The Winter Solstice, also known as the Winter Festival or Celebrating Winter, is an important festival. There's an old saying that "the Winter Solstice is as important as the New Year," meaning that the New Year is just around the corner after the Winter Solstice. Traditional customs emphasize the Winter Solstice, including making glutinous rice balls (tangyuan) to offer as sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and having family reunions to eat tangyuan, praying for a fulfilling and prosperous future. The Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You wrote in his poem about the Winter Solstice, "Eating the Winter Solstice meal adds a year to your age." Mothers in my hometown would always call on this day to remind their children who were away from home to eat tangyuan and add a year to their age.
As the solar term reaches this point, the nights are longest and the days are shortest in the Northern Hemisphere, officially marking the beginning of the cold winter. In northern China, people enjoy the exercise of shoveling snow and brewing tea; while in Taiwan, where it doesn't snow on flat land, there's a tradition of "winter nourishment," believing that this time of year is most beneficial for the body, strengthening the constitution and storing energy to withstand the cold winter.
The mullet, which gradually migrates to the Taiwan Strait from the time of Minor Snow, reaches its peak maturity at the Winter Solstice, when its roe is at its most plump and oily. Many tea lovers have started ordering Yuan Rong 's seasonal limited-edition gift box "Mullet Seeking Tea" for that unforgettable salty and savory flavor, paired with the roasted aroma of Lishan Oolong, to happily get through the winter.
