Hot pot is another significant winter pleasure as people bond over one large pot to cook foods together while simultaneously having fun and quality conversations, symbolizing cooperation. Warming sweet tong yuen soup with peanuts (В© Chia Ying Yang via Flickr) Wantons and dumplings stuffed with different condiments are a biggie as theyвЂ™re known to keep people warm and, according to ancient times, prevent frostbite. Sometimes, they are made in bright pink and green to represent prosperous new beginnings. As mentioned, the most common dish is tong yuen with fillings like black sesame paste and crushed peanuts. Hot foods that restore yang energy are eaten to bring warmth to the body and spirit. What do you eat during Winter Solstice Festival? However, the most commonly practiced celebrations in Hong Kong during Winter Solstice Festival involve reuniting families and cooking a warm and hearty meal to relish. For example, in the first two cycles, people keep their hands warm in their pockets in the third and fourth cycles, people walk on ice in the eighth cycle, swallows appear in the ninth and last cycle, cattles start roaming outdoors as the weather truly warms. This involves counting down nine days in nine cycles (a fter those 81 days following Winter Solstice, spring should have arrived), with each cycle representing various occurrences, as told in a traditional rhyme. Families can visit tombstones or more simply, light incense candles at home.Д¬ounting nines is another traditional pastime activity where people count down the days to spring. For those who are really traditional, this day marks a time to worship ancestors with sacrificial honouring. Winter Solstice Festival is not a public holiday, but people leave work early to head home to help prepare a nice meal to then eat with family. Families make glutinous rice balls together, better known as tong yuen, for two big reasons вЂ“ these goodies that come in sweet and savoury versions are round and in Chinese, tong yuen means reunion (the coming back together of things that were separate, like the lines of a circle).ДЇormed glutinous rice balls (В© mickeyshih via Pixabay) In turn, this translates into particular foods eaten on this day that represent those meanings. The festivities that go into this day emphasize warmth, harmony and a sense of togetherness. How do you celebrate Winter Solstice Festival?

Days get longer after Winter Solstice and in auspicious terms, any unhappiness and negativity from the past are released to make way for a new beginning. The holiday has a strong connection to family and food, similar to most Chinese holidays, seeing families reunite over a happy, harmonious meal.ДЄnother origination of this festival comes from a wise man who used a sundial to observe EarthвЂ™s shadows, which drew to the conclusion that the Winter Solstice Festival is the shortest day and longest night of the year. By celebrating this day with close-knit family over hot foods, yang energy would be restored.

Winter Solstice Festival originates from the Chinese belief that when days are short, thereвЂ™s not enough of the masculine and fiery yang energy in the yin-yang concept. What is Winter Solstice Festival? The most common way to celebrate Winter Solstice Festival is with a family meal (В© Sam Cheong via Flickr) ItвЂ™s one of the more popular days celebrated in Hong Kong, just as itвЂ™s widely recognized across other parts of Asia, by being let out of work early to make it home for a nice and toasty dinner with family and friends. Winter Solstice Festivals in other culturesДЇalling on the 21st of December this year, it marks the arrival of winter.

Winter soulstice