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| Winter Solstice Festival |
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As early as 2,500 years ago, about the Spring and Autumn Period
(770-476 BC), China had determined the point of Winter Solstice by
observing movements of the sun with a sundial. It is the earliest
of the 24 seasonal division points. The time will be each December
21 or 22 according to the Gregorian calendar.
The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest
daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will
become longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the
yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and
stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated.
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The Winter Solstice became a festival during the Han Dynasty (206
BC-220 AD) and thrived in the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279).
The Han people regarded Winter Solstice as a "Winter Festival", so
officials would organize celebrating activities. On this day, both
officials and common people would have a rest. The army was
stationed in, frontier fortresses closed and business and traveling
stopped. Relatives and friends presented to each other delicious
food. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the Winter Solstice was a day
to offer scarifies to Heaven and ancestors. Emperors would go to
suburbs to worship the Heaven; while common people offered
sacrifices to their deceased parents or other relatives. The Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) even had the record that "Winter Solstice is as
formal as the Spring Festival," showing the great importance
attached to this day.
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In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on
this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings,
saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter.
But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to
have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away
ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat
tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of
glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be
used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and
relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering
nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape
of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice
flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals
all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same
surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship
their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there
is always a grand banquet.
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