"The weather and human affairs are urging each other, and the winter solstice brings spring again." The winter solstice is also known as the southern solstice, winter festival, and sub-year. It is the 22nd solar term of the 24 solar terms and the fourth solar term of winter. On this day, the area north of the equator has the shortest day and the longest night, and "the air that is finally hidden reaches its peak here."
In China, the winter solstice is a very important solar term and a traditional festival for the Chinese. When the winter solstice comes, "the cold is strong and the ground begins to get cold" and it is already a cold winter. In the minds of ancient people, the winter solstice is as important as New Year's Day. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the winter solstice is as important as the New Year."
How do people in different regions celebrate the winter solstice?
Winter Solstice Many places in southern China celebrate the winter solstice. Many coastal areas in the south have the traditional custom of worshiping ancestors on the winter solstice. Every household places ancestor statues and tablets in the upper hall of the house, sets up an offering table, and arranges incense burners and offerings. While offering sacrifices to ancestors, some places also offer sacrifices to gods of heaven and earth, and bow to the gods to pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year, and for a harmonious family and prosperity.
- Guangdong people eat roast meat and ginger rice on the winter solstice. On the winter solstice, most Guangdong people have the custom of "adding dishes" to eat winter solstice meat. There is a folk proverb in Chaoshan area that "Dongjiewan, one meal is the New Year", commonly known as "adding years". Hakka people believe that the water tastes the best during the winter solstice, so it has become a custom for Hakka people to brew wine during the winter solstice.
- Hangzhou people eat rice cakes on the winter solstice. Eating rice cakes has been popular in Hangzhou since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. During the winter solstice, different flavors of rice cakes are made for three meals. Eating rice cakes on the winter solstice will make you taller every year and bring good luck. In Sichuan, mutton soup is eaten on the winter solstice, and mutton is the most nourishing food in winter. In Hunan and Hubei, red bean glutinous rice must be eaten on the winter solstice.
- In some areas of the south, it is more popular to eat winter solstice dumplings (winter solstice balls), which means reunion. Every winter solstice morning, each household grinds glutinous rice flour and uses sugar, meat, vegetables, fruits, shredded radish, etc. as stuffing to make winter solstice dumplings. Not only do they eat them themselves, but they are also given to relatives and friends as a blessing. In fact, eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is a traditional custom in my country, which is even more common in the south of the Yangtze River. There is also a saying among the people that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older."
- In many areas of northern my country, there is a custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice every year. According to legend, when the medical saint Zhang Zhongjing retired and returned to his hometown, he saw the frozen people, so he used mutton, some cold-repelling herbs and dough to wrap them in the shape of ears, making a medicine called "Quhan Jiao'er Soup" and giving it to the people to eat. Later, every winter solstice, people imitated and ate it, forming a custom. Most areas in northern my country eat dumplings on this day because dumplings mean "get rid of the cold". To this day, there is still a folk proverb that "if you don't eat dumplings on the winter solstice, no one will care if your ears freeze off."
Eating dumplings on Winter Solstice has many benefits
1. From the perspective of culinary science, the cooking method of steaming and boiling dumplings uses water (steam) as the medium, and the temperature is only about 100 degrees, which can not only cook food but also disinfect and sterilize, avoiding the formation of strong carcinogens such as benzopyrene under grilling and frying conditions, ensuring food safety. Moreover, the nutritional components of food will not be lost due to peroxidation or hydrolysis during the steaming and boiling process.
2. From the perspective of dietary structure, the fillings of dumplings are all wrapped in dough, which can achieve a suitable combination of cereals, vegetables, fruits and meat, so that the main and side dishes are reasonably matched, rich in nutrition and balanced in acid and alkali, and the dietary pagoda structure.
3. From the nutritional point of view, dumplings are cooked by steaming with water (steam) as the heat transfer medium, which can fully cleave the starch polysaccharides in food and facilitate human absorption.
4. It is suitable for the stomach and eating habits of Chinese people and conforms to the health-preserving principles of "eating and drinking in moderation", "harmonizing the five flavors", and "being in harmony with the art of numbers".
As we gather around the table this Winter Solstice, the simple act of enjoying a plate of steaming dumplings is more than just a culinary preference—it is a celebration of family, a hope for prosperity, and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit against the cold winter. So let us embrace this tradition with joy and savor each bite as a taste of the warmth to come.
