The solstice in winter is the longest night in a year. Many people use this evening to make a "winter solstice circle" with glutinous rice flour. In order to distinguish it from "saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year" on the eve of the Spring Festival, the day before the winter solstice festival is called "adding the year", which means that "the year" has not ended, but everyone has grown up for a year.
The winter solstice in Qing Dynasty is also a very important festival. The annual New Year's Day, the winter solstice and the emperor's birthday are also called "three major festivals". During the Shunzhi period, the envoys sent by North Korea to the Qing Dynasty regularly asked the winter solstice envoys to meet the Qing emperor on this day.
In the Qing Dynasty, the winter solstice festival in Beijing was also very grand. On the fifth watch from winter to Sunday, the flag bearer will invite his cousins and close friends to gather in the yard and sit on the floor, offering "Heaven and Earth Code" or low table tablets, and offering sacrifices to the poles of Heaven and ancestors. After the sacrifice, relatives and friends sit around and eat "white meat", which is called "Shenyu". Therefore, Lu said, "Winter is as big as a year."
The most important folk activity of the ancients during the winter solstice was to worship winter. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there has been a custom of celebrating the winter solstice according to the custom of celebrating New Year's Day. Lu You's Notes on the Old Learning Temple refers to night migration in the evening and winter solstice, but it is understood that the day before the winter from Tang Dynasty to Sunday is also called night migration. According to the thorough investigation of the old Wulin, the imperial court held a grand celebration banquet, and just like Yuan Zhengyi, everyone is the most important celebration of winter. The horses and chariots are beautiful and fresh, and the nine streets and five drums are full. Women's and children's costumes are dazzling and the communication is like a cloud. Within three days, all the shops and shops went on strike, just like the Spring Festival.