Chinese Winter Solstice Festival

[Shiewie]

It's time for the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi / Doong Jeet in Cantonese) - strangely it seems to always fall on 22nd December every year irrespective of the lunar calendar (could someone please help explain this?)

Some say Dong is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar, more important than Chinese New Year, where families gather and share a meal together - sort of like a Chinese Thanksgiving.

A food that is symbolic of Dong is Tang Yuan (tong yuen in Cantonese) - glutinous rice flour balls served in a gingery sugar syrup (or pandan flavoured ones in Malaysia and Singapore). Some have fillings of sugar, crushed peanuts, red bean paste or black sesame paste. We make plain tong yuen at home, larger white ones and smaller coloured ones - when we were little, my sister and I always wanted to have black and multi-coloured tong yuen but my gran and mum didn't like our suggestion.

Do you celebrate Dong Zhi? What other foods are symbolic of the festival?

[eatingwitheddie]

Since my grandparents were Jewish, knowledge of these traditions are a weak link in my Chinese culinary education. As I understand it there are 4 seasonal festivals that coincide with the changing seasons: The Moon Festival and The Dragon-Boat Festival immediately come to mind.

During my years in the Chinese restaurant business, when I was affiliated with NY's Shun Lee and with David Keh, our restaurants would close early on these evenings and we would have a large banquet to which we could invite family and friends. The dinner was usually set up as a buffet so that all the employees could enjoy it. However, for many the most exciting part of the evening would take place after dinner when the gambling and drinking games would start.

I'd love to hear some more stories about your family's food traditions and about how they celebrated these seasonal festivals.

[Dejah]

I don't do anything special in my house, but my 94 year old mother does. This is an important date for her...but maybe not so much for the younger generation. I asked my brother why it always falls on Dec. 22. He didn't even realize that. He just does what mother tells him!

My sister-in-law, with whom she lives, will steam a chicken with head and feet intact with the required "sam sang" for offering to the dieties.

First thing in the morning, they will place 6 bowls of tang yuen (sweet ones), with 6 tang yuen in each bowl, on a table facing the south window. There will be incense burning. This is an offering to the gods of heaven.

Then they will add a plate each of chicken, pork and fish ( heaven, earth, water), with 6 bowls of savory tang yuen for the offering to our ancestors.

The table will also have 6 small bowls of rice, 6 pairs chopsticks and 6 tiny wine cups.

My brother, being the only male in the family line, will do the kowtows, along with my Mom who will say the prayers.

We are still waiting for the lunch invite...

[jo-mel]

It's time for the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi / Doong Jeet in Cantonese) - strangely it seems to always fall on 22nd December every year irrespective of the lunar calendar (could someone please help explain this?)

Is it because the Lunar calendar follows the moon, while the solstice follows the sun? The sun always passes that point on the 22nd or 23rd of December. (Or didn't I understand the question?)

[Gary Soup]

It's time for the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi / Doong Jeet in Cantonese) - strangely it seems to always fall on 22nd December every year irrespective of the lunar calendar (could someone please help explain this?)

Is it because the Lunar calendar follows the moon, while the solstice follows the sun? The sun always passes that point on the 22nd or 23rd of December. (Or didn't I understand the question?)

Most traditional Chinese festivals follow the lunar calendar, and the solar calendar was never used in pre-Republican China. What Shiewie was wondering was why this particular traditional festival is observed according to the solar, rather than the lunar calendar. After all, neither the Spring Festival nor the Mid-Autumn festival are keyed to the solar calendar.

I've asked the same question about Qing Ming, which is always April 5 or 6.

[Shiewie]

I've always thought of the lunar calendar as the chinese calendar...anyway, jo-mel has hit on something there. Googled it and found something on the MSN Singapore site which explains that the origins of the winter solstice festival is interrelated with the Solar Calendar.

When we were little, seasonal festivals were usually celebrated by having large family dinners at my maternal grandmother's house. For festival dinners, there was always white poached chicken, roast pork (siew yook), some sort of fish and prawn dishes, a curry, sambal and ju hu char (a Nyonya jicama dish) (the curry, sambal and joo hu char is definitely Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese rather than traditional Chinese).

Dinner would be split into a few sessions as there'd be too many people to fit around the two dining tables all at once. Kids didn't eat at the table but were usually given a plate of rice piled with the various dishes to eat in front of the TV - I used to long for the day when I'd be allowed to eat at the adults' table. (My mother says that it was because we were such messy eaters when we were little - it seem that after a meal I'd have grains of rice in my hair, clothes and even underwear .)

My gran, her maids and a couple of relatives would spend the morning of Doong making trays of different coloured tong yuen. I'd usually insist on helping but I think most of the time, the tong yuen I made were discreetly disposed of as they didn't meet my Nyonya gran's exacting standards (Nyonyas are notorious for being very fussy cooks). We also used to be told that we had to eat our tong yuen othewise we wouldn't grow older! Now only if that were true ...

We didn't have offerings for deities or prayers though as my grandfather was very unconventional and didn't allow what he called 'taoist mumbo-jumbo' in his house (he used to say that if there were taoist monks at his funeral rites, he would rise up and strangle them ... but that's another story ).

[Pan]

I don't know much about the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival, but I wish a happy holiday belatedly to Shiewie, and to anyone else who's celebrating.

This isn't one of those festivals that lasts a few days and will still be going on the 25th, is it?

[Ben Hong]

I guess that deep in the mists of my memory, our family rituals at the Wintewr Solstice mirrored Dejah's family affair somewhat. As a young man, I really paid no attention to those thing which were the province of women and girls. Now regrettably, almost all of my older female relatives have passed and the new generation has very little ambition to carry on with the old ways, if indeed they knew at all.

BTW, I hated the sweet yuen, loved the savoury kind. Unfortunately, at that time, glutinous rice balls gave me long bouts of the "back door relays".

[Dejah]

Ben, You are correct to think these festive rituals are usually the province of women, unless you are the male elder in the household, who just step in at the last minute to perform My s-i-l only keep up with these rituals for my Mom's sake. I don't think she will continue when Mom is gone...too Canadianized?

I am trying to record these rituals in our weekly talks. She gave me a "prayer" for Chinese new years. I wrote it down phonetically. This was very important for me when we had the restaurant biz, to ensure prosperity.

I don't like the sweet tang yuen either...it's the julienned lo bak and dried shrimp in the savory tang that I love. My husband and kids dread the glutinous balls....always seem to stick in their throat. They often try to sneak them into MY bowl!

[jo-mel]

I was curious about the Chinese Solar Calendar and 'googled' it. I found more than I probably need to know in the last 2 paragraphs at this site:

http://www.indoflorist.com/holidays-chinese.html

It seems as tho it has to do with spacings of 15 degrees longitude, and the date and time when it is at 120 degrees East. Both the Dong Zhi and Qing Ming seem to qualify. (If I read it correctly)

Reading about the sweet tang yuan, I was going to mention that most of the Chinese people I knew didn't like them. But I thought it was just something that was peculiar to those people ------BUT ---- after reading the comments here, I had to laugh! Do most Chinese not like them?? I happen to like them, but I don't like the syrup they come in.

[herbacidal]

i would say that most chinese i know probably either tolerate tang yuen or like it.

OTOH, i haven't touched the stuff in a decade or so, and am quite happy to keep that streak alive.

my cousins were suprised that i didn't like it.

Edited December 23, 2003 by herbacidal (log)

[Gary Soup]

I have the impression that Dong Zhi is a much bigger deal in south China (and perhaps among Chinese in SE Asia) than in the north. It doesn't seem to appear on my wife's radar, and when I asked her about it she said that in Shanghai it is a day for preparing a ritual meal offering and burning Hell notes for one's ancestors. The Hong Kong Tourism website characterizes it as China's Thanksgiving day, but Ju-Ju is adamant about that role belonging to the Mid-Autumn festival. Overall, Dongzhi seems to fall behind the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autmn festival and Duanwu in importance, not to even mention National Day.

Incidentally, she always makes Tangyuen (both sweet and savory varieties) for the Lantern Festival, but seldom at any other time of the year.

[herbacidal]

The Hong Kong Tourism website characterizes it as China's Thanksgiving day, but Ju-Ju is adamant about that role belonging to the Mid-Autumn festival. Overall, Dongzhi seems to fall behind the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autmn festival and Duanwu in importance, not to even mention National Day.

i do think dong jeet is probably bigger in the south than the north.

dong jeet is probably "thanksgiving" for the south, more than zhong qiu jeet.

zhong qiu jeet would seem to be closer to thanksgiving for the north, based on my vague recollections.

[trillium]

I have the impression that Dong Zhi is a much bigger deal in south China (and perhaps among Chinese in SE Asia) than in the north. It doesn't seem to appear on my wife's radar, and when I asked her about it she said that in Shanghai it is a day for preparing a ritual meal offering and burning Hell notes for one's ancestors. The Hong Kong Tourism website characterizes it as China's Thanksgiving day, but Ju-Ju is adamant about that role belonging to the Mid-Autumn festival. Overall, Dongzhi seems to fall behind the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autmn festival and Duanwu in importance, not to even mention National Day.

Incidentally, she always makes Tangyuen (both sweet and savory varieties) for the Lantern Festival, but seldom at any other time of the year.

The moon festival is considered the Chinese "thanksgiving" at our house too, and the ethnic Chinese contigent is from SE Asia. The moon festival was a huge deal at home, kids got to get hyped up on sugar sodas and eat fried foods...it made a big impression.

regards,

trillium

[Hest88]

Strangely enough, I don't remember ever celebrating this when I was growing up, and my parents are Cantonese. Other holidays were a big deal, including the Moon Festival, but I wonder if my parents just decided that it was more important for us to have an American Christmas?

[stellarWOK]

Do you celebrate Dong Zhi? What other foods are symbolic of the festival?

We had a huge Dong Zhi festival at our house and I cooked a 7 course meal banquet style.

Here was the menu.

Appetizer:

1. Lamp Shadow Sweet Potato Chip

(Sprinkled with a little sugar and drizzled with soy, hot oil, and sesame oil sauce)

2. Soup:

Hot And Sour Soup

Entree's

3. Sweet and Sour Chicken

4. Wok Sweared Green Beans

(With Sweet & Pungent Meat Sauce)

5. Spicy Slices of Beef w. Tangerine Peel

(With Sichuan Peppercorns)

6. Kung Pao Chicken

Dessert:

7. Candied Tangerine Peel dipped in Chocolate