Traditional diet in winter Winter is a good time for health preservation, mainly because "Qi begins in winter". Because from beginning of winter, life activities began to turn from prosperity to decline, from dynamic to static. 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, with grains, fruits, meat and vegetables reasonably matched, and high-calcium foods appropriately selected. In winter solstice, different places have different customs, but most places 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 people 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. Eat jiaozi on the solstice in winter. Every year on the solstice of the Lunar New Year in winter, jiaozi is an essential holiday feast for both the rich and the 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.
According to ancient records, in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, winter and November were the first month, and the winter solstice was the beginning of the New Year. %5B 1%5D+ Hanshu says, "The sun shines brightly in the winter solstice, your majesty, congratulations ..." People originally celebrated the winter solstice festival to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. The ancients believed that since the winter solstice, the yang of heaven and earth began to flourish and become stronger, representing the beginning of the next cycle, which is a good day. Later, the custom of ancestor worship and family dinner during the Spring Festival often appeared on the solstice of winter. The winter solstice is also called "off-year". First, it means that the year is approaching and there are not many days left. Secondly, it means the importance of the winter solstice. +As a festival, the winter solstice originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The first month of the Zhou calendar is November in the summer calendar, and the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equal to the modern November, so there is no difference between celebrating the New Year and celebrating the winter. 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 be said that the "Winter Solstice Festival" was held only after the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. +In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was regarded as the "Winter Festival", and the official congratulations ceremony was called "He Dong". Official holidays are very popular in officialdom. +"The Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records: "Around the winter solstice, gentlemen lived quietly, and officials refused to listen to politics. They chose an auspicious day and then saved trouble." The imperial court has a holiday, the army is on standby, the frontier fortress is closed, business trips are closed, relatives and friends give food to each other, visit each other, and have a "quiet and peaceful" festival happily. +During the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, the winter solstice was called "Zi Sui", and people should pay homage to their parents and elders. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the solstice in winter was a day to worship gods and ancestors. The emperor went to the suburbs to hold a ceremony to worship the gods, and the people had to worship their parents. After the Song Dynasty, the winter solstice gradually became a festival to worship ancestors and gods. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emperor held a ceremony to worship the heaven, which was called "the suburban sky from winter to sun". In the palace, there was a ceremony in which hundreds of officials congratulated the emperor. They also threw thorns at each other and congratulated each other, just like the New Year.