Pink Ball Festival!

That's what I used to think

when I was a kid.


But now that I've grown up,
Becoming a BIG girl,
I now know the actual name of the festival:

The Winter Solstice Festival

Clueless about it?



How about recalling the moments
when your parents would ask you to
roll tiny pink and white balls
using the flour they just bought from the market?
(Ooo....I LOVE the smell of the flour!)


Ah! I can see the light bulb on your head blinking.



Well, for more detailed information, I've wikipedia it:


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The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the Dongzhi solar term

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (復, "Returning").

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (湯圓, Cantonese jyutping: tong1 jyun2; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large Tang Yuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

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Nowadays, Tang Yuan is no longer limited to pink and white only.

There's green too!


And I believe, we'll have a wider range of colour in the future!

I want purple! =D
Mwahaha~Perhaps natural colouring,
like dragonfruits, could make the Tang Yuan purple!



Anyway, my family's been bugging me to get off the notebook right now!
I've gotta go and make some Tang Yuan already!

Bye!