Beginning of winter wants to eat jiaozi! Why is there such a custom

One day in early winter every year, many places have the habit of eating jiaozi. After all, beginning of winter is also an important solar term among the 24 solar terms. Beginning of winter and beginning of autumn are similar, and the same meaning will be replaced by another season. Therefore, on this day in beginning of winter, people will celebrate the beginning of winter solar term. In the south, they mainly eat some chicken, duck, fish and eggs. But in the north, they usually start in winter, and they want to eat jiaozi on this day.

So why is there such a custom in the northern region?

On this day in early winter, different areas in the south and north will celebrate this custom in different forms. The northern region was originally dominated by pasta. Even in peacetime, it mainly eats pasta jiaozi, noodles, steamed bread, steamed buns and so on. Eating jiaozi in early winter is a traditional food culture. Beginning of winter represents the alternation of autumn and winter. Eating jiaozi in early winter means obeying God's will. There is a saying in the north that jiaozi and jiaozi are all-inclusive. Living conditions used to be very difficult. People also eat jiaozi in early winter to improve their life for one year. Besides, it's cold in the north. Because jiaozi's shape is more like an ear, many people also think that jiaozi ate in beginning of winter.

In addition, beginning of winter ate jiaozi this day to commemorate the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing. It is understood that Jiaozi was initiated by Zhang Zhongjing. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, walked on the road and saw many people when he retired in his later years. His ears were frozen stiff because of the cold weather. At that time, he set up a cauldron on the side of the road, put mutton, peppers and some herbs to drive away the cold into the cauldron, then fished it out and chopped it up and wrapped it in jiaozi. The whole shape is like an ear, so from then on, people thought that eating jiaozi in beginning of winter would prevent the ear from freezing, and there was a saying that beginning of winter disturbed the jiaozi Bowl, and no one cared whether the ear was frozen.

Therefore, every year in the early winter, we will also commemorate the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing. As the saying goes, beginning of winter will make up for winter, and after beginning of winter, the weather will get colder. On this day, all places will eat some traditional delicacies, while in the north, jiaozi is the main food, and there are many kinds of jiaozi. Everyone will make some leek stuffing, Chinese cabbage stuffing, lotus root stuffing, mushroom stuffing and so on.