In the early morning of winter solstice in the south, every household grinds glutinous rice flour and makes winter solstice balls with sugar, meat, vegetables, fruits and shredded radish, which are not only eaten by themselves, but also given to relatives and friends as a sign of blessing. In fact, when people eat jiaozi on the solstice in winter, there is another saying that "eating jiaozi makes them one year older".
In many parts of northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi every winter solstice. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage, saw the frozen people when he retired in his later years, so he wrapped mutton, some cold-dispelling herbs and dough in his ears and made the medicine of "Joule Decoction for Eliminating Cold" for the people to eat. Later, on the solstice of winter, people imitated eating and formed a custom.
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The solstice in winter is a good time for health preservation, mainly because "Qi starts from the solstice in winter". Because from beginning of winter, life activities began to turn from decline to prosperity, from static rotation. At this time, scientific health preservation helps to ensure vigorous energy and prevent premature aging, thus achieving the purpose of prolonging life. During the winter solstice, the diet should be diversified, grains, fruits, meat and vegetables should be reasonably matched, and foods with high calcium should be selected appropriately.
In winter solstice, different places have different customs, and most places in northern China have the custom of eating jiaozi in winter solstice. After thousands of years of development, a unique seasonal diet culture has been formed from winter solstice to Sunday. Eating jiaozi has become the winter solstice custom of most northerners in China. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the custom of drinking mutton soup from winter solstice in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, which means driving away the cold.
The ancients celebrated the winter solstice. Although many people don't think it is a festival today, in any case, the winter festival is one of the "eight major festivals of the year", and foodies still won't let go of this festival with various winter solstice specialties, such as jiaozi in the north, Chaoshan glutinous rice balls, Asako in the southeast, Yuan Lei in Taizhou, Hefei pumpkin pie, Ningbo sweet potato soup, Tengzhou mutton soup, Jiangnan rice, Suzhou wine making and so on.
Jiaozi is widely eaten in the north, and jiaozi is an indispensable holiday food every winter, whether rich or poor. As the saying goes: "On October 1st, when the solstice of winter comes, every family eats jiaozi." This custom was left in memory of Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", who gave up medicine from the winter solstice.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Winter Solstice (one of the 24 solar terms)