What does the solstice mean in winter?

The winter solstice is also called "off-year". First of all, it shows that the year is coming, and when the winter solstice comes, the New Year is just around the corner, so the ancients thought that the winter solstice was as important as the New Year. The second is to show the importance of the winter solstice. The solstice in winter has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only a natural solar term, but also a traditional festival to worship ancestors.

In the winter solstice festival, due to the solar term "the sun shines on the winter solstice and the sun shines on the heavens and the earth", the ancients thought that since the winter solstice, the sun shines on the heavens and the earth, so the ancients regarded the winter solstice as an auspicious day, and sacrificed gods and ancestors in the winter solstice, forming a festival custom.

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After thousands of years of cultural development, the winter solstice has formed a unique culture. Wonton, jiaozi, glutinous rice balls and so on are all holiday foods on this day. On the winter solstice, there is also the custom of eating dog meat and mutton, because after the winter solstice, the weather enters the coldest period. Chinese medicine believes that mutton and dog meat have aphrodisiac and tonic effects, and there is a folk custom of tonic in winter solstice.

Eat jiaozi in the south. It is especially popular in Jiangnan. "Tangyuan" is an essential food from winter solstice, and it is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour. "Round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice is also called "the winter solstice group".

Baidu encyclopedia-winter solstice festival