A friend told me that since today it’s the winter solstice, I should eat dumplings: 冬至吃饺子，不冻耳朵 (“eat dumplings on the winter solstice and your ears won’t freeze). According to 百度知道, dumplings are eaten on the winter solstice in memory of a doctor who, while traveling in the winter, saved the starving and freezing local townspeople by making a spicy meat soup (祛寒汤) and filling it with bread that he shaped into 娇耳 (“delicate ears”). The soup and dumplings warmed the townspeople all the way out to the tips of their ears, and saved them from losing their ears to the cold. In memory of the doctor’s kind act, people now eat dumplings on the winter solstice, and say “冬至不端饺子碗，冻掉耳朵没人管” (“if at the winter solstice you don’t serve a bowl of dumplings, when your ears freeze and fall off, no one will care”). Harsh.
I have now dutifully eaten my dumplings, and I can report that my ears are not frozen, so maybe there’s some truth to the saying. Or maybe it’s our heater doing its job. Either way, dumplings are delicious, so I approve of this tradition. Happy winter solstice!
Dumplings being made (picture from Xinhua, via CCTV)