The origin and legend of the winter solstice

The winter solstice is an important solar term in the Chinese lunar calendar, and it is also a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago, China has used Tugui to observe the sun and determine the winter solstice, which is the earliest of the 24 solar terms, and the time is between December 21 and 23 of the Gregorian calendar every year.

On the day of the winter solstice, the sun reaches the southernmost point of the year, almost reaching the Tropic of Capricorn (23°26 south latitude).'）。On this day, the Northern Hemisphere receives the least amount of sunlight, 50% less than the Southern Hemisphere. The days are at their shortest in the Northern Hemisphere and get shorter the further north they go.

For example, the southernmost part of China, Zengmu Dark Sha (2°33'N), had a daylight of 11 hours and 59 minutes, Haikou City had about 10 hours and 55 minutes, Hangzhou City had 10 hours and 12 minutes, Beijing City had about 9 hours and 20 minutes, and Mohe County of Heilongjiang Province (52°58'N), known as the "northernmost point of China", had only 7 hours and 34 minutes. After the winter solstice, the night sky and stars are completely replaced by winter stars, and from today onwards, it will "enter the nine". At this time, it is the height of summer in the southern hemisphere.

1] In China, there is a custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice. As the saying goes: "When the winter solstice arrives, eat dumplings." Of course, there are exceptions, such as the custom of drinking mutton soup on the day of the winter solstice in Tengzhou, Shandong, which means to drive away the cold. Food customs vary from place to place, but eating dumplings is the most common.

Summary. Dear, I am glad to answer for you: 1, the origin of the winter solstice festival due to the gap between the lunar and solar calendars, in China's winter solstice season, generally on December 21 and 23 every year, the night of the winter solstice is very long, in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the 24 solar terms are used to guide the agricultural calendar, mainly using the average time method to divide the solar terms, so that the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice is called the middle air, and then divided between the middle air, it becomes the 24 solar terms, the winter solstice is only one of them, It is a festival unique to our Chinese nation.

In ancient times, people believed that the day of the winter solstice was the natural transformation of yin and yang, and everyone had to hold a winter ceremony. <>

The origin of the winter solstice.

Dear, I am glad to answer for you: 1, the origin of the winter solstice festival due to the gap between the lunar and solar calendars, in China's winter solstice season, generally on December 21 and 23 every year, the night of the winter solstice is very long, in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the 24 solar terms are used to guide the agricultural calendar, mainly using the average time method to divide the solar terms, so that the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice is called the middle air, and then divided between the middle air, it becomes the 24 solar terms, the winter solstice is only one of them, It is a festival unique to our Chinese nation. In ancient times, people believed that the day of the winter solstice was the natural transformation of yin and yang, and everyone had to hold a winter ceremony.

Expansion: The customs of the winter solstice in the north: eating dumplings personally thinks that the winter solstice is celebrated in the north, which is more ritualistic, after the winter solstice comes, most families in the north will choose to eat dumplings, whether poor or rich, everyone has heard of Zhang Zhongjing, the doctor to make the story of dispelling cold and Jiao'er soup, in fact, this is a real occurrence, and later people will eat a bowl of dumplings on the day of the winter solstice to express their gratitude to the medical saint Zhang Zhongjing in order to commemorate the day of Zhang Zhongjing's death.

In addition, a small number of families in the north will also choose to eat wontons, wontons mean to regulate yin and yang, some people think that the winter solstice is the time of extreme yin, so to use wontons to regulate the growth of yang between heaven and earth, in fact, it is not unreasonable. In fact, eating wontons is suitable for the Han Dynasty, when the northern Xiongnu were divided into two tribes, one was called Hun's and the other was called Tun's, these two tribes brought great trouble to the lives of the people, so the common people hated it to the bone, so they named it wonton and ate it. <>

The winter solstice is one of the 24 solar terms, representing the official arrival of winter, so how much do you know about the origin of the winter solstice? Next, I will share with you the knowledge about the winter solstice.

The winter solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and has been along the line to this day. "Qing Jialu" even has a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a 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 it is a blessing from God. The Han Dynasty took the winter solstice as the "winter festival", and the government held a congratulatory ceremony called "He Dong", which was a routine holiday.

Many places in southern China celebrate the winter solstice with festivals. The traditional custom of ancestor worship continues in parts of the southern coastal areas. In some areas in the south, it is more popular to eat winter solstice balls (winter solstice pills), taking the meaning of reunion.

Legend has it that when the doctor Zhang Zhongjing returned to his hometown, he saw the people who were suffering from the cold, so he used mutton and some cold-warding herbs and dough to wrap them in the shape of ears, and made a medicine called "cold-repelling and ear-correcting soup", and gave alms to the people to eat. Later, every winter solstice, people imitated making and eating, forming a custom.