Stories and legends of winter solstice

Stories and legends about winter solstice: Eating jiaozi is related to Zhang Zhongjing's treatment of ear frostbite, that is, the custom of "pinching frozen ears" in the north.

According to legend, this custom originated from Zhang Zhongjing, a doctor in Nanyang, Han Dynasty. When Zhang Zhongjing retired in Changsha, it was a snowy winter and the wind was biting. Seeing that many people's ears on both sides of the Baihe River in Nanyang were frozen rotten, he ordered his disciples to set up a medicine shed in Guandong, Nanyang, put mutton, peppers and cold-dispelling herbs in a pot, cook them, and take them out and chop them up.

Make a noodle bag into an ear, then put it in a pot and cook it to make a medicine called "Quhan Joule Soup" for the people to eat. After eating, the people's frozen ears were cured. Later, on the ninth day of the winter solstice, people imitated eating and called it "jiaozi", or "flat food" or "instant noodle jiaozi".

Winter solstice custom

It is also said that the custom of "pinching frozen ears" is formed when people are not frozen in jiaozi during the winter solstice. This custom is especially popular in Henan province. On the solstice of winter, no matter whether the family is rich or poor, they should eat jiaozi. This is a folk saying: 1 1 month. When the solstice of winter comes, every household will eat jiaozi.

Because the arrival of winter solstice means entering a colder stage, in order to protect our ears from freezing, we should eat jiaozi, and jiaozi looks like ears to bless them. Therefore, we will find that northerners, no matter where they are, will eat a bowl of hot jiaozi on the solstice in winter, so as to wish themselves a healthy and smooth winter and usher in the new year.