Turnaround Time

Question: What ancient cultural symbol is directly linked to celebrations of winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year?

Answer: Chinese yin & yang

It’s difficult to miss how the days have been growing shorter, and the nights have been growing longer—unless you’re from the Southern Hemisphere, of course, when you’ve been watching the days grow longer, and nights grow shorter.  Winter solstice is when everything reverses course, that mystical event that marks the shortest day of the year, the longest night of the year, and the first official day of winter. It should come as no surprise that so many cultures and religions around the world celebrate the time of year that coincides with the return of longer days—a precise knowledge of seasonal cycles was something that ancient peoples depended on for their very survival.

To honor their ancestors during Dōngzhì, families burn incense and leave offerings of food.

While the origins and traditions of winter solstice celebrations vary widely throughout the world, it’s safe to point to at least two things they all share—family and food. Like many of them, China’s winter solstice festival—called Dōngzhì—is a time for families to get together, to worship their ancestors, and to feast on traditional dishes. So, what exactly is “Dōngzhì” and what does “yin” and “yang” have to do with it?

China runs hot and cold during Dōngzhì

The origins of Dōngzhì (which roughly translates to “winter’s extreme” or “winter’s arrival”) go back more than two thousand years. It’s rooted in the Chinese concept of “yin” and “yang,” an ancient symbol of harmony and balance, because the Chinese believe that when the days are short, there is insufficient “yang” energy in nature (which is warm) and too much “yin” energy (which is cold). Put another way, the Chinese believed that the winter solstice was the apex of yin—with its darkness, cold, and stillness—and Dōngzhì was the return to yang, and the slow ascendance of light and warmth.

Dōngzhì became a winter festival celebrated across China during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) after someone named Zhou Feng figured out the precise date of the winter solstice using a simple sundial. Official workers and commoners were granted a day off to return home to gather with their families. It rose to prominence during the Tang (618-907 AD) and Song dynasties (960-1279 AD) and was declared a public holiday and people began paying visits to each other and exchanging gifts of food.

Food is especially prominent during Dōngzhì as it is so closely tied to agriculture. The winter solstice was a crucial time for ancient farmers, marking the end of the harvest season and a brief period of rest. It was a chance to celebrate all the hard work that had been done in the previous season, prepare for spring planting, and pray for a bountiful harvest in the upcoming year.

Traditional Dōngzhì foods—something for all woks of life

Traditional foods served during Dōngzhì are meant to help offset the “yin” and “yang” imbalance, so people pile on dishes that are more “yang” in nature, which will warm you up and counteract the “yin” (cold) of winter. With China so large and home to varying climates, however, Dōngzhì traditional dishes vary by region—especially between northern and southern China.

While we’re not sure a dumpling can cure frostbitten ears, the shape of jiaozi is a nod to the affliction.

In China’s northern wheat-growing region, the go-to cold weather food is jiaozi (dumplings). There’s a reason for the signature “ear shape” of the dumplings, too. The tradition began when a Han Dynasty physician, Zhang Zhongjing, served a batch of the warming and filling dumplings to a group of poor farmers who were suffering from frostbitten ears one harsh winter.

In China’s rice-growing southern region, Dōngzhì is all about the tangyuan. The tradition of serving these glutinous rice balls began as a way for those who couldn’t afford filling foods like meat to participate in Dōngzhì. Stick-to-your-ribs tangyuan usually have sweet fillings like sesame paste or red bean paste, come in different colors, and are served in a broth or sweet soup. And since tangyuan is very similar to the Chinese word tuanyuan—which means reunion— the rice balls are said to symbolize family unity and prosperity.

The “treasures” in babao porridge include red beans, lotus seeds, peanuts, dates, and walnuts.

In other regions of China, dishes like mutton hotpot, lamb soup, and babao porridge (also called eight-treasure porridge) take center stage during Dōngzhì. The purpose of all the dishes is to help keep the body warm and healthy during the cold winter months.

Don’t forget to save a plate for grandpa

Just as it is in most Chinese festivals, ancestor worship is an important part of Dōngzhì. Families might visit their ancestors’ graves to pay their respect, tidy up the tombs, burn incense, or set up altars with food offerings. In Taiwan, a popular Dōngzhì tradition is making nine-layer cakes as offerings to ancestors. Made from glutinous rice flour, the cakes are shaped like different animals—chickens, pigs, and tortoises—that are symbols of auspiciousness and good fortune.

It makes sense that so many regions of the world celebrate winter solstice. It’s a time to look forward to lengthening days and more hours of sunlight. Without the winter solstice, life would be pretty bleak—or in the words of that wild and crazy guy Steve Martin: “A day without sunshine is … like night.”

A few more fascinating winter solstice-related observations

• The long and the short of it—Daylight decreases dramatically the closer you are to the North Pole on winter solstice. So, places like Singapore, which is located about 85 miles north of the equator, will hardly notice a difference—they’ll have just nine less minutes of daylight than they had during the summer solstice. Madrid, Spain, which is much higher in latitude, will get close to nine and a half hours of daylight during winter solstice. Residents of Nome, Alaska will get a little less than four hours of weak sun on winter solstice—but people in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which sits inside the Arctic Circle, won’t see a single ray of sunshine. Areas below the Antarctic Circle will see 24 hours of sunlight on winter solstice, while areas north of the Arctic Circle will experience 24 hours of darkness. Attitude doesn’t figure into it, it’s all about the latitude …


• Tilt a whirl—The entire reason why we experience the winter solstice at all is because our planet is tilted on its rotational axis, giving us our seasons. As the planet moves around the sun, each hemisphere experiences winter when it’s tilted away from the sun—and summer when it’s tilted toward the sun. As to why the Earth is tilted in the first place, nobody knows for sure …


• Your guess is as good as Mayan—You may recall the larger than usual attention paid to the winter solstice of 2012. The Mayans had accurately predicted several historical events before, so when experts analyzing the 5,126-year long Mayan Mesoamerica Long Count Calendar saw that the Mayans had marked the December 2012 solstice as the end of the world, a lot of people bought into it. Fueled by the Internet, it turned into the most widely disseminated doomsday tale in human history. What we experienced, of course, turned out to be just another shortest day of the year, marking the slow approach of the longer days of summer. But some consider it a wake-up call to take better care of the planet—because if we don’t, the Mayans’ prediction will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.


• Me and my shad-oh, wow!—Because the sun is at its lowest arc across the sky, shadows are at their longest during the solstice. In fact, your noontime shadow on the day of the solstice is the longest it will be all year. For a brief period of time, people who live along the Tropic of Capricorn—an imaginary line south of the equator—will experience no shadows at all. If you were looking forward to seeing your giant shadow but the day turns out to be cloudy, don’t worry, it will be just as long for a few days. That’s because the Sun appears to “stand still” at the solstice, rising and setting at the same point along the horizon. In fact, solstice” actually means “the Sun stands still.”


• Wait, winter starts when?—Astronomers—and most people—point to the winter solstice as the official first day of winter based on the position of the Earth in relation to the sun. But meteorologists say winter begins on December 1st, which is based on our 12-month calendar and the annual temperature cycle. Others point to the end of daylight-saving time as the start of winter, because that’s when the days become shorter. We say they’re all wrong—everyone knows it begins when Starbucks brings out their winter-themed cups.


• Don’t blink or you’ll miss it—Winter solstice doesn’t happen on the same date every year, toggling between the 21st or 22nd of December in the northern hemisphere (and the 21st or 22nd of June in the southern hemisphere). The reason for this is because the solar year (the time it takes for the sun to reappear in the same spot as seen from Earth) doesn't quite align with our calendar year. But if we’re being completely accurate, winter solstice is not a date at all—it’s a time. We often look at the entire day as when the solstice occurs, but it only lasts a moment. This year’s winter solstice in Boston, for example, is December 21st at 10:03 AM!

Experience the rich traditions—and delicious cuisine—of China at any time of year during New! China’s Imperial Cities, Natural Splendor & Modern Marvels.