~~ Happy Winter Solstice Festival ~~

~~ Happy Winter Solstice Festival ~~

The Extreme of Winter

~~ Happy Winter Solstice Festival ~~

The Dōngzhì Festival

is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice) on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest.

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (湯圓, Cantonese jyutping: tong1 jyun2; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large Tang Yuan in addition to several small ones.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.


Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the same clan to gather at their ancestral temples to worship on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial ceremony.

Known in Chinese as the Dong Zhi Festival, Winter Solstice is the second most important festival of the Chinese calendar.


Celebrated on the longest night of the year, Dong Zhi is the day when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. The coming of winter is celebrated by families and is traditionally the time when farmers and fishermen gather food in preparation for the coming cold season. It is also a time for family reunions.

~~ Happy Winter Solstice Festival ~~

The Extreme of Winter

~~ Happy Winter Solstice Festival ~~

Daily Capricorn Horoscope

Keru's Daily Capricorn Horoscope

Today is the Winter Solstice, a day on which astronomical factors make it appear as if the Sun is moving north again, increasing the length of days (in the Northern Hemisphere). It's also the first day of Winter, and means something special for each sign....