It’s a holiday in Macau today to celebrate the Winter Solstice (which occurred Saturday). In Chinese, Dongzhi (‘dongzhi’ in Mandarin and ‘dung zi’ in Cantonese) means ‘extreme of winter’ and the Dongzhi festival marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
The winter solstice occurs when the earth is tilted at its maximum annual angle away from the sun creating the day with the shortest amount of daylight. The solstice marked the middle of winter in many ancient cultures. Solstice literally means ‘the standing still of the sun’ as the sun appears to do just that on sunrise on the solstice before it rises ever so slightly south on the next day.
Noting the arrival of the shortest day, was a time for celebration. Of course, winter wouldn’t end for several months, but to know that you were past the middle and that the dark, cold nights would start to get shorter is an event that has been marked by feasts and rituals since the dawn of civilization.
This turning point of the year is an important aspect of Dongzhi with a traditional custom in parts of China being that on Dongzhi everyone turns one year older.
Certainly, the festival is a time to gather with your family and a common activity in southern China is the making and eating of a sweet soup containing balls of glutinous rice, called tangyuan. The spherical tangyuan, which can be stuffed with meat, some kind of sweet paste, or without filling, symbolize fullness and completeness.
There are so many memes like this…
More Christmas music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp4eXzIp2uM
