What are the customs of winter solstice in Hainan?

Haikou and Chengmai eat yam milk.

In Qiongbei area of Hainan, especially Haikou, there is a folk custom of eating raw potato milk from winter to Sunday. Maoshu milk is made of coarse grain Maoshu, which is unique to Hainan, with Chinese cabbage, meat, medlar and so on. It tastes sweet and salty. A steaming bowl of sweet potato milk is a must-have food for many vagrants who leave Hainan when they come back to visit relatives from the winter solstice.

Ding an chi Cai Bao fan

Eating vegetables and rice is a folk custom in Ding 'an. On the solstice of winter, people will mix meat, vegetables and rice, wrap them in leaves and eat them together in their hands. Family reunion, food and meals, that is, family wealth is not lost. When a year's wealth is gathered here, the whole family will be happy and healthy.

Wenchang and Qionghai visited graves and ate balls.

On the eastern route of Hainan, especially Wenchang, the custom of sweeping graves from the winter solstice is more obvious. The grave sweeping in Wenchang can be divided into Qingming grave sweeping and winter solstice grave sweeping, but the theme is also to remember the ancestors. Therefore, on the solstice of winter, people will go to the graves of their ancestors to remove weeds, paint red inscriptions, put white meat, rice balls and wine, light candles, set off firecrackers and burn paper money, and their hearts are full of respect and thoughts for their ancestors.

"Rice ball" is a special food in Wenchang Qionghai area, commonly known as "Beizhen" in Hainan dialect, which is a round rice ball wrapped by hands after cooked rice. A round rice ball with boiled eggs in peanut oil can be eaten as a meal. The meaning of eating jiaozi in Hainan is the same, that is, the family is round and round.

Wanning cattle feeding festival

Wanning people call the winter solstice "Cattle Feeding Festival". As the name implies, on the solstice of winter, Wanning people will stop all farming activities, give cows a day off, cut some good grass for them to eat, let them recharge their batteries and pray for a bumper harvest next year.

At the same time, the solstice in winter is also a day of reunion. People will prepare a banquet in their ancestral home to commemorate their ancestors. There are ten bowls of rice, ten small wine glasses, ten pairs of chopsticks, three plates of vegetables and meat, a pair of candles and three incense sticks, a kerosene lamp, betel nut and Qian Bao. After the standby is completed, light incense wax and pour wine to worship the ancestors first. After the male Ding Xing made a wish at the sacrificial ceremony, he burned money and set off firecrackers, and then the family got together for a reunion dinner.

Tunchang and Qiongzhong eat barley cakes.

"Bua" is simply a classic of Hainan snacks! Tunchang people have the custom of eating barley cakes from winter to Sunday. There is another touching legend about Yihua. According to legend, a mother and son lived together. When the son grew up, he left his hometown to resist foreign aggression. The mother missed her son very much, so she made her son's favorite bua in the festival and prayed that he would come home soon. After 30 years away from home, my son finally came back. Since then, this Bua has been named "Bai", which stands for reunion and missing.

The Miao people eat Shanlan and Gaomi.

Every year on the "Winter Solstice Day" festival, every Miao family in Hainan uses Shan Lan glutinous rice to make cakes to celebrate the joy of a year's harvest. This kind of cake is eaten with homemade sucrose syrup and can be kept for several days without eating it at a time. In winter, when the weather is cold, food tends to harden. Bake this cake on a charcoal fire, and then it will swell and soften, which will make it more sweet and delicious.