Rolling tang yuan keeps the family together

Merry time: Saw (left) and her family preparing for the Winter Solstice Festival at their home in George Town, Penang. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: The rolling of glutinous rice balls for the Winter Solstice Festival has been a reunion of generations for the family of 75-year-old great-grandmother Saw Soh Lan.

This year is no different, as Saw continued the family tradition at her home in Sungai Pinang joined by her grandson and all her great-grandchildren.

“I’ve learnt to roll these rice balls since childhood and continue to do so at every festival for our own consumption.

“My children have picked up the skill from me, but most importantly was for them to understand the significance of doing so.

“To me, it’s not just a dessert made during festivals, but a symbol of reunion in Chinese culture,” said Saw as she rolled the rice balls with the family on Monday.

Saw said two of her other sons are working in China but she is grateful to have 27-year-old Tan Yee Kai, his wife Tan Seow En, 26, and their children Tan Jun See, five, and 10-month-old Tan Jun Siang this time.

“Normally, I would roll the rice balls on the eve of Winter Solstice Festival, then cook them for prayers on the next day.

“It has been a ritual practised all my life and I shall continue to do so for the family,” she added.

Glutinous rice balls, otherwise known as tang yuan in Chinese, symbolises unity, togetherness and reunion, partly due to its name being a homophone for the word reunion and its roundness of shape.

Winter Solstice, which falls on Dec 22, is a day with the longest night of the year.

It is the peak of winter and after the solstice passes, daylight hours become longer and nights grow shorter.

The glutinous rice balls are used to worship ancestors and given to relatives and friends as gifts during the festival.

With little to eat in China’s ancient agrarian societies during the snowy weather, tang yuan desserts became their sole feast back in the day.

Farmers would look forward to winter ebbing and getting ready for the next planting season when spring comes.

The local Chinese community celebrates the Winter Solstice Festival by making the delicacy synonymous with the festival – the tang yuan – that comes with a variety of fillings such as red bean, peanut or sesame paste, and is served in plain or ginger syrup.