The Solstice of Winter, Tomorrow, the Shortest Day, and the Longest Missing —— Twenty-four Solar Terms for Spreading Dharma.

65438+February 22nd, winter solstice.

The ancients said that when the cathode arrived, the yang began to grow, the sun went south, the day was short and the shadow was long, so it was called the "winter solstice".

The winter solstice, also known as the "sunny day", was considered by the ancients as an auspicious day, which indicated that it was a year in Phuket, so there was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as a year, and there was a custom of celebrating the winter solstice.

The winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. This is like a turning point. From this day on, the nights are getting shorter and the days are getting longer and longer. "The solstice of winter breeds spring again" is a new beginning.

Three stages of winter solstice

Wait for the earthworm to knot. Earthworms, curled up in yin, stretched out in yang, and cold in yin corrected as knots.

Second, wait for the elk horn to solve. Deer belong to the mountain beast of Yang, and feel the shade and get rid of horns on the solstice in summer. Elk is a shiny animal. It feels sunny, so it solves its horns in winter solstice.

Wait for the spring to move. Water was born by the sun in the sky, and now the sun is born, so the water spring secretly flows.

Utadakshin

There was such a collision in the office about how to spend the winter solstice:

"Remember, on the solstice in winter, the whole family got together to eat jiaozi and drink mutton soup, and the elders taught the children to count to nine. 」

"You Shandong people eat jiaozi no matter what festivals, right? ! 」

"You can say that. However, eating jiaozi is also exquisite. On the solstice of winter, there are many things behind this jiaozi! 」

"The winter solstice custom in Shanghai is very different from that in the north. Shanghainese have the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves from winter to Sunday, and their food customs include glutinous rice balls, longan red dates, red beans and glutinous rice. The winter solstice night is also called the winter solstice night. Many elders will remind the younger generation to go home early at night and not stay out late. 」

……

The so-called different winds in ten miles, different customs in a hundred miles. The winter solstice in Shanghai can be said to be a slightly sad festival similar to Qingming.

As a "new Shanghainese" who grew up in Shandong and now works in Shanghai, his memory of the solstice winter is more in the north.

Dried flowers are fragrant, Lan.

Jiaozi is eaten in the north.

In the north, the proverb says: "On 10/day, when winter solstice comes, every family eats jiaozi." This is a portrayal of jiaozi's unique flavor as the winter solstice.

When I was a child, my grandmother would say, "I want to eat jiaozi on the solstice in winter, or my ears will freeze off." When this comes out, I will be surprised to eat more jiaozi, because jiaozi in the north is very sincere. Later, I learned that this folk story was originally to commemorate the "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing who gave up medicine on the solstice of winter.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing was a magistrate in Changsha, visiting doctors and practicing medicine in the lobby. Then he resolutely resigned and went back to his hometown to treat his neighbors. When he got home, it was already winter. Seeing that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were sallow and emaciated, hungry and cold, and many people's ears were frozen stiff, he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed and cauldron in Dongguan, Nanyang, and give alms to the people on the day of the winter solstice.

He boiled mutton, pepper and some herbs for dispelling cold in a pot, then took out mutton and medicine and chopped them into ear-shaped Joules with bread. After cooking, he gave everyone two Joules and a big bowl of broth. People ate "Joule" and drank "Quhan Decoction", and they were all hot, their ears were hot, and their frostbitten ears were cured.

Later generations learned the appearance of Joule and packaged it into food, also called "jiaozi" or "flat food". Therefore, the custom of eating jiaozi's anti-freezing ears from winter solstice has been spreading in the north.

As far as I can remember, my mother always brought hot jiaozi to the dinner table from winter to Sunday. The whole family got together and spent the longest winter night in a steaming laughter.

When I grow up, I work outside, and geographical obstacles make this sense of ceremony at the winter solstice table become a long rope of missing, which is tied to my heart.

"Count to nine"

The winter solstice begins at 9: 00, and in the eyes of the older generation, the days after the winter solstice are spent on it. Starting from the date of winter solstice, counting nine days in a row, it will be eighty-one days, just as winter goes and spring comes.

1929 Don't make a move.

3949 ice walk

Look at the willows by the river.

Seven or nine rivers open and eight or nine geese come.

99 plus 1, plowing cattle everywhere.

-"Jiujiu Song"

I may be afraid of the cold and wet "magic attack", so I prefer "counting nine" after coming to Shanghai. I hope spring will come.

Jiang Wenyi Ye Meng

Figure, Yu Yue, Jiang

(Some pictures are taken from the network)