice can remove pig and chicken feathers from the intestines and stomach.

Eating red bean and glutinous rice. In the Jiangnan water towns, there is a custom of the whole family gathering together to eat red bean and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice. There is an interesting rumor about its origin! According to legend, there was a man named Mr. Gong whose son was not successful and committed many evil deeds. He died on the winter solstice. After his death, he turned into a plague ghost and continued to harm the people. However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the winter solstice to ward off plague ghosts and prevent disasters and diseases.