Dongzhi Festival - Winter Solstice

Dongzhi (literally: “The Top of Winter”) is a winter solstice celebration in China and countries of Chinese cultural influence. This is one of the most important holidays of the annual cycle.

Each year, the winter solstice falls on the period between December 21 and 22. The day of the winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. After the winter solstice, the days are longer and the nights are shorter.

In ancient China, it was believed that from this time the "masculine power" of nature rose, and a new cycle began. Therefore, the winter solstice was considered a happy day worthy of celebration.
On this day, the emperors went to the countryside to perform solemn rituals of sacrifice to Heaven, and the common people sacrificed to their ancestors.

Nowadays, this day it is also customary to honor the memory of ancestors, using boiled rice flour balls for the sacrifice of tangyuan. Also Dongzhi is a holiday for which the whole family is going.

In Taiwan, a tradition has been preserved on the Dongzhi feast to sacrifice a nine-layer cake to ancestors. From rice flour knead dough, mold from it figures of turtles, pigs, cows, sheep and other animals, symbolizing happiness. After the ritual, sacrifices arrange a banquet.