The Night is Long that Never Finds the Day
22/12/2006
It’s the Winter Solstice again. Time to sit around with your family, and have them pink and white glutinous rice balls. I love those rice balls. Love it. Hopefully I can find some in the supermarket tomorrow.
It’s amazing that the Chinese came up with the solar term to synchonise themselves with the seasons. In Chinese, the solar term translates literally into the “twenty four season breaths”. How poetic.
The Winter Solstice, or Dong Zhi which literally means “winter extreme”, reminds me of my Uncle. The one who passed away earlier this year. As a kid, all I was concerned about was the glutinous rice balls I got to eat at Dong (cos I so love it. So love, so love). My maternal grandmother made them in a simple clear, sweet ginger soup with some pandan leaves for fragrance. She never stuffed her rice balls. I love the ones my maternal grandma makes. Nobody does it better.
In contrast, my dad’s mom used to serve the rice balls in a sweet coconut broth. It seemed like a lot more trouble – she complained a lot – for not a lot of satisfaction. If there was ever an article on post-consumption dissonance in wikipedia, my paternal grandmother’s glutinous riceballs would be in it.
So one year, I’m gourging on my favourite riceballs as usual , and my uncle comes along. He sits beside me, and asks me if I understood the significance of Dong. I replied that it was significant to me because I get to eat my riceballs.
He tells me it marks the longest night in the year. He probably expected me to ask why that would be of any significance, but I was too busy eating. But anyway, he goes on to explain that even though it was the longest night of the year, there is still significance because after Dong, the days get longer while the nights get shorter. It symbolises the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.
I loved that it was a triumph, and I love the riceballs.
And every Dong I’ll remember what my uncle said to me.
Spend Dong with your family. It’s the time of the year to head home, hang out and chat over riceballs, and look forward to the triumph of light over darkness.
