As early as 2,500 years ago, about the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), China had determined the point of Winter Solstice by observing movements of the sun with a sundial. It is the earliest of the 24 seasonal division points. The time will be each December 22 or 23 according to the Gregorian calendar.
The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will become longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated.
The Winter Solstice became a festival during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and thrived in the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). The Han people regarded Winter Solstice as a "Winter Festival", so officials would organize celebrating activities. On this day, both officials and common people would have a rest. The army was stationed in, frontier fortresses closed and business and traveling stopped. Relatives and friends presented to each other delicious food. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the Winter Solstice was a day to offer scarifies to Heaven and ancestors. Emperors would go to suburbs to worship the Heaven; while common people offered sacrifices to their deceased parents or other relatives. The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) even had the record that "Winter Solstice is as formal as the Spring Festival," showing the great importance attached to this day.
In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.Sample Text作者: xw 时间: 2006-12-22 13:58 搖藍
大海灣﹐大輪船
靜聽波濤搖擺
可留意遠處的小搖籃
在母親手中搖擺
長大了﹐離別了
母親的淚水總難禁
孩子帶着求索的願望
遠方有無窮魅力
那一天﹐那只船
離港…越駛越渺茫
才感到軀殼牢牢系在
遠處搖籃的心上
2006/12/22
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篡译一首Sully Prudhomme，给冬至。
&&&
墓地
躺在這裡的人有福
就如
田間自由的鳥﹗
身體靠在老朋友中間
並肩
沉浸于歌聲青草
在這裡沉睡﹐沉睡
玫瑰
光天化日的原野
他的活相知們都來了
走了
為他最後道別
在墓碑前親人親戚
哭泣
跪下各自雙膝
尸骨已埋在花朵下面
淚腺
浸透到花朵芯裡
在黑木牌上﹐人們
追認
他早夭或享天命
或許有人情不自禁地
悲戚
喚他一聲大名
葬身于大海的人們
他們
是多么的不幸﹗
身體沉墜入陰暗海底
遠離
心愛的故土鄉鄰
噢﹗可憐喲﹗裹尸衣
僅僅
只能是綠色海藻
尸體漂移到無名的角落
赤裸
張着未合的眼泡
2006/12/22
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Jean Richepin's AU CIMETIERE, it's also for winter solstice.作者: weili 时间: 2006-12-22 15:28 谢谢象罔的诗章。
