1, rub the ball: On the eve of the winter solstice, Putian people will get together to rub the ball, which means reunion. The purpose of this custom is to worship ancestors and pray for family reunion. At the same time, children will rub balls into various shapes, such as ingots and small animals, which means that families are prosperous and six animals are prosperous.
2. Sacrifice: On the solstice of winter, people will place sacrifices such as meatballs, ginger, oranges, candy and red chopsticks in front of bordeaux. These sacrifices symbolize reunion, prosperity, sweetness and happy reunion respectively. At the same time, people will insert cooked soft dumplings on both sides of doors and windows, or stick them directly on doors and windows, which means family harmony and happiness.
3. Grave-sweeping: In Putian, the solstice festival in winter is also a day to sweep graves. People will go to the graves of their ancestors, clean up weeds and offer sacrifices to show their respect and yearning for their ancestors. During the sweeping ceremony, people will also set off firecrackers and burn incense and paper to show their respect.
4. Eat jiaozi: In winter solstice, Putian people also have the custom of eating jiaozi. Tangyuan is a traditional dessert, made of glutinous rice flour and filled with sesame seeds, peanuts and red beans.
Climatic characteristics of winter solstice;
Low temperature, the temperature is getting lower and lower. Climatically, during the winter solstice, the average temperature in the northwest plateau is generally below 0℃, and the southern region is only about 6℃ to 8℃. In addition, the winter solstice begins to count to nine, and the winter solstice becomes the first day to count to nine.
The days are short, the nights are long and the days are getting longer and longer. From winter to around, although the northern hemisphere has the shortest sunshine time and receives the least amount of solar radiation, the accumulated heat on the ground in summer can also provide some supplement, so the temperature is not the lowest at this time. But after the winter solstice, the days will get longer and longer, so the winter solstice is equivalent to a demarcation point.
After the winter solstice, the solar radiation on the ground is still less than the heat lost by the ground radiation, so the temperature will continue to drop in the short term. In China, except for a few islands and coastal areas, 1 is the coldest month, so there is a folk saying that winter solstice is not too cold, and astronomy also stipulates that winter solstice is the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere.