The popular Winter Solstice treat, leiyuan [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

For Taizhou natives, the Winter Solstice is not really celebrated without eating leiyuan. Leiyuan is a kind of dumpling, which is as big as a peach and is made of glutinous rice with brown sugar and red bean stuffing. This is the sweet version. The salty varaiation is filled with diced pork, tofu, bamboo shoots, Sichuan beans, carrots, and white radish stuffing.

Yuan in leiyuan means "reunion" and "happiness". It is symbolically like the calamus sword hung on the door on the Dragon Boat Festival and the upside-down Chinese character of "fortune" in the lunar New Year. Compared with tangyuan, which is eaten by Ningbo natives on the day, leiyuan is better due to its rich content and profound meaning.

On the day of Winter Solstice, old people in a family usually get up early to make the sticky rice dumpling, following the saying that "if we all make dumplings, then tomorrow will be the Winter Solstice". People feel the happiness of celebrating the day through the busy preparation. Nowadays, there are less people spending their time on making leiyuan. Older women mainly form the group that makes leiyuan, due to their skill and patience in preparing them. In many institutions, canteens provide leiyuan on the day, like they provide rice dumplings on Dragon Boat Festival.

For people busy with their work and oblivious of the solar terms all year long, they may suddenly realize the arrival of the Winter Solstice after taking a bite of the free leiyuan provided in the canteens, wondering how quickly a year has passed by.

During the Winter Solstice, the atmosphere is celebratory in every household. In the evening, Taizhou natives like to drink home-brewed rice wine heated with several ginger splices. Even egg wine is made after the mixture of some eggs, with the smell of wine filling the air.

Taizhou natives show their pursuit of luxury enjoyment on the evening of Winter Solstice. Bold people will drink a cup of warm wine, while non-drinkers enjoy sweet fermented-rice. The osmanthus in the wine and its sweet taste add a special flavor to the night of the Winter Solstice.