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Home ＞ News ＞ Happy Winter Solstice Day !
Happy Winter Solstice Day !
Source: | Author:pmtf105f8 | Publish time:2019-12-23 | 1498 Views: | Share:
Today comes the solarterm of Winter Solstice.

  The Winter Solstice is the 22nd of the 24 solar terms, and also the last one in the solar year. The Winter Solstice iscommonly called as the“Dongjie”(冬节), “Changzhijie”(长至节) or “Yasui”(亚岁) in Chinese. It has been avery important traditional festival since ancient times, and different customsused to celebrate Winter Solstice have been passed down in various places.


  For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the day with the shortest amount of daylight and our longest night of the year. While it's winter for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, people in the Southern Hemisphereexperience it as their Summer Solstice with the longest stretch of daylight.

Let's see different customs for celebrating Winter Solstice in various places.

Make Tangyuan

Tangyuan
  Wenzhoupeople still keep the ancient habit of eating Tang-yuans or Maci on the day of Winter Solstice. The elders will educate their kids with some traditional concepts by takingadvantage of the time when the children are eating the Tangyuan, like"you will be one year older after eating Tangyuan". Having eaten Tangyuan means that you areformally growing up one year older.
Ma-ci

Have Dumplings

  China has developed a unique festive food culture throughout the years. Eating dumplings is a common folk custom for many Chinese on the day of Winter Solstice, especially those living in the north.

Have Peanuts


  When midwinter comes, vital movement begins to decline and calm down. In this period, eating an appropriate amount of nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts and almonds, is good for one's health.

Have Wontons

  People in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, are accustomed to eating wontons in midwinter. According to legend, during the midwinter feast 2,500 years ago, the King of Wu was disgusted with all kinds of costly foods and wanted to eat something different. Then, the beauty Xishi came into the kitchen to make "wontons" to honor the king's wish. He ate a lot and liked the food very much. To commemorate Xishi, the people of Suzhou made wontons the official food to celebrate the festival.

Have Vermicelli
  In Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, people call midwinter the "Ghost Festival". On that day, it is customary for people there to drink mutton and vermicelli soup and eat the dumplings in the soup. They give the midwinter soup a strange name: "brain" and share it with their neighbors.

Have Rice Cakes
  During the Winter Solstice, Hangzhou residents traditionally eat rice cakes. In the past, before the approach of the Winter Solstice, every household would make the cakes to worship their ancestors or use as gifts for relatives and friends.

Winter Solstice is here
the coldest days are about to begin.
Everyone should pay moreattention to keep warm.
 
Happy Winter Solstice Day ！



来源：据中国日报双语新闻