GEORGE TOWN: Many people visited columbariums in George Town during the Winter Solstice festival to offer glutinous rice balls, or tang yuan, to pay respects to their ancestors despite some facing water shortages. An example is 33-year-old data analyst Chew from Relau who had to purchase bottles of water to prepare and cook the rice balls in advance for her late father. Chew and her family have experienced a water supply shortage since Wednesday, and despite the challenge, they didn’t want to miss preparing the tang yuan, so they bought multiple bottles of water for cooking and preparing them.
Approximately 200,000 people in the southwest district and in Seberang Perai and the northeast district were affected by a water disruption due to the repair works on a pipe that burst on December 18, causing the water supply to stop. Another woman, Tan Gim Swan, prepared the rice balls with the little remaining water in storage and decided not to wash all the utensils to conserve water. Similarly, 55-year-old housewife Cheah Khin Hong faced a disruption and opted to eat tang yuan from a shop instead of making it herself.
Winter solstice, which falls on Friday, is the 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. Tang yuan desserts became a favorite during snowy weather in China’s ancient agrarian societies. 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.
