"The time and people are urging each other, and the winter solstice is coming again. "Throughout the ages, the winter solstice has been an important solar term, and it is also one of the "four seasons and eight festivals" that people often say, which has two major connotations: nature and humanity.
Shao Fengli, an associate professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of Liaoning University, introduced that the winter solstice not only has the significance of seasonal markers, but also has long been regarded as a humanistic festival comparable to the New Year, also known as "Ya Sui", "Winter Festival" and "Long Solstice Festival". In fact, the winter solstice was a rather grand festival in ancient times, and the so-called "winter solstice is as big as a year".
The winter solstice is one of the earliest solar terms to be measured.
The winter solstice is one of the earliest measured of the 24 solar terms. According to legend, Fu Xi, the first ancestor of humanities, discovered the winter solstice point by measuring the sun and shadow, and took the winter solstice as the first year.
On this day, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Capricorn, the northern hemisphere of the earth has the shortest day and the longest night, after which the position of the sun gradually moves north, and the day in the northern hemisphere gradually becomes longer. The ancients understood the changes of the seasons with the movement of yin and yang, thinking that "summer ends on the autumn equinox, and spring is born on the winter solstice".
Shao Fengli explained that the winter solstice sprouted in the Yin Shang period and is also the basis for traditional calculation of the season. There are also relevant records in the "Shangshu Yaodian". The "short days" refer to the winter solstice, which is the day of the year when the day is shortest and the night is the longest. In the Book of Han, it is said: "The winter solstice is yang, and the monarch is long, so he congratulates." After the winter solstice, the days are getting longer, the yang energy is rising, and a new round of solar terms begins, which is an auspicious day and should be celebrated.
For example, in ancient times, there was such a situation: the people closed the market for five days to celebrate the festival, and its liveliness was no less than that of the New Year.
According to the record of "Tokyo Menghualu", the Northern Song Dynasty Jingshi attached the most importance to the Winter Solstice Festival, on this day, people are more likely to change clothes, prepare food, and worship their ancestors.
Tian Rucheng of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "West Lake Excursion Zhiyu": "The government and the people celebrate each other, just like the rites of the Yuan Day." Wu is the most prosperous, so there is a saying that the fat winter is thin. "Fat Winter and Thin Year", which means that the local people regard the winter solstice as more important than the New Year, "such as feeding festivals, and toasting to celebrate, and sacrificing and enjoying the Zongyu", which is very lively.
According to the record of "Qing Jialu", before and after the winter solstice in the Qing Dynasty, there were many visits and gifts between relatives and friends, commonly known as "winter worship". The gift box filled with various gifts is called the "winter solstice plate", and the plate is mostly eaten cakes, osmanthus winter wine, dumplings, braised vegetables, etc. The night before the winter solstice is the "night of the winter solstice". On this night, the family reunited and had a "winter solstice feast" with He Meimei.
On December 20, residents of Yuehai Wanjia Community, Jinfeng District, Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province, cooked dumplings. (*From China News Service).
There are so many folk diets.
The "greatness" of the winter solstice lies in the abundance of food. The winter solstice food culture is rich and colorful, and typical seasonal items include wontons, dumplings, glutinous rice, noodles, mutton soup, etc., in order to "support yang and suppress yin" and be healthy.
The winter solstice does not serve dumpling bowls, and no one cares if you freeze your ears." In the memory of many people, every year on the winter solstice, the family has to eat a meal of dumplings in order to be safe in winter.
Legend has it that Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint, was an official in Changsha, and when he returned to his hometown, it was a snowy winter, and the cold wind was biting. He was very sad when he saw that the villagers were not clothed, and many people's ears were also frozen.
So, Zhang Zhongjing asked ** to set up a medical shed, put mutton, chili peppers and some cold-warming herbs into a pot and cook them, then take them out and chop them, wrap them in dough, and distribute them to the people after cooking.
Soon, the ears of the villagers were cured. Later, people imitated eating on the winter solstice, so the custom of eating "pinching frozen ears" (i.e., dumplings) on the winter solstice was formed.
Shao Fengli believes that for some northern families, eating dumplings during the festival can be regarded as a inherited living habit and the inheritance of traditional customs, which is a cultural gene.
In many places in the south of the Yangtze River, it is popular to eat rice balls on the winter solstice. "Round" means "reunion" and "consummation", and eating tangyuan on the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice round". People use it to worship their ancestors in the early morning of the winter solstice, and then reunite with their families to eat, which is called "Tian Sui". There is a folk saying that "one year older after eating rice balls". In some places, the balls eaten at the winter solstice also have unique characteristics, such as steamed dough or wine-stuffed balls made with sakeOr there will be a difference in the filling.
On December 22, the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, Yangjia Village, Tingbian Town, Sanmen County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, held an ancient "winter sacrifice" ceremony. (*From China News Service).
In Shaoxing, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, people often eat wontons, and there is a proverb that "winter solstice wontons and summer solstice noodles". In the villages where the Taizhou people live together, the winter solstice day is called "winter sacrifice". After dinner, the clansmen will offer pork to the elderly over 60 years old, called "old man's meat", 60 years old get a catty, and when they are one year old, they will add an extra catty of meat to show respect for the elderly.
Awaken the taste buds and evoke nostalgia.
In Wuchuan City, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, on the day of the winter solstice, local people must eat a bowl of steaming ginger paste cured rice to keep out the cold and keep healthy. The cooked ginger cured rice is full of color, flavor and flavor. The rice is white, the cured meat is red, and the ginger paste mixed in the rice gives a pleasant visual enjoymentIt has a rich fragrance and a unique flavor, with the mellow aroma of glutinous rice, the fragrance of ginger, and the strong fragrance of cured meat, which is mouth-watering.
Xian Xiuqin, a staff member of the Guanyue Ancient Temple Council of Meilu in Wuchuan City, said that there are many directors in the Guanyue Ancient Temple Council who live in Hong Kong and Macao, and have a soft spot for the smooth and mellow taste of ginger cured rice in their hometown, and they are full of memories.
In Wuchuan City, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, the local people must eat a bowl of steaming ginger paste cured rice on the day of the winter solstice to keep out the cold and keep them healthy. In Xinyi, the hometown of overseas Chinese in Guangdong, on the day of the winter solstice, every household must make a traditional delicacy called "籺" to show importance and celebration.
He Weiqiang, the former chairman of the Xinyi Overseas Chinese Federation, said that "籺" is a handmade food passed down from generation to generation in Xinyi, which carries the food culture of Xinyi and the hometown feelings of Xinyi people. Xinyi is a well-known hometown of overseas Chinese in Guangdong, with more than 500,000 people living overseas, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Many overseas Chinese of Xinyi nationality still retain the tradition of making the winter solstice. The family gathers around to make and eat rice dumplings, and the warmth of family affection is integrated with the fragrance of rice dumplings, and that feeling is unforgettable no matter where you live.
When it comes to the varieties of Xinyi Basket, Aunt Li, who lives in Shuikou Town, Xinyi City, has several treasures: Cockscomb, Shou Tao, Gu Zong, Tian Ai, Cassava, Dustpan, Sugar Plate ......Aunt Li's family likes to make cockscombs the most. Cockscomb is also called boiled soup, with glutinous rice flour and so on as the skin, with peanuts, lean meat, leeks, dried shrimp and so on to make the filling, like dumplings to put the adjusted filling into the skin, and finally with the thumb and index finger along the skin seam to pinch the skin. Boiled soup can be put into the soup to cook to eat, can also be fried in oil to eat, the taste is smooth and soft glutinous, the elderly and children are not greedy.
The salty rice balls cooked with dace slip and seafood are delicious and tempting. (*Profile**).
Today, in addition to buying shrimp, crab, and oysters, I also specially bought half a kilogram of dace slippery. But in Taishan to eat glutinous rice balls, pay attention to the ingredients rather than fillings, there is no filling in the glutinous rice balls, free to match the ingredients to cook salty glutinous rice balls, there are vegetables, meat, seafood, it seems to be the same, but the local ingredients can be selected, the eating habits of each town (street) are different, creating a different home-style taste, in Taishan can be said to be a hundred families have a hundred flavors. Miss Chen, from Taishan, Guangdong, the hometown of overseas Chinese, said that salty glutinous rice balls are best served in the soup with seafood, and the delicious taste is full of strong nostalgia, which is the taste memory of Taishan people at home and abroad "Winter Solstice and New Year". (ENDS).
Comprehensive China News Service, **People** Overseas Edition, etc.