It’s the time again where family members come together to make and eat Tangyuan (湯圓, as pronounced in Cantonese; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion.
It is during this time called Winter Solstice that many different kinds of festival are observed.
The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observers’ hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the winter solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and June 23 in the southern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year, which is not to be confused with the darkest day or night or the day with the earliest sunset or latest sunrise.
The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days.
The process of making Dongzhi/Tang Yuan…
More about Winter Solstice…
Also called: Midwinter, DōngZhì, Yule, Şabe Cele/Yalda, Soyal, Şeva Zistanê, Solar New Year, Longest Night
Observed by: Various cultures, ancient and modern
Type: Cultural, Seasonal, Astronomical
Significance: Astronomically marks the beginning of shortening nights and lengthening days, interpretation varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth
Date: The Solstice of Winter
Between December 20 and December 22 (NH)
Between June 20 and June 23 (SH)2007 Date: December 22 (UTC North)
June 21 (UTC South)2008 Date: December 21 (UTC North)
June 20 (UTC South)2009 Date: December 21 (UTC North)
June 21 (UTC South)Celebrations: Festivals, spending time with loved ones, feasting, singing, dancing, fire in the hearth
Related to: Winter Festivals and the Solstice
My mom decided to add in mashed sweet potato as the filling for the big tang yuan.
There’s like a list from A-Z of how winter solstice is celebrated around the world…but for Chinese, the meaning of this is:
Dōngzhì Festival (East Asian Cultural Sphere)
The Winter Solstice Festival or The Extreme of Winter (Chinese and Japanese: 冬至; Korean: 동지; Vietnamese: Đông chí) (Pinyin: Dōng zhì), (Rōmaji: Tōji), (Romaja:Dongji) is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the dongzhi solar term on or around December 21 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the dongzhi solar term. The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (復, "Returning"). 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.
It;s interesting reading about some topic of interest in Wikipedia (the source of all the facts posted here)…just how much encyclopedia has revolved from the early days of think books, till now, the web…and the facts are constantly updated and verified!!
Oh back to the topic, so how did you observe your Dongzhi Festival??
