Why does beginning of winter eat mutton?

It is said that the custom of eating mutton in beginning of winter began in the Han Dynasty. People eat mutton and all kinds of nutritious food on this day in early winter in order to have a good omen for the coming year. Now in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, this day is called Jiujiu. Before the festival, the elders will be given mutton and other gifts, and every household will drink mutton soup, which is a good sign for individuals, elders and families.

Mutton soup is mainly to put sheep bones into a large pot to boil soup, and then put the cut fresh mutton and cleaned mutton offal into the soup pot to boil soup.

After cooking, scoop up and drain the water, then slice it into boiling water, then pour it into a soup bowl, pour in boiling white sheep soup, sprinkle with chopped green onion, and a bowl of steaming mutton soup with overflowing fragrance will be ready. Mutton soup made of Chili oil, pepper noodles, salt and monosodium glutamate.

Extended data:

After beginning of winter, the sunshine time will continue to shorten, and the height of the sun will continue to decrease at noon.

Because there is still some energy in the heat stored on the surface, it is generally not very cold in early winter; As time goes by, strong cold air frequently goes south and crosses Nanling, and the weather is getting colder and colder. In the north, it is already very cold before winter begins.

Traditionally, "beginning of winter" is the beginning of winter, "Spring comes and summer grows, autumn harvests and winter hides". Winter is the season to enjoy harvest and rest. Beginning of winter is one of the "four seasons and eight festivals" in ancient China. In some places in ancient China, sacrifices, banquets and other activities were held at the beginning of winter as important festivals to celebrate.