• Worshiping the heaven
  

Worshiping the heaven at the Temple of Heaven/Tuchong

In the old days, worship was considered as a solemn and indispensable ritual and highly regarded by everyone, from emperors to subjects. Among all rituals of worship, worshiping the heaven is most solemn. On Winter Solstice every year, the emperors would worship the heaven. In addition, this ritual was also part of the royal enthronement ceremony to express that the emperors were the choice of the heaven.

• Paying respects to deceased teachers and worshiping the Confucius
  

File photo: worshiping the Confucius

In the past, Winter Solstice was also known as "Tofu Festival", which is related to the custom of paying respects to deceased teachers. According to historical records, "Dongzhi was also called Winter Festival... On the day, all schools in the village held worship ritual to pay respects and offer up sacrifices to the decreased teachers. Students paid respects to their decreased teachers with tofu as sacrifices and then drunk wine together, hence the colloquial name of 'Tofu Festival'. "Moreover, it is also customary of "worshiping the Confucius by burning the character-bearing paper". Therefore, people would value more the character-bearing paper and refrain from using the paper to do cleaning on the day.

• Eating dumplings
  

File photo: dumplings/Pixabay

On the day of Winter Solstice, it is the custom for Chinese people to eat dumplings to protect ears from frostbite in honor of "Saint in Medicine" Zhang Zhongjing (an eminent Chinese physician during the Han dynasty) who provided the patients with medicine for free on Winter Solstice. "No dumplings on Winter Solstice, frostbitten ears throughout following winter days." Till today, this jingle is still popular among Nanyang City of Henan Province in central China