Merry Christmas + Happy Birthday = Words of Dongzhi
Is the above formula strange to you? Well, it is actually true as far as my personal experience is concerned. Last night, at a restaurant in Taichung City, I celebrated this year's dongzhi (winter solstice) in a different way. Before eating stuffed dumplings [made of glutinous rice flour and served in soup], I said "Merry Christmas" and "Happy birthday" in a cheerful loud voice!
The fact is that I had not paid any attention to this particular jieqi (節氣 solar term) until I was reminded of it when attending the dinner party which St. James' had especially organized for their foreign English teachers. The Christmas Day is coming soon, so Rebecca, Yasmin, William, etc., [all being from abroad] were invited to the dinner party. I was also invited yesterday, because I had once been the director of St. James' Language Institute. Or, possibly, I could act as an interpreter or something. I told Rebecca and Yasmin about the meaning of dongzhi -- Among the 365 days of the year, dongzhi is the day with the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. Then, to my surprise, it was Samuel's birthday yesterday; Samuel's birthday happened to fall on dongzhi this year.
Now you realize why the above-mentioned formula is true, don't you? Last night we loudly said "Happy birthday" to Samuel, and "Merry Christmas" to each other!
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