What are the customs of the winter solstice festival?

After thousands of years of development, a unique seasonal diet culture has been formed from winter solstice to Sunday. Such as wonton, jiaozi, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, millet and rice cakes. Can be used as new year's goods. The once popular "Winter Solstice Day Annual Banquet" has many names, such as eating winter solstice meat, offering winter solstice dishes, offering winter solstice groups, and worshiping winter with wonton.

There is a custom of eating wonton on the solstice in winter. As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, people in Lin 'an ate wonton on the solstice in winter. At first, it was to worship ancestors, and then it gradually became popular. There is a folk saying that "there are wonton on the solstice in winter and noodles on the solstice in summer". Today, wonton has become a famous snack with many kinds, different productions and delicious taste all over the country, which is deeply loved by people. Wonton has many names, such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang Wonton, Guangdong Wonton, Hubei Noodle, Jiangxi Clear Soup, Sichuan Wonton, Xinjiang Ququ and so on.

Eating jiaozi is also a traditional custom in winter solstice, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. "Tangyuan" is an essential food from winter solstice, and it is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour. "Round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is also called "the winter solstice group". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". The winter solstice group can be used to worship ancestors or give gifts to relatives and friends. In the past, Shanghainese were most particular about eating jiaozi. An ancient poem said, "Every family beats rice to make glutinous rice balls, knowing that it is the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty."

There are still many places in the north that have the custom of eating dog meat and mutton from winter solstice, because after winter solstice, the weather enters the coldest period. Chinese medicine believes that mutton and dog meat have the function of strengthening yang and tonifying deficiency, and the folk still have the custom of tonic in winter solstice.

5. In Taiwan Province Province of China, there is still a tradition of offering nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors from winter to sun. Glutinous rice flour is kneaded into chickens, ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, sheep and other animals symbolizing good luck, and then steamed in layers in a steamer to show ancestor worship and not forget ancestors. In the early days of the winter solstice or before and after the agreement, people with the same surname and clan gather in the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors one by one in the order of generations. After the ceremony, there will be a grand banquet for the people who come to worship their ancestors. Everyone drinks heartily and meets again after a long separation, which is called "food ancestor". The ancestors of the winter solstice festival are handed down from generation to generation in Taiwan Province to show that they have never forgotten their roots.

6. The winter solstice is a rich festival. It is said that New Year's Day was the winter from the Japanese to the Zhou Dynasty in history, which used to be a very lively day. In today's Jiangnan area, there is another saying that eating winter makes you one year older, commonly known as "adding years"