The meaning of the winter solstice.
December 22 is the winter solstice in 2023. The winter solstice is very important in the solar terms, and it is also a traditional festival, when the winter solstice solar terms come, the day time will be longer and longer, the night time will gradually become shorter, and the temperature will gradually drop, and then it will enter the harsh winter. When it comes to this solar term, it is basically almost the Spring Festival, so many people who go out to work are rushing back, the general winter solstice is the custom of eating dumplings and worshipping ancestors, the customs of different regions may be different, in ancient times there is "the winter solstice is as big as the year".
Traditional food customs of the North and South regions during the winter solstice.
1. Beijing wonton.
In the past, there was a saying in old Beijing that "winter solstice wontons and summer solstice noodles". Legend has it that during the Han Dynasty, the northern Xiongnu often harassed the frontier, and the people were not at peace. At that time, there were two leaders of the Hun tribe and the Tun clan, which were very **. The people hated it to the bone, so they wrapped it into horns with meat filling, took the sounds of "muddy" and "tun", and called it "wonton". Hate to eat, and seek to calm the war, so that you can live a peaceful life. Because the first wontons were made on the day of the winter solstice, every family eats wontons on the day of the winter solstice.
2. Southern dumplings.
Every year on the day of the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, dumplings are an indispensable holiday meal for rich and poor. Yan Yun: "On the first day of October, the winter solstice arrives, and every household eats dumplings." This custom is left by commemorating the "medical saint" Zhang Zhongjing on the winter solstice. Northerners eat chaos, and southerners make dumplings.
3. Jiangnan red bean rice.
In the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, there is a custom of the whole family gathering together to eat red beans and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice. According to legend, the Gonggong clan had no talent, did many evils, died on the day of the winter solstice, and became a plague ghost after death, and continued to harm the people. However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the day of the winter solstice to ward off the plague ghosts and prevent disasters and diseases.
Winter solstice climate characteristics: heavy snow, low temperature.
On the winter solstice, the daytime sunshine is the shortest in the year, and it is conceivable that the earth can absorb and release very little heat. After the winter solstice, although the number of days will slowly increase, the speed is really slow, and the heat is far from enough to provide warmth. There was already a cold feeling without enough heat supply, coupled with the continuous invasion of cold air in Siberia, under both conditions, the temperature was not low, and under the continuous low temperature, strong snowfall appeared.