Happy Winter Solstice Festival!

It’s Winter Solstice Festival again, celebrated once in December 22nd every year! Also known famously as Dongzhi Festival, this is one of the main festivals celebrated by the Chinese all around the world. The most famous symbol of the festival is eating of tangyuan (balls of glutinous rice flour) which represents reunion. As typical with other Chinese festivals, family reunion is emphasized in this festival too.

There is even a popular Chinese saying that this festival is much more important and bigger than Chinese New Year, with one gets a year older after this festival celebration, not waiting until the Chinese New Year. This is the only Chinese festival celebrated based on Western calendar, and not following its own lunar calendar. Ahaa…one month from now would be the Chinese New Year, which is known as Spring Festival in China…

I have finished preparing the tangyuans to be cooked for the festival. It is nice rolling the flour of different colours (green, white and red) into a sphere that represents reunion as mentioned earlier. I like eating tangyuans, and I guess I would be eating quite a lot. Anyway, Happy Winter Solstice Festival to all Chinese once again! Enjoy the day, and remember the family reunion for the day!