Guangzhou Winter Solstice and New Year’s Day, Cuisine Celebrates Reunion

Guangzhou Winter Solstice New Year’s Eve Food Celebration Reunion At 5: 48: 01 on December 22, 2022, the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night, will be ushered in again. During the Zhou Dynasty, the month of the winter solstice was the first month. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was called "Winter Festival". From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the winter solstice was "as big as a year" or "as inferior as a year". The custom of celebrating the winter solstice has influenced to this day. People in Guangzhou celebrate the Winter Solstice with great solemnity, which is known as "the Winter Solstice is a big New Year" and "the fat winter is a thin year". How time flies, no matter how the times change and the weather changes, Guangzhou people spend the winter solstice with a sense of ceremony: the ancestor worship, the sweet and delicious glutinous rice balls, and the steaming stove are all warm and reunion memories written by Guangzhou people. Tracing back to the history of "Winter Solstice", "Winter Solstice" is indeed true in history. Because "year" is the product of calendar, only when the calendar is made can the year be calculated. To calculate the calendar of a year, we must first set a starting point for calculation, called epoch. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor ordered people to observe the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars, and made the first calendar in China, Huangdi Calendar, with the winter solstice of Jiazi on the eleventh lunar month as the yuan day. From this perspective, there is a winter solstice and then a year, so "the winter solstice is a big New Year". In the Yellow Emperor, November of the lunar calendar was the first month, and the winter solstice was the beginning of the year. The winter solstice was equal to the Chinese New Year. "New Year in Winter", a family dinner with a traditional sense of ceremony, entrusted a beautiful vision of family reunion. During the nearly 800 years of the Zhou Dynasty,The weekly calendar also takes November of the lunar calendar where the winter solstice is located as the first month, and the winter solstice is very grand. "Zhouyi" says: "The first king and even the Japanese closed their doors, and business travel was not good, and they were not provincial." That is to say, during the Zhou Dynasty, on the winter solstice, the frontier fortress was closed, officials did not work, businessmen did not do business, and everyone had a holiday. Secondly, the winter solstice is a solar term, and the 24 solar terms are part of the solar calendar in the lunar calendar, which was originally obtained by the method of "vertical pole surveying", based on the sun. The "year" is derived from the lunar calendar in the lunar calendar, and the first day of the first month of each year is determined according to the cycle of the moon orbiting the earth. The sun is sunny and the moon is cloudy, which can be understood as "the winter solstice is a big New Year". On the winter solstice, the day is the shortest and the night is the longest in the northern hemisphere. In the eyes of the ancients, the winter solstice is the starting point of the transformation of Yin and Yang. After the winter solstice, the days will get longer and the yang will rise, which is a new beginning. This is an important day when the cathode reaches, and the yang will begin to grow. Therefore, Hanshu said: "The sun is the spirit on the winter solstice, and the monarch is long, so congratulations. On the summer solstice, the yin qi rises and the monarch disappears, so I don’t congratulate you. " It is considered that the winter solstice is an auspicious day and should be celebrated. Festivals The Winter Solstice in the Han Dynasty is called the "Winter Festival", and the Tang and Song Dynasties have a seven-day holiday, which is like the Chinese New Year. Now, on this day of the Winter Solstice every year, the online "North-South dispute" begins: Do you want to eat glutinous rice balls or jiaozi? In fact, Chinese’s winter solstice is not just about eating and drinking. The winter solstice has a long history from solar terms to Chinese festivals. In the first year of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (104 BC), taichu calendar was used, and the first month was designated as the beginning of the year, separating the first month from the winter solstice.But the custom of He Dong still follows. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was called the "Winter Festival". The custom of festivals is similar to that of the Zhou Dynasty. In addition to offering sacrifices to heaven and having holidays, there are also "winter worship" and "winter greetings". "History of Etiquette in the Later Han Dynasty" records: "Before and after the Winter Solstice, a gentleman lived quietly, refused to listen to politics, chose auspicious days and then saved trouble." It can be seen that around the winter solstice in the Han Dynasty, the imperial court stopped government affairs and concentrated on "He Dong". From the Han Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, the winter solstice was "as big as the year" or "as small as the year". During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, every winter solstice, the emperor was "congratulated by all nations and hundreds of people … and his appearance was inferior to that of the old dynasty." The solemnity of the "He Dong" ceremony is second only to the New Year celebration on the first day of the first month. Since then, the winter solstice has been known as the "Asian Year". The night before the first day of the first month is called New Year’s Eve, and the night before the winter solstice is called "winter removal". The "Golden Week" in the Tang Dynasty is the winter solstice and the Spring Festival. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty promulgated the national decree "False Ning Order", saying, "Yuan Zheng and Winter Solstice are given seven days off each." For the first time, it is stipulated that the "Winter Solstice Festival" holiday will be extended to seven days, which is also an important manifestation of the prosperity of the "Winter Solstice Festival". The Winter Solstice Festival in the Song Dynasty also had a seven-day holiday, "Winter Solstice is like Chinese New Year". "Dream of Tokyo" has such a record: "November winter solstice. The capital attaches the most importance to this festival. Although it reaches the poor, it is easier to get new clothes, prepare meals and enjoy the ancestors in a year. Officials let go and celebrate exchanges, just like the New Year Festival. " The Ming Dynasty’s "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" introduced the grand occasion of Beijing’s winter solstice at that time: on the winter solstice in November, a hundred officials of civil and military affairs, He Donghou, wore auspicious costumes for three consecutive days and worshipped each other with red notes, just like the New Year. During the Qing dynasty,The winter solstice is still very grand among the people. Qing Jia Lu is a monograph that systematically records the folk life in the south of the Yangtze River at the age of 18, in which it is written that "the county people attach the most importance to the winter solstice festival" and "the winter solstice is as big as a year." In 214 BC, Qin Shihuang ordered Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo to unify Lingnan, saying that "books are the same, cars are on the same track, degrees are the same, lines are the same, and places are the same", and the winter solstice originated in the Central Plains took root in Lingnan. During the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, along Zhuji Lane, people from the Central Plains moved into Guangfu several times on a large scale, and the custom of the winter solstice spread further, and it was very grand. In 1956, the report on the Winter Solstice published in Guangzhou Daily recorded that in the old days, Guangzhou people had a set of "rules" full of "Cantonese flavor" for celebrating the Winter Solstice: worshipping ancestors, eating glutinous rice, cooking glutinous rice with preserved meat, killing chickens and ducks and stewing eight treasures (referring to stewing eight rare and precious cooking materials, the specific meaning of which varies with the times and regions). According to the Collection of China Local Records and Folklore Data (Zhongnan Volume), almost all the "folk customs at the age of one year" in Guangdong local chronicles are written around the world to celebrate the winter solstice, and every family in Guangfu area regards it as as as big as a year. Different from the north, the weather in Guangfu is hot and humid in spring and summer, and warm in autumn and winter, and winter can only be truly felt until the winter solstice, so Lingnan people have taken the greatest enthusiasm to welcome the winter solstice: people who have been working in the four places have come home to reunite; The way of eating has also changed from the usual cooking mode of clearing away heat to "a side furnace", which has opened a rare opportunity to make up for winter. In ancient times, the winter solstice was an important day to worship the gods and ancestors.On this day, the emperor will hold a grand ceremony to worship heaven in the suburbs, and the common people will also worship their ancestors and pray for good weather in the coming year, and then sit around and eat, just like a New Year. Therefore, the winter solstice is also known as the "small year". Lingnan literature also talks about the tradition of the winter solstice, such as "Zengcheng County Records" (an increased edition in the tenth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty): "The winter solstice is a feast to worship ancestors"; "New Records of Conghua County" (the first year of Qing Xuantong): "On the winter solstice of the mid-winter month, families worship their ancestors and celebrate the lawsuit, such as the story of’ Yuanri’". The winter solstice in Guangzhou is very grand. "Huaxian County Records" (a block-printed edition in the 16th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty) said that "the winter solstice is celebrated by scholars and husbands. From the beginning of the day to the beginning of the day, the folk custom worships the ancestors and the Yanke, which is especially heavy than other festivals. It is called the group winter to offer a meal. " Nowadays, many older people in Guangzhou still regard ancestor worship on the winter solstice as the most important custom on this day. Cao Popo, who lives in Shabei Village, Baiyun District, has always followed the old ceremony. Every year before the winter solstice, she will buy shad in advance. "Marinate shad with salt, fry the shad skin until golden brown, seal it with plastic wrap and put it in a rice jar, which is called’ pressing winter’." On the day of the winter solstice, she will get up early to get fish, which means that there is more than enough money every year, and then put all the offerings such as roasted meat, winter oranges and glutinous rice balls in the hall to worship her ancestors. "In the past, the days were tight. After completing the ancestor worship ceremony, some of the offerings were robbed by the children to become breakfast and eaten into the stomach." Cao Popo said with a smile that life is getting better and better now, and grandchildren are no longer rare for offering sacrifices to their ancestors. The most important thing to spend the winter solstice is "group winter" (reunion). If the ancients did not reunite with their families on the winter solstice, they were often unhappy.Su Shi once wrote "A Lonely Visit to Jixiang Temple on the Winter Solstice Day": "The sunshine at the bottom of the well has not returned, and the rustling cold rain is wet and withered. Who is more like Master Su, not willing to come alone when he spends time? " Just four sentences, a total of 28 words, describe Su Shi’s inner helplessness. Although Su Shi wants to go back to his hometown to reunite with his family and spend the Winter Solstice Festival together, the real life makes him very helpless, so he has to go to Jixiang Temple alone to play. Sitting around "Tuandong", hot meals warm the stomach and heart. For Laoguang, in winter, glutinous rice balls and preserved glutinous rice are essential! "Every family makes glutinous rice balls, knowing that it is the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty." According to legend, the original form of glutinous rice balls is a popular snack "Yuan (Yuan) Zi" in Song Dynasty, which is recorded in Dream of Tokyo. When the children finish eating a bowl of sweet glutinous dumplings, the mother often fills another bowl, saying that this is called "adding new year". The New Year has not passed, but it has grown up by one year! The round glutinous rice balls symbolize reunion and perfection, and also place a good vision for life in the coming year. According to a survey, people in Guangzhou love black sesame stuffing, glutinous rice balls stuffed with bean paste and peanut stuffing. Little one learns to make dumplings. Some families in Guangzhou will also specially cook glutinous rice with preserved meat. The ingredients of preserved glutinous rice are very rich, including mushrooms, shrimps, scallops, sausages and other ingredients. Waxy glutinous rice bears the imprint of family. When many people in Guangzhou were young, their elders made it for the holidays. Whenever a wanderer eats glutinous rice outside, he often thinks of a family sitting happily together and eating a bowl of warm waxy glutinous rice to drive away the cold.Talking about the time. Food evaluation Lao Yibo said, why do southerners eat more glutinous rice products during the winter solstice? He believes that, first, glutinous rice is sticky and has the meaning of "reunion" that tightly sticks the family; Moreover, glutinous rice has a high calorie, and eating a portion of glutinous rice in winter is more "hungry" than a bowl of rice. Pan Jianming, vice president of Guangdong Folk Culture Research Association, said that in Guangzhou 40 or 50 years ago, every household still needed to make their own small cakes by hand. Every winter solstice, zhu cun’s neighbors generally like to make meat buns, candy pills or powdered fruit. Eating nine baskets and sitting around the edge furnace is a reunion day on the winter solstice, and there is no shortage of reunion dinner. The winter solstice is difficult to attract the attention of modern people because there is no public holiday. However, in the evening, Cantonese people are still willing to get together and enjoy the reunion dinner. "In the past, most families chose to cook at home, but now they are more willing to go to restaurants for dinner, saving trouble." Feng Yi, who lives in Xihua Road, told reporters that the memory of her childhood winter solstice is inseparable from a reunion dinner. Usually, her mother cooks, kills chickens and geese in advance, buys roast meat, preserves shad, and adds fans, shrimp, fish eggs, mushrooms, radishes and other materials to make nine vegetarian dishes, and then puts them into the "octagonal bowl" with rooster patterns. "Nine dishes not only mean a long time, but also show the importance of festivals. Feng Yi said that the conditions were poor at that time, and there were usually nothing to eat, so everyone was particularly looking forward to the arrival of the winter solstice. "At the end of eating, even the stew in the bowl would be licked clean." But now, her family is used to eating the winter solstice reunion dinner in the restaurant, thinking it is worry-free and time-saving.In addition to the nine baskets, it is freezing in the winter solstice, and the edge furnace has become the best choice for Guangzhou to drive away the cold. In Guangzhou, the history of "edge furnace" goes back to ancient times. In fact, the history of edge-beating furnace in Lingnan has been nearly two thousand years. Various bronze dings were unearthed in the tomb of Nanyue King, including: Chinese bronze dings with short hoof feet, Yue bronze dings with flat straight feet, and Chu bronze dings with high hoof feet. The most noteworthy one is the Chinese bronze dings with the word "Fanyu". Every winter, the King of Nanyue can invite several courtiers to get together, enjoy singing and dancing bells and chimes, and enjoy various delicacies, and at the same time, don’t forget to have a few drinks with a rhinoceros horn-shaped jade cup. In the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong Tongzhi appeared: "Surround the stove on the winter solstice and eat it as a side stove." According to the explanation of "Guangzhou Benzi", eating hot pot and rinsing is like "beating", and because people are standing by the stove and eating food while rinsing, it is called "edge furnace". What ingredients do you use for the edge furnace? The food structure and eating style of Guangfu people who spend the winter solstice also have distinct regional characteristics. Because Guangfu area is surrounded by rivers and seas and rich in aquatic products, its food structure reflects the characteristics of products in large rivers and seas. Guangzhou people love to eat raw fish in winter. Qu Dajun mentioned in "Guangdong New Language": "Cantonese customs are fond of raw fish, with perch, silver carp, yellow croaker, silver carp, snow carp and bighead carp as the top priority." In the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there were many "Zhuzhi Ci" related to Guangzhou fish, such as "The winter solstice fish is the same everywhere, and the fresh fish is exquisite. A cup of hot wine will cool you down, which is still a fad in the past. " Traditional raw fish mostly take pomfret as raw material. "slice" with a thin knifeSlices as thin as cicada’s wings and crystal clear are made into raw fish, which is eaten with various ingredients and sauces. In the early morning of the winter solstice, various residential areas in Guangzhou became lively, and every household bought fish and meat. On the night of the winter solstice, the weather is getting colder. In addition to raw fish, people in Guangzhou also like to "edge the stove". Shrimp, squid, pork liver, lettuce, chrysanthemum, spinach, etc., the meat is cut into pieces, and the fish is cut into two pieces that are connected like butterflies, which are put into the soup and eaten immediately. This method is called "crossing the river with sand". However, with the change of the times, everyone gradually realized that the risk of parasites eating raw fish was extremely high, so they changed to eating cooked food by the side stove. Guangzhou people especially like radishes on the winter solstice. As the saying goes, "Radish in winter solstice and ginger in summer solstice, eating at the right time is not painful", which means eating the right food in different seasons to achieve the purpose of health preservation. In winter, people are accustomed to tonic and do little exercise every day, so it is easy to generate heat and phlegm in the body. Eating radish can stop coughing, quench thirst and promote the qi of viscera, while eating ginger in summer can increase appetite and promote digestion. In ancient times, people didn’t have mobile phones, computers, entertainment, air conditioning and heating, but even if the weather is cold, they should live a good life. Going home to visit relatives, seeking roots and visiting friends and hiking to enjoy the scenery has become an important activity of the winter solstice. Guangzhou people have the custom of going to Luogang to enjoy the "snow" on the winter solstice since ancient times. Luogang Xiangxue, one of the eight scenic spots in Yangcheng, has presented a beautiful landscape of "Shili Meilin" for thousands of years and has become one of the resorts for Guangzhou people to punch cards in the winter solstice. According to records, the cultivation of green plums in Luogang area originated in the Song Dynasty.Because of its unique natural environment, it often blooms twice. In the 1950s and 1960s, Meiyuan stretched for dozens of miles, commonly known as "Shili Meilin". Before and after the winter solstice every year, plum blossoms are in full bloom everywhere, white and crystal clear, full of fragrance, and the wind pulls flowers and dances, not flying snow is better than flying snow. Nowadays, in addition to Luogang Xiangxue Park, there are many places to enjoy the "snow". Plum Valley in Baiyun Mountain has about 600 varieties of plum trees such as Meizhou Palace Powder and Chaotang Palace Powder. Every time plum blossoms are in full bloom, hundreds of plum blossoms compete to open; There are nearly 60 Bai Mei plants in the Four Gentlemen Garden of Baiyun Lake, and the rippling water is just a stone’s throw away, so the Meilin landscape near the lake is particularly elegant. Fat and thin in winter, dry and wet in winter, Guangfu people often say "fat and thin in winter", and winter is more abundant than Chinese New Year. In fact, the saying that fat winter is thin has appeared as early as the Song Dynasty. Song people attached great importance to the winter solstice, but why was it a fat winter and thin year? Jin Yingzhi’s historical notes of the Southern Song Dynasty, The Drunken Weng Tan Lu, are analyzed as follows: "The capital city (now Hangzhou) has three major festivals: cold food, winter solstice and New Year’s Day (now Spring Festival) … Therefore, many people ask about each other’s legacy (greet each other and visit each other), and they will not talk about it until they are old or have insufficient financial resources. There is a saying that’ fat winter is thin’. " It turns out that the festival is too close, spending too much money is limited, so we have to make a choice. However, it can be seen that people pay more attention to the winter solstice than to the Chinese New Year. There are also some sayings about the weather on the winter solstice, the most famous of which is "dry winter and wet year" and "wet winter and dry year", which means that it rains around the winter solstice, and it is often sunny during the Spring Festival, and vice versa. "dry winter and wet year"Is this statement true? Experts say it’s not absolute, it’s just a folk saying. There is no corresponding relationship between the sunny winter solstice and the rainy Spring Festival. Whether it rains during the Spring Festival is mainly determined by the weather system and atmospheric circulation before and after the Spring Festival. Inheriting the white-cut chicken dumplings, waxy glutinous rice, reunion in winter must be eaten for thousands of years. Although the traditional winter solstice custom of Guangzhou people may gradually disappear in the city, many families in Guangzhou still regard the winter solstice as a big festival. Spending a big Chinese New Year holiday in Guangzhou-the winter solstice, can fully prove that Guangzhou exists as a traditional and modern city with great tolerance. On the winter solstice, Guangzhou people who are born and raised often have a family dinner with a traditional sense of ceremony to pin their beautiful vision of family reunion and spend this wonderful and warm day; And many new "Hakkas" who come from all corners of the country to settle down in Guangzhou do as the Romans do. In addition to expressing their homesickness through food with hometown characteristics, they have gradually integrated into Guangzhou’s local flavor customs, and finally condensed into Guangzhou’s rich winter solstice eating customs over time. Winter solstice, revisiting the family holiday dinner ceremony and celebrating the winter solstice according to traditional customs is still the choice of most old people. Every winter solstice night, food critic Lao Yibo’s family must eat "Kaiping Tangyuan". He was born and raised in Guangzhou, but his hometown is Kaiping, Guangdong. Every winter solstice, his parents cooked a large pot of Kaiping glutinous rice balls for the whole family to enjoy. "It is in this way that parents pin their homesickness, and it is also in this way that we remember our ancestral home."Lao Yibo said. Kaiping glutinous rice balls are solid glutinous rice balls, which are only the size of an adult’s index finger. Because of their simple production, when they were young, they always participated in the "action" of rubbing glutinous rice balls together, and glutinous rice balls of different sizes, such as big beads and small beads, fell on the plate. This soup dumpling is the "protagonist" of their winter solstice reunion dinner that night, accompanied by a home-cooked boiled chicken and a plate of boiled shrimp. The soup base of glutinous rice balls is made by boiling chicken shells. Tangyuan is the staple food, and the soup is also rich with fried shad balls, dried pork, dried shrimps, mushrooms, shredded radish and other vegetables. On a cold winter night, a bowl of warm glutinous rice balls warms not only everyone’s stomach, but also the heart of every family member sitting around a table. Boiled chicken with nine famous dishes. Matthew, a media person, is also a native of Guangzhou. He regards the arrival of the winter solstice as one of the most important comforts all the year round, just like a person taking part in a marathon, which is the most important supply station before the end of the race. In his memory, the day of the winter solstice means the time for family reunion. One of the most important things for a housewife’s mother all the year round is to prepare dinner on the winter solstice. When mother is physically able to do housework, she starts to be busy inside and out the day before the winter solstice. In the early years, the economy was not affluent, and the family had a large population. It was not easy to prepare a winter solstice dinner, but even so, I would rather scrimp and save on weekdays, and I would like to prepare more abundantly on the winter solstice day. In the early morning, she will rush to the market to buy food, kill chickens and ducks, prepare dinner, and then everyone will sit around a table.Have a big meal. What impressed Matthew the most was not only the delicious food cooked by his mother, but also the winter solstice dumplings made by his mother, which were filled with shage, pork and shrimp and served with chicken soup, salty but not greasy and delicious. This day’s waxy glutinous rice is not only delicious, but also excellent in meaning. According to mom, glutinous rice means warmth, and it is warm from the beginning to the end of the year. My mother also presents her dried bacon to relatives and friends on the winter solstice. Guangdong-style beef bone beef offal pot, take a bite for the winter, it’s really delicious. The ritual feeling of the full dinner on the winter solstice also made Matthew memorable: Mom is very traditional. Before meals, the family should worship their ancestors first, and they are not allowed to move chopsticks until everyone is here, otherwise they will have to wait even if they wait. The custom of "wintering" continues among the new generation. For Xiao Zhang, a new Guangzhou native born in 1990s, Guangzhou’s strong custom of celebrating the winter solstice has awakened childhood memories and deepened his understanding and recognition of China culture. He told reporters that in Guangdong, where traditional culture is well preserved, the winter solstice is a lively and extraordinary festival, which makes people feel warm and comforted. The winter solstice is regarded as the "sub-year-old" after the New Year. It is not only the end of a year, but also the beginning of a new year. It is a day of family reunion and happiness. Looking back on the winter solstice when I was a child, a few days before the festival, my parents had begun to prepare all kinds of ingredients for the festival, such as mutton, beef and chicken … On the winter solstice, I would see a table full of delicious food, and the whole family would gather around the table to drink, warm up, eat delicious food and chat at home. On the morning of the winter solstice, my mother will wake me up from the bed."The dumplings I cooked are cold, so don’t get up quickly." Listening to my mother’s nagging, eating round glutinous rice balls, which is the warmth of home alone. Have a bowl of warm glutinous rice balls. Miss a bowl of hot glutinous rice balls in the morning of the winter solstice, miss the reunion dinner at night of the winter solstice, miss the tender and meticulous care of parents … This winter solstice, Xiao Zhang decided to go home for the holiday, "Winter solstice is a big New Year", don’t eat dinner alone, it’s better to go home! Have a happy reunion dinner with my family on the night of the winter solstice. It is a day of family reunion to let the traditional winter solstice custom return to the winter solstice rationally. With the improvement of people’s living standards, it has long been the choice of many families in Guangzhou to have a reunion dinner in restaurants. Many people in Guangzhou began to choose restaurants to celebrate the holidays and have family reunion, so that all restaurants, large and small, were shocked (lively). Slowly, the winter solstice became one of the busiest festivals in Guangzhou restaurants in a year. After the winter solstice, the Spring Festival, when the whole family has dinner together, is approaching. In recent years, the developed take-out has promoted the dishes in the Winter Solstice restaurant to enter thousands of households. The complex and laborious "hard dishes" such as Buddha jumping over the wall and potted vegetables have met the needs of some citizens to "eat at home". Gum, abalone, sea cucumber, duck’s feet, chicken wings, pig’s hands, blessing bags … They are soaked in abalone juice, and the rich sauce is boiling in the furnace, and the rising fireworks surround the family, driving away the cold of winter nights. Compared with dishes that are cold as soon as they are put, it is more enjoyable to enjoy hot dishes while boiling. Guangdong-style mutton pot that has been passed down for five generations. This year, as the winter solstice approaches,Although it is still the choice of Guangzhou people to go to restaurants to order takeout for the winter solstice, many people plan to regain traditional customs and spend the winter solstice at home, which to some extent allows the traditional winter custom to return. Matthew is one of them. Now the brothers and sisters have already married separately, and the mother is old, and she can no longer cook and take charge of the kitchen utensils and prepare the winter solstice dinner for her family. Matthew intends to let the nanny who takes care of the elderly at home buy fresh chicken, duck and fish in the vegetable market on the winter solstice and bagged dumplings in the supermarket. Although for many people in Guangzhou, it is no longer a "standard" to eat glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice, what is needed is a sense of ceremony and a warm feeling of home. Affection and warmth are all in this hot glutinous rice ball. Guangzhou people spend the winter solstice in this way, which contains their love for life, their persistence in tradition and their great cherish for the change of years. The sky is dark and smoky, and the famous papers are handed down to celebrate the winter. Embroidered curtains are not rolled up, and it is easy to laugh and laugh. —— Yuan Ma Zhen, thousands of families have been singing for a long time, and they have traveled far and wide. Buy fish, sell wine and close the market, and cook tea to wash the guest dust. —— Ming Zhang Bi