What traditional connotations does the Winter Solstice have in ancient times?
2022-12-22
Throughout the ages, the Winter Solstice has been an important solar term and also regarded as an auspicious day. The traditional twenty-four solar terms contain the wisdom of the ancient Chinese people to respect, conform to and live in harmony with nature. Shao Fengli, an associate professor of the School of Arts of Liaoning University, said that the winter solstice is also known as the Long Solstice Festival and the Asian Age Festival. In ancient times, it was as lively as the Spring Festival. In addition, the winter solstice was once regarded as the starting point of the one year old season, so there has been a custom of celebrating winter since the Han Dynasty. In the folk, every family drinks winter wine, eats tangyuan, sacrifices ancestors, and pays homage to elders. An auspicious day. In the traditional sense, the winter solstice is one of the "Four Seasons and Eight Festivals", with both natural and human connotations. The winter solstice is a time when the sun comes into being. It is an important solar term for the transformation of yin and yang. Shao Fengli explained that the Winter Solstice, which sprouted in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, was one of the earliest solar terms among the 24 solar terms, and was also the base point for the traditional calculation of seasons. There are also relevant records in Shangshu Yaodian. The "short day" refers to the winter solstice, that is, the day with the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The Book of the Han Dynasty says, "On the winter solstice, when the sun rises, you are the leader, so I congratulate you.". It is believed that "after the winter solstice, there will be a long day". After the winter solstice, the days will become longer and the yang will rise again. The beginning of a new round of solar terms is a good and auspicious day and should be celebrated. For example, in ancient times, there was such a situation: people closed the market for five days to celebrate the festival, which was no less lively than the New Year. The winter solstice is as big as the year, which is called "the winter solstice is as big as the year". If we say that the winter solstice is in the new and old seasons, then naturally it has an unusual cultural significance. Many customs and ceremonies of the winter solstice are just related to people's feelings about this season. Shao Fengli said that the winter solstice not only has the meaning of seasonal signs, but also has long been regarded as a humanistic festival comparable to the New Year, known as the "sub year old", "winter festival" and "long festival". In fact, the Winter Solstice was the New Year in ancient times. Before the calendar era, people took the winter solstice as the starting point of the annual cycle by observing the astronomical phenomena. In the winter solstice, the village houses should offer sacrifices to their ancestors to pray for blessings. This is because the winter solstice was used as the month at the end of the year or the month at the beginning of the year for a long time in ancient times. The year-end sacrifice of the Yin Dynasty, "Qingsi", was held in November, where the winter solstice was located. After the Han Dynasty, the Chinese calendar was used instead. People moved the wax at the end of the year to December. Whether it was in the middle of winter, in the middle of winter or in the winter, it was always around the winter solstice as the ceremony of ancestor worship at the end of the year. According to the Record of Dreams in Tokyo, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the capital paid the most attention to the Winter Solstice. On this day, people were more likely to wear new clothes, prepare food and drink, and worship their ancestors. The folk call this activity of ancestor worship on the winter solstice "offering sacrifices to the winter" or "worshipping the winter". The dumpling and tangyuan in my memory are "bad dumpling bowls on the winter solstice, no one cares if the ears are frozen off". In many people's memory, every winter solstice, the family will eat a meal of dumplings, in order to have a peaceful winter. It is said that Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage, was once an official in Changsha. It was snowy winter when he returned to his hometown. He was very sad to see that the villagers' clothes were not covering their bodies, and many people's ears were also damaged by the cold. So Zhang Zhongjing asked his disciples to set up a medical tent, put mutton, chilli and some cold dispelling herbs into a pot, and cook them, then fished them out and chopped them up, wrapped them in flour skins, and distributed them to the people after cooking
Edit：luoyu Responsible editor：wangerdong
Source：CNS.cn
Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email：lwxsd@liaowanghn.com
Recommended Reading Change it 
Home
