Today in Chinese calendar is winter solstice (冬至), I just had a great meal with my mum and brother’s family.
In astronomical terms, for nothern hemisphere we are having the shortest daylight of the year. Followed by this scenario is a few days of freezing cold winter and as the daylight is getting longer everyday, the weather will get warmer again.
In ancient Chinese, it’s a blessing if family members can gathered all together and have a feast, it marked that they were having a good year and looking forward for another year to come.
Today it’s still very much a celebrated event by Chinese around the world. In Nothern China people celebrate the day by eating dumplings (饺子), Southern China eat noodles (长线面) whereas some other places like Malaysia will eat a dessert (汤圆).
冬至大过年，
家人庆团圆，
一起吃汤圆，
明年赚大钱
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:50 pm
glad to know you had a great time with your family.
December 24th, 2005 at 5:43 am
Thanks Laarni