Dong Zhi is a time for family reunion.
Tang Yuan, sweet soup of glutinuous rice flour balls, is indispensible during
this festival. "Yuan" (literally meaning "round") signifies
"yuan man" (complete) and Tang Yuan means "tuan yuan" (family
reunion). Eating Tang Yuan is symbolic of family unity and family prosperity.
For good luck, families prefer to have some pink tang yuan to mix with the white
ones. Even today when people or families celebrate Dong Zhi, they eat 'Tang
Yuan', which are balls of warm glutinous rice. 'Tang Yuan' translates as 'family
reunion' and eating this food is symbolic of prosperity and unity. Alternatively
'Hun Dun', a dish of stuffed dumplings, can be eaten.
The contrast between the warm food and
the bitterly cold weather is supposed to keep people in a hopeful state of mind
as they look towards the future. During the festival, people carry out rituals
and performances for the gods to thank them for the rich harvests and their
future prosperity. But they also pray for safety. Historically, winter time
in China and elsewhere, was a scary and uncertain time for people, with its
short, dark and cold days. People petitioned their gods for reassurance, and
a return to seasons of the year where fertility and resources were abundant.
Today, family reunion and communal activity are central to the celebration of
Dong Zhi, as they remember years when conditions were harsher and less certain.
The Chinese word tang (meaning 'soup')
sounds like tuan which means reunion, while yuan means round, signifying "yuan
man" (complete). The entire phrase tang yuan therefore symbolises "tuan
yuan" (family reunion), and eating tang yuan on Dong Zhi represents family
reunion and harmony, and also signifies family unity and family prosperity.
For good luck, some families prefer to have some pink tang yuan to mix with
the white ones. Dong Zhi is the celebration of the good year one and his family
has enjoyed. In ancient China, many poor people were not able to protect themselves
from the blistering cold winter, and they would often resort to eating bowls
of warming tang yuan (sweet soup of glutinuous rice flour balls) together in
order to keep warm. Indonesian Chinese family enjoying tang yuan together.
The kinds of food people eat during Winter
Solstice Festival vary due to different local customs. In some parts of northern
China, like Beijing, people eat dumpling soup (huntun) on this day. It’s
said that in the Han Dynasty, when Hun tribes attacked China’s borders,
two tribal leaders were the fiercest. One was named Hun and the other Tun. So
when people made food to offer to their ancestors and celebrate the festival,
they called the dumpling soup they ate huntun to show their hatred for their
enemy. In other parts of northern China, such as Henan, people eat dumplings
in honor of a famous doctor named Zhang Zhongjing (150-219).
Zhang is remembered not only as a brilliant
physician but as being very kind to the poor. According to local custom, one
year the winter was so cold that many people in Zhang's hometown of Nanyang
suffered from painful chilblains. Seeing that his small clinic was no longer
able to accommodate an ever increasing number of patients, Zhang asked his brother
to put up a tent in the village square. A large cauldron was placed inside the
tent to prepare medicine, in which Zhang had dumplings stuffed with mutton boiled.
Every patient got a bowl of the soup with two dumplings, and their chilblains
disappeared in a day or two. Zhang's mixture soon became a popular recipe, and
when he died, people began to eat dumplings on the day of the winter solstice
in his memory.
In northern China, people eat dumpling
soup on this day. Many people eat mutton and dog meat because these are believed
to be hot yang foods, bringing warmth to the body and dispelling the cold of
yin. In parts of southern China, people eat tangyuan (rice dumplings), a kind
of stuffed small sweet ball of glutinous rice flour. Tangyuan can be used as
offerings to ancestors or gifts for friends and relatives. The Chinese word
tang (meaning “soup”) sounds like tuan, which means reunion, while
yuan means perfect and happy. The entire phrase tangyuan therefore symbolizes
"tuanyuan" (family reunion), and eating it at the winter solstice
signifies family unity and prosperity. For luck, some families prefer to have
pink tangyuan mixed in with white ones. In other parts of southern China, whole
families get together to have a meal of red beans and glutinous rice to drive
away ghosts and evil. According to one tale, a man named Gong Gongshi had an
evil son who died on the winter solstice. After death, he became a spirit that
made people ill, but Gong knew his son was afraid of red beans so he taught
people to cook red bean rice to keep him at bay.
Noodles are popular in many areas; as
the days get longer there is s saying that each gets longer by the length of
a thread. So noodles specially made for the festival are called Long Thread
Noodles. Though Winter Solstice Festival used to be considered the second most
important festival after Spring Festival, its importance has decreased with
urbanization and growing interest in Western festivals. In attempt to stem this,
the government has decided to apply for the Dragon Boat Festival to be listed
by UNESCO as a piece of World Heritage, and some experts suggest giving days
off for traditional Chinese festivals such as Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival
and Winter Solstice Festival.
