Who is the winter solstice commemorating? What are the customs?

Dumplings are eaten on the winter solstice, and dog meat is eaten in the south.

The customs of the winter solstice: ancient commemoration.

The Winter Solstice Festival is also known as the Winter Festival and the Winter Festival. It is one of the 24 solar terms, it is a traditional festival in China, there was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the year", the court and the people have always attached great importance to it, and there have been sacrificial activities since the Zhou Dynasty.

The custom of the winter solstice: 99 to cool off.

After entering the nineth, some literati and scholars and brothers and husbands flowed, engaged in the so-called cold activities, chose a "nine" day, met nine people to drink ("wine" and "nine" homonym), used nine plates and nine bowls on the table, and used "nine flowers" to form a table, in order to take the meaning of ninety-nine to eliminate the cold.

The winter solstice is the major solar term of the 24 qi, and the winter solstice means the beginning of the counting of nine days, and from this day, the north officially enters the long, cold winter. However, the customs of the winter solstice vary from place to place. In the north, dumplings are an indispensable festive meal on the day of the winter solstice of the lunar calendar every year.

A night of hot dumplings in the winter brings not only food and clothing, but also heart-warming blessings and sustenance. There are tangyuan in the south Unlike the northerners, the southerners are more fond of the tangyuan. There is a saying:

Every family pounds rice to make glutinous rice balls, and it is known that it is the winter solstice day of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that every winter solstice, southerners will use glutinous rice flour to knead into dough, wrap it with various fillings, and knead it into white and fat rice balls. A mouthful of sweet glutinous belly, accompanied by the sweet soup cooked with the pot, is more beautiful than the delicacies of the mountains and seas.

The winter solstice, such an important solar term, it heralds that the end of the year is approaching. Whether it is dumplings in the north or dumplings in the south, they all have a common expectation, called reunion.

The historical origin of the winter solstice, the winter solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the winter solstice was the day of worshiping the heavens and sacrificing the ancestors, and the emperor would go to the suburbs on this day to hold a ceremony to worship the heavens, and the people would worship their parents on this day.

Eating dumplings and drinking mutton soup ......What are the winter solstice customs?

As a festival that has lasted for a long time, the winter solstice naturally has many interesting customs.

Data map: December 21 is the traditional Chinese solar term - the winter solstice. On the same day, the reporter visited a number of mutton restaurants in Chongqing and saw that the business in the store was booming, and some stores even expanded the venue from indoor to outdoor and set up temporary business points, such as "Baba Banquet".

As the saying goes, "When the winter solstice arrives, eat dumplings". In northern China, there is a custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice, and in the south, most of them eat glutinous rice balls, of course, there are exceptions, such as in Tengzhou, Shandong and other places, it is popular to drink mutton soup on the day of the winter solstice, which means to drive away the cold.

In addition, in the water town of the south of the Yangtze River, the whole family gathers on the night of the winter solstice to eat red beans and glutinous rice. According to legend, one of the sons of the Gonggong clan did a lot of evil and died on the winter solstice, and after his death, he became a plague ghost and killed the people. But the plague ghosts are particularly afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the winter solstice, hoping to prevent disasters and get rid of diseases.

Interestingly, Suzhou also has the custom of drinking "winter wine". Dongshuo is a type of rice wine that is brewed with the addition of osmanthus flowers. On the night of the winter solstice, the common people drink delicious winter liquor while tasting various braised vegetables such as braised beef, and the house is full of laughter.

After the "number nine" began, it was popular among the people to fill in the ninety-nine cold map for recreation. The ninety-nine cold picture is usually a double hook red calligraphy, from the winter solstice to fill in a stroke every day according to the order of strokes, to the ninety-nine after the spring back to the earth, a nine-nine cold picture is completed.

Winter is the season of winter hiding, the north wind is howling, and the earth is frozen. Folklore expert Xiao Fang mentioned in "The Twenty-four Solar Terms and Folk Customs" that the winter solstice is an important seasonal node, and people hold a series of seasonal rituals around the winter solstice.

1. Eating glutinous rice balls in Guangzhou and glutinous rice on the winter solstice is a traditional custom in China, especially prevalent in Guangdong. There is a folk saying that "one year older after eating glutinous rice balls". Guangzhou winter solstice rice balls are also called soup balls, and winter solstice soup balls are also called "winter solstice balls".

Many of Lao Guang's winter solstice memories when he was a child are inseparable from a reunion dinner.

2. He Dazi eats sweet pills: According to legend, the winter solstice in the Han Dynasty has the custom of "eating wine and food, and greeting the elderly". Since the Song Dynasty and Lu Leak Yuan, the tide custom has prevailed to eat sweet pills.

Sweet pills are a sweet soup made from glutinous rice grinding and water rubbing pills, and they are the most representative food on the winter solstice. Before the winter solstice, the peasant housewives have scooped glutinous rice flour (now mostly machine-rolled), some of which are interconnected, and gifted to relatives and friends.

3. Eating glutinous rice balls: Eating glutinous rice balls has been customary in the Ming and Qing dynasties. On the day of the winter solstice, it is necessary to "make flour balls" or "flour glutinous rice for pills".

These are also officially recorded in historical materials, called "Winter solstice, flour glutinous rice is pills, and the name is glutinous rice balls." After making the rice balls, it is necessary to worship the gods and ancestors, and then eat the rice balls around the family, which is called "Tian Sui". Therefore, eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is ancient.

4. Eat roast meat: On the day of the winter solstice, most Cantonese people have the custom of eating winter solstice meat with "vegetables". Among them, roast meat is an indispensable traditional food on the winter solstice table of Cantonese people. In addition to worshipping their ancestors, the whole family prepares some bacon and sausages to eat to pray for good luck in the coming year.