What do Shaoxing people eat on the solstice in winter?
The solar term from the winter solstice can be said to be the most important solar term. After the winter solstice, a new cycle of yin and yang will begin between heaven and earth. At the same time, because this day is a traditional festival "Winter Festival", it is also called Xiaonian Festival, and people in different places celebrate this day in different ways.
Winter solstice is an important festival for Shaoxing people in a year. As the saying goes, "the solstice in winter is as big as every year." In ancient times, people always regarded it as another New Year. Jiatai Huiji called it "like a solemn but not simple day", and many things began at the solstice of winter. The lunar calendar is clear, that is, from winter to the future 106 days, that is, "the winter solstice is 160 clear", and "Jiujiu Song" also takes winter solstice as the ninth day, from 29 to 99, to remember the seasonal changes.
The development of history
There is another saying: On the day of the winter solstice, there are grand ceremonies on all avenues in the capital. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Taoist took a kiss and went to the table to celebrate the Buddha's birthday. According to Taoism, the Buddha in the early Yuan Dynasty symbolizes the first century when chaos and Taoism were not divided. Therefore, people have the custom of eating wonton. "Yanjing Years Old" says: "The shape of husband's wonton is like a chicken egg, which is quite like the chaos of heaven and earth, so it is eaten on the winter solstice." In fact, "wonton" and "chaos" are homophonic, so people extend eating wonton to break the chaos and create the world.
Later generations no longer explain its original meaning, but only spread the proverb "wonton on the winter solstice, noodles on the summer solstice", which is simply considered to be a seasonal diet. Many places in China have the custom of eating wonton on the solstice in winter. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an (now Hangzhou) also had the custom of eating wonton from winter to Sunday. People in the Song Dynasty carefully said that people in Lin 'an ate wonton in winter solstice to worship their ancestors. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that the custom of eating wonton to worship ancestors became popular in China on the winter solstice.