Home > Festivals > Winter Solstice
Winter solstice is widely celebrated in Hong Kong. Although I don’t exactly know when should it fall on 21st or 22nd of December.
Winter solstice is one of the 24 solar divisions. This is the day when daylight is the shortest and has the longest night. And farmers should prepare and store food for the coming cold weather.
How do people celebrate winter solstice? We said “winter solstice is more important than the Chinese New Year” although there’s no special food like Chinese New Year’s to celebrate. Nowadays, the whole family will get together to have dinner on that night. Sweet glutinous balls with peanut or sesame filling may be eaten afterwards because the name of the dessert “tong yuan” implies gathering.
Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Winter Solstice page said people will put on new clothes and visit family with gifts. I have never heard of such thing. I wonder if they have been confused by Chinese New Year‘s practice.