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Winter Solstice Festival

21 December 2012 by Eileen

The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice) on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. This year, it occurs on 21 December 2012.

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. I still remember every year without fail, my mum would make tangyuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice. She would put red food colouring into the glutinous rice flour and mix with water.  Once it was mixed, she would roll it into small flour balls and cook it in the boiling water with pandan leaves.

Winter Solstice Festival tang yuan

Before we were allowed to eat the tangyuan, my mum would offer it to our Buddha with fruits, food, incense paper and joss stick. Each family member would have to eat at least one tangyuan, which symbolize reunion. Both of my sisters never liked to eat them but for me, I would finish every single tangyuan my mum cooked.

This festive food also symbolises that we are now a year older instead of waiting for the Chinese New Year to come. This year is my first year making tangyuan for my children. Firstly, I mixed the glutinous rice flour with water into a flour dough with different colour food dye to make it more interesting. Roll it in my hand into a small flour balls. I like it to be a mini ball as it will easy for my children to eat. They can be quite sticky to chew.

Winter Solstice Festival tang yuan ingredients
Winter Solstice Festival tang yuan dough

Once cooked in boiling water, they are sieved out and coated with peanut powder. I bought the peanut powder from Singapore.  It is quite easy to make if you can not find it in a Chinese supermarket in UK. Crush some roasted peanuts and add sugar to taste. I like to eat my tangyuan this way and my family love it too.

Winter Solstice Festival tang yuan cut
Winter Solstice Festival tang yuan with peanut powder

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Filed Under: Chinese Festivals Tagged With: chinese dessert, Food

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Comments

  1. Workingberlinmum says

    22 December 2012 at 9:31 pm

    Those look lovely. I know of the Winter Solstice festival but didn’t really know any details so thanks for explaining it’s meaning. I love family traditions and it’s lovely to see you continuing them with your own children.

  2. Kim Carberry says

    22 December 2012 at 12:02 am

    They look interesting little things…I’ve never heard of tangyuan before….But it’s nice to carry on with the traditions that our parents did 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Winter Solstice Festival 2013 with Tangyuen - ET Speaks From Home says:
    13 October 2022 at 10:30 am

    […] know what the Winter Solstice Festival/Dongzhi is and why we are celebrating it, please click here to read what I had wrote in last year’s blog […]

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Hello!

Welcome to ET Speaks From Home. My name is Eileen, mother of two children aged 17 and 16 with visual impairment. We've been online since 2012 and continue to grow. I love to cook, craft, DIY, write about Chinese Culture and YouTube reviews.
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