Winter solstice is also called winter festival and sub-year. After thousands of years of development, it has formed a unique seasonal diet culture. On the solstice of winter, it is necessary to "make dumplings" or "make dumplings". There are also official records in these historical materials, saying that glutinous rice from the winter solstice is a kind of pill named "Tangyuan". After jiaozi is wrapped up, it is necessary to offer sacrifices to the gods and ancestors, and then the whole family will eat around. This is called "adding years". Therefore, it is very old to eat glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter.
There was a poem in the ancients: "Every family makes glutinous rice balls and knows that it is the winter solstice tomorrow." Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is a traditional custom in China, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls is one year older". Tangyuan is also called jiaozi, and eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter is also called "jiaozi on the solstice in winter". Tangyuan can be used for ancestor worship or as a gift to relatives and friends.
Another explanation is that the winter solstice is the longest night in a year. On the solstice of winter, before dawn, women get up and make a fire to cook jiaozi. First, they worship their ancestors, and then the whole family sit around and eat jiaozi. Therefore, eating jiaozi on the solstice in winter not only means that the sun reappears gradually, but also means reunion. Modern people prefer to regard it as a symbol of perfection.
The legend of glutinous rice balls:
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, King Zhao and Chu passed the Yangtze River on his way back from the countryside and saw something floating on the river. It was white with yellow color, and there was a kind of pulp as red as rouge, which tasted very sweet. People didn't know what it was, so Zhao Haoqi sent someone to ask Confucius. Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is also a sign of the master's revival." Because this day is the fifteenth day of the first month, on this day in the future, Zhao Haoqi ordered his men to imitate this fruit with flour and cook it with red stuffing made of hawthorn.
There is also a saying that Yuanxiao was originally called Tangyuan. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was a maid-in-waiting named Yuanxiao, who was very good at making dumplings. Since then, the world has been named after this maid-in-waiting. Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion, which means reunion and perfection. Eating glutinous rice balls during festivals symbolizes family harmony and auspiciousness, and eating Yuanxiao means family happiness and all the best in the new year.