Fun activity: Choong (centre) and her pupils (from left) Ooi Yin Yang, five, Dheeya Kathybel Vanand, six, Teng Yi Xin, six, Harith Aqeel Khairul Akif, six, Jebat Alreshka Ezwan Sha, five, Lauren Por Eu Min, five, and Chew Zhe Wei, five, jointly preparing the glutinous rice balls for the Winter Solstice Festival at a kindergarten in George Town. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Generations ago, rolling glutinous rice balls for the Winter Solstice was a village effort in China.
Everyone took part in the manual milling of the flour, and cooking for the last feast before the heart of winter, the end of a time of plenty and the start of months of icy cold and endurance.
Being so close to the Equator, the Winter Solstice is hardly felt in Malaysia, but Chinese communities here still hold dear to the 2,000-year-old tradition and for 30 kindergarten kids in Penang, it was really fun!Not only were their glutinous rice balls made in seven cheery colours, rolled into little kiddy-sized balls, they also learned to be organised by arranging the balls into neat concentric circles before they were boiled in a sweet syrup.
The children aged between five and six who are on their school holiday returned to the centre at Island Park just to roll the balls and eat them together.
They sat around small tables and spent an hour putting their hands to work.
Teachers guided them in the process while the centre’s principal, Emily Choong, explained the significance of the festival.
“We do this activity yearly, among many other cultural activities.
“By getting the children to get hands-on in making the glutinous rice balls, they experience part of the tradition of Chinese culture, at the same time serving as an additional activity during their holiday.
“A few of them are seeing this for the first time, especially those who are non-Chinese, and this is an eye-opening experience for them,” she said yesterday.
Winter Solstice happens this Friday, and if you live farther north along the planet, you will be aware that the sun will set super early that day, as it is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
In Peninsular Malaysia, folks might notice the sky becoming a deep sapphire blue even before 7pm, while it will be dark before 5pm in countries facing winter.
It is this phenomenon of short daylight hours (a little over seven hours) and long nights for months in the Northern Hemisphere that triggers winter, though it is already snowing in many regions now.
With little to eat in China’s ancient agrarian societies during winter, glutinous rice which has among the highest calorific value became their staple food.
