The Origin and Customs of Winter Solstice Festival

First, the origin of the winter solstice:

Winter solstice is one of the "24 solar terms". During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, twenty-four solar terms were absorbed into the calendar as a supplement to the calendar guiding farming, and the division of solar terms adopted the method of "balancing qi" (that is, the average time method).

The "leveling method" is to determine the shortest day in the Yellow River basin as the winter solstice by photogrammetry, divide the date between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice into twelve equal parts, which is called "Zhongqi", and then divide the dates between adjacent "Zhongqi" into equal parts, which is called "solar terms"; On average, there is a "neutral gas" and a "solar term" every month, which are collectively called "24 solar terms".

Second, the custom of winter solstice:

1, eat jiaozi and wonton in the north.

In northern China, there is a custom of eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter. On this day every year, jiaozi is an indispensable holiday feast for the rich and the poor. According to legend, this custom is to commemorate the kindness of "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing in "Quhan Joule Decoction".

The meaning of winter solstice wonton is mainly sacrifice, followed by eating. Some ancient people thought that eating wonton in winter solstice was to break the yin, release the yang and support the growth of the yang between heaven and earth.

2. Eat jiaozi in the south.

Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is a traditional custom in China, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". Tangyuan can be used to worship ancestors, give gifts to relatives and friends, and represent reunion.

Extended data

The ancients painted "Relief Map of Cold Region in 1999" to celebrate the winter solstice;

The ancients believed that it took nine "nine days" from the winter solstice, that is, 998 1 day, before the cold ended and the earth began to warm up, so there was a saying of "counting nine cold days". During this period, many people's activities were restricted because of the cold, especially the entertainment activities were less. Therefore, in order to eliminate the loneliness and cold in the long time from winter to spring, people invented the pastime method of "counting nine".

Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a folk custom of drawing the "Nine-Nine Cold Map", also known as the "Nine-Nine Map". People draw a stroke every day to count these 8 1 day, expressing a warm heart to welcome spring. Among them, Sumeitu is a representative of poetics.

Draw a plum blossom first, and nine plum blossoms on the branch, each with nine petals, * * * 998 1 petal, that is, eighty-one small plum blossoms, representing eighty-one days of "counting nine days". Draw a petal or a flower with a red pen or a black pen every day, and the petals will open nine times, and winter will go and spring will come. In ancient times, when officials went to court during the winter solstice, they also gave each other a beautiful gift with Su Mei's "Cold Map in September and September".

Baidu encyclopedia-winter solstice

People's Daily Online-Today's Winter Solstice: The earliest solar term? The customs in the north and the south are very different.