There is a well-known axiom that Dongzhi (/dong-jrr/’the Colder time of year Solstice’) is a higher priority than Chinese Lunar New Year. Dongzhi has a significant spot in the conventional celebrations of China. It is generally celebrated on December twentieth or 21st, when the night is longest and the day is most limited in the northern side of the equator. A customary occasion celebrated by numerous Chinese individuals, Dongzhi has a long history and certain outstanding traditions.

What is Dongzhi Festival?

Dongzhi (冬至) in a real sense signifies ‘Winter’s Appearance’. It is one of the 24 sun oriented terms of China’s conventional sun based schedule. It has for quite some time been commended on (China’s) Winter Solstice when the night is longest, and the day is briefest in the Northern Half of the globe. Dongzhi turned into a magnificently perceived conventional celebration during the Han Tradition period (206 BC – 220 Promotion).

The Date of Dongzhi Festival

The date of Dongzhi shifts marginally. It generally falls on December 21, 22, or 23.

• Dongzhi in 2017, 2018, and 2019: December 22nd
•  Dongzhi in 2020 and 2021: December 21st
•  Dongzhi in 2022 and 2023: December 22nd
• Dongzhi in 2024: December 21st

How Chinese People Celebrate Dongzhi Festival

Chinese individuals observe Dongzhi Celebration in numerous ways. The most famous ones are revering paradise and precursors, saying the Nines of Winter, making rice wine, and eating dumplings and ginger rice.

Worshipping Heaven

Chinese individuals have adored paradise on Dongzhi Day since the Han Line. Numerous sanctuaries were worked thus, remembering the popular Sanctuary of Paradise for Beijing. It was accepted that paradise love would bring an extraordinary collect and great wellbeing for the approaching year.

Worshipping Ancestors

It is a practice to revere the progenitors as a component of the Dongzhi Celebration. Individuals set up incense burners before their precursors’ tablets and put some food on a table in front, like dumplings, steamed chicken, or cooked pork as an emblematic proposing to their family progenitors. In a few eastern pieces of China, individuals take food and incense to their precursors’ burial places, clear the burial places, and offer appreciation to their progenitors throughout the colder time of year solstice celebration.

Making Rice Wine

It is the practice to drink rice wine the evening of Dongzhi in southern China. The rice wine is made with glutinous rice or yellow rice as well as pleasant smelling osmanthus. Drinking alcohol carries a sensation of warmth to the cool Dongzhi celebration.

Making Roasted Meat for Chinese New Year

Individuals in the south of China for the most part safeguard simmered meats at Dongzhi Celebration. Dongzhi prepared pork has turned into an irreplaceable delicacy on the supper tables of Guangdong and Guangxi regions during Chinese New Year.

Counting the Nines of Winter (Shu Jiu)

In numerous areas of northern China, individuals count the Nines of Winter during the coldest piece of winter. The Nines of Winter is a people melody. In Chinese conventional culture, nine is the ‘outrageous number’, addressing time everlasting. Chinese individuals accepted that spring will come following nine times of nine days beginning from the Colder time of year Solstice.

The Nines of Winter melody goes this way:

‘During the first and second nine days, placing your hands in the air is excessively cold;

During the third and fourth nine days, you can stroll on ice;

During the fifth and 6th nine days, willows on the banks begin to grow;

During the seventh nine days ice will disintegrate;

During the eighth nine days, wild geese fly back north;

During the most recent nine days, ranchers’ bulls begin to work in the fields.’

The melody diagrams the progressions in the climate and normal world that precede the ideal opportunity for cultivating to start once more.

Traditional Foods of Dongzhi Festival

Dumplings-Northern China Food

In northern China where it can get sharply chilly, individuals needed adequate comfortable attire and satisfactory warming, so they ate hot food and drank hot fluids to remain warm. Individuals trusted that when the days were short, there was lacking Yang energy, and they attempted to eat high Yang food varieties as indicated by Chinese restorative cooking administrators.

Dumplings have been the most conventional food in the north of China for quite a while. Individuals make dumplings on Dongzhi Day with their loved ones.

There is a well-known axiom that eating dumplings on Dongzhi can shield ears from frostbite. A legend goes that in old times, a specialist named Zhang Zhongjing imagined dumplings by enveloping sheep and Chinese medication by dumpling batter and gave them to individuals to fix frostbite. From that time, the practice of eating dumplings on Winter Solstice Day was passed down from one age to another.

Tangyuan-Southern China Food

Other than dumplings, individuals of south China have a practice of eating glutinous rice balls called tangyuan. The historical backdrop of eating tangyuan can be traced all the way back to the Melody Tradition (960-1279).

Certain individuals in southern China and a few Chinese in networks in Southeast Asia assemble to make and eat a feast of tangyuan (汤圆 Tāngyuán/tung-ywen/). Tangyuan represents family solidarity and success.

These are extraordinarily cooked bundles of rice that could have a filling of bean glue or meat with sweet high yang spices. These are generally pink or white shaded. Tangyuan is much of the time served in a bowl with a sweet soup or stock.

Wonton Soup-Eastern China Food

Wonton soup is another must-eat nourishment for the Dongzhi celebration in eastern pieces of China, particularly in Zhejiang and Fujian regions. Stuffings of wontons are similarly as dumplings’.

Be that as it may, wonton mixture is a lot more slender than dumplings’. Eating a bowl of wonton soup can keep individuals warm and agreeable in the cold of winter.

Mutton Soup-Western and Northern China Food

In northern pieces of China, sheep is a well known food at Dongzhi Celebration. In Chinese food culture, lamb is viewed as having critical blood recharging benefits and is subsequently viewed as a quality food to eat in winter. Eating lamb on Dongzhi Day warms individuals up and is said to forestall colds in the approaching winter.

Taiwanese Customs and Food

For some Taiwanese and individuals of Taiwanese drop in different nations, the celebration is as yet significant. Families will go to the hereditary burial places and have dinners of tangyuan, and they could offer tangyuan to the spirits at the burial places.

They likewise have a custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their predecessors. The cakes are made of rice flour and are molded like creatures like chickens, ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, and sheep.

As per conventional Chinese clinical ideas, winter is the season it is essential to rest, unwind and sustain the body with high yang greasy food varieties.

Chinese follow the way of behaving of creatures that sleep during winter to revive and protect their bodies. So they lay on the day in the event that they would be able, eat food sources containing ginger, and appreciate ginseng and comparative high yang spices that can reestablish and loosen up the nerves and reduce pressure.

Dongzhi Festival History

China’s Colder time of year Solstice has been commended since the Han Line (206 BC – 220 Promotion). It is said that the earliest winter solstice in China was found by a sage called Zhou Feng while utilizing a sundial. From that point forward, Winter Solstice (Dongzhi) has been a significant celebration in China. There is a well-known adage that Dongzhi is a higher priority than Chinese New Year.

During the Tang Tradition (618-907) and Tune Line (960-1279) periods, authorities in the public authority were conceded a 7-day occasion to return home to praise the celebration with their family and love paradise and their predecessors.

Dongzhi Festival Greetings

Individuals say ‘Blissful Dongzhi Celebration’, for example ‘Blissful Winter Solstice’ when they meet on Dongzhi Day. In Mandarin, this is “Dongzhi kuaile” (/dong-jrr kwhy-luh/冬至快乐).

To make an impression on your companions, you could utilize these well known Dongzhi Celebration messages:

1. “冬至快乐，祝你身体健康!” (Dongzhi kuaile, zhu ni shenti jiankang)

— “Blissful Dongzhi! Wishing you great wellbeing!”

2. “冬至快乐，冬天注意保暖!” (Dongzhi kuaile, zhu ni shenti jiankang)

— “Blissful Winter Solstice, and keep warm in winter.”

Dongzhi Festival Clothing

There are no clothing customs for Dongzhi Celebration. Yet, these days, an ever increasing number of youngsters wear Hanfu (Han-Administration style ensembles) to commend the Colder time of year Solstice in China on the grounds that Dongzhi started during the Han Line period. Assuming you are out in the city the evening of Dongzhi Celebration, you might see some lovely Hanfu garments on young ladies.