Festival Series

冬至

Winter Solstice Festival

Eleventh Moon (December)

Literally meaning the "arrival (至) of winter (冬)”, Dong Zhi is the second most

important festival of the Chinese calendar, and is considered the thanksgiving

of the Chinese calendar. Dong Zhi is the last festival of the year. Coinciding

with the winter solstice, it is a time for the entire family to get together to

celebrate the past good year. Glutinous rice balls known as Tang Yuan (汤圆)

are cooked and eaten to signify unity and harmony within the family.

ORIGINS OF DONG ZHI

Celebrated on the longest night of the year, Dong Zhi is the day when

sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. The sun is at the Tropic of

Capricorn & this results in the longest night of the year for those living in the

northern hemisphere.

Dong Zhi has its origins in the farmer's celebrations of the year-end harvest.

The ancient Chinese farmers divided the year into 24 "joints" of two weeks,

and as a result, each Dong Zhi occurs six weeks before the Chinese New

Year. Dongzhi usually falls between December 21 and 23.

Dong Zhi was in fact the antecedent of Chinese New Year, as some of the

earlier emperors celebrated the new year at Dong Zhi. This lasted till Emperor

Han Wu Di decided to fix the Lunar New Year at the beginning of each year.

Even today, some Chinese “traditionalists” insist that everyone turns a year

older after Dong Zhi.

The celebration of Dong Zhi is also deeply rooted in the Chinese belief of yin

and yang, which represent balance and harmony in life. The Chinese believe

that although the yin qualities of darkness and cold are at their most powerful

at the time of Dong Zhi, it is also a turning point, heralding the dawning of the

light and warmth of yang. Because of this, Dong Zhi is considered a time of

optimism.

Dong Zhi is the celebration of the good year one and his family has enjoyed.

In ancient China, many poor people were not able to protect themselves from

the blistering cold winter, and they would often resort to eating bowls of

warming tang yuan (sweet soup of glutinuous rice flour balls) together in order

to keep warm.

	The Chinese word tang (meaning 'soup') sounds like tuan which means reunion, while yuan means round, signifying "yuan man" (complete / 圆满 ). The entire phrase tang yuan therefore symbolises "tuan yuan" (family reunion / 团圆 ), and eating tang yuan on Dong Zhi represents family reunion and harmony, and also signifies family unity and family prosperity.
For good luck, some families prefer to have some pink tang yuan to mix with the white ones.