1, origin

As a festival, the winter solstice originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has continued to this day. The first month of the weekly calendar is November in the summer calendar, so the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equal to November in the solar calendar today, so there is no difference between New Year greetings and New Year celebrations. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the summer calendar that the first month was separated from the solstice in winter. It can also be said that the simple "winter solstice festival" began in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has existed ever since.

2. Customs

In the Qing dynasty, Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou all attached importance to winter festivals, that is to say, they would rather be frugal during the New Year than waste their time during the winter solstice. People give each other all kinds of food, which is called "winter solstice dish" and celebrate each other, which is called winter worship. Until now, the winter solstice festival is still popular among people in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan Province and Guangdong, where ancestors are sacrificed, glutinous rice products are eaten and banquets are held, among which there are many interesting food activities.

For example, eat more winter solstice meat, winter solstice fish and Jiangsu and Zhejiang chickens and ducks. Winter solstice meat is cooked with pork and soy sauce. It is said that eating it can make you strong. The solstice fish in winter is to separate the fish, leave the head and tail, and put them in a bowl in a rice bucket. This is called "leftovers", which means to get enough food. This is similar to eating fish on New Year's Eve, which means "more than a year".

Some northern regions, such as Beijing and Tianjin, eat jiaozi or wonton on the night of winter solstice. As the saying goes, "winter solstice wonton, summer solstice noodles." Folklore is to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in Henan. He opened a medicine shed on the solstice of winter, wrapped mutton and medicinal dough, and made ear-shaped "pepper" to treat people's frozen ears.

Solstice winter astronomical calendar:

As an important node of the 24 solar terms in China, the winter solstice has the shortest day and the longest night in the north of the equator. The winter solstice is the limit of the sun's southward travel, and the height of the sun in the northern hemisphere is the smallest on this day. On the solstice of winter, the sun shines directly on the tropic of Capricorn, and the sun is most inclined to the northern hemisphere.

The solstice in winter is the turning point of the sun's southward movement. After this day, I went back, and the direct point of the sun began to move northward from the Tropic of Capricorn (23 26' s), and the daytime in the northern hemisphere (China is located in the northern hemisphere) increased day by day.

From winter to around, the earth is located near the perihelion, and its running speed is slightly faster, resulting in that the time for the sun to directly shine in the southern hemisphere is about 8 days shorter than that in the northern hemisphere, so the winter in the northern hemisphere is slightly shorter than that in summer.