In many places, there is a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the New Year", which has led to the formation of many customs, mainly in food, such as eating dog meat, wontons, dumplings, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, millet rice cakes, wine making, etc. . In some places, ancestor worship is also held during the Winter Solstice.

There is also a custom in the Jiangnan area where the whole family gathers together to eat red beans and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice. There's a story to this too. According to legend, there was a man named Mr. Gong whose son was not successful and committed many evil deeds. He died on the winter solstice and turned into a plague ghost, continuing to harm the people.

But this epidemic ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red beans on the winter solstice, so as to ward off the epidemic ghost and prevent disasters and diseases. In addition, in some places it is popular to eat rice cakes, soba noodles, nine-layer cakes, etc. "cake" and "gao" are homophonic, which means rising higher step by step.

It is popular in many places to eat dog meat during the winter solstice. It is said that this started in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, ate dog meat cooked by Fan Sha on the day of the winter solstice. He thought it tasted particularly delicious and was full of praise. As a result, the folk custom of eating dog meat during the winter solstice was formed. Regardless of whether this legend is reliable or not, eating a little dog meat in winter can indeed keep the cold away and warm you up.