Winter Solistice, a.k.a. 冬至, a time for family reunion and kinship. This is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese community, marking the time to prepare for renewal before the arrival of the new season. Have you ever celebrated Winter Solstice in a much bigger and wider community level, with different community organisations and ethnic groups, together with your family and friends? At the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) Winter Solstice SG60 Community Celebration Event 2025, close to 200 participants from different organisations come together to celebrate SG60 and Winter Solstice, through this special and unique event.
SCCC Winter Solistice SG60 Event 2025
The SCCC Winter Solistice SG60 event took place on 21st December 2025, SCCC and its community partners achieved two new Singapore Book of Records title, marking a festive finale to SCCC’s year long SG60 celebrations.
Close to 200 participants from organisations such as Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA), The Peranakan Association Singapore, Anandha Traditional Arts & Music Ltd (ATAM), Singapore Cancer Society, and Brighton Connections, came together to make 12 different varieties of tangyuan, celebrating cultural unity and shared heritage.
SCCC Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alvin Tan, said, “During the Winter Solstice, the making and eating of tangyuan signify reunion, and foster a sense of kinship. It is therefore apt that SCCC celebrates the festival with our community partners and friends from different ethnic communities, and together, mark the culmination of our SG60 commemorative events by gifting Singapore with two new records.”
Understanding and Learning more about Winter Solstice (Beyond just eating)
For many of us, during 冬至 (Winter Solstice), while we know about the traditions and significance of this day, we probably look forward more to eating more tangyuan instead.
There was a great sharing by Kok Leong at the start of this special Winter Solstice event, on “The Art and Science of Winter Solstice – A beautiful blend of astronomy and culture”. The highlight for me from this sharing was the varieties of tangyuan on offer!
There were 12 varieties of tangyuan, namely plain with no filling, black sesame paste, white sesame paste filling, red bean paste filling, peanut filling, lotus seed paste filling, green tea paste, fried tangyuan, chocolate filling, sweet potato filling, Hakka (Vegetarian) and Peranakan.
SCCC x Singapore Book of Records
The experienced and friendly Chefs were on hand to share and guide us on our tangyuan making experience, with facilitators on hand at each table to also help guide us throughout the process. Thereafter, we began our tangyuan making adventures!
Some of us like myself, I don’t recall having much hands on experience making tangyuan. Together with the rest of the guests at SCCC Winter Solstice SG60 event, we came together and rolled out 168 bowls of tangyaun, arranged to form a 2.4m by 2.4m SG60 logo as a gift to Singapore marking Singapore’s 60th year of independence.
We got ourselves entered (through our participation) into Singapore Book of Records for the “Most Varieties of Tangyuan Made at an Event” and “Largest SG60 Logo Made from Bowls of Tangyuan”.
All these were completed in an hour as 12 professional chefs prepared the soup bases while the guests were all hands on deck simultaneously carving out the pre-prepared dough and assigned fillings to make the tangyuan.
Once the completed tangyuan were cooked, they were scooped into bowls arranged to form the words “SG60” in the SG60 logo.
Marking SCCC Winter Solstice SG60 Celebrations (and eating tangyuan)
Since we made into the Singapore Book of Records, we must take a big community group (happy family reunion) photo!, to mark this unique and special SCCC Winter Solstice SG60 celebrations. Of course, once the photo taking formalities were done, we went straight for the tables that were cooking the different tangyuan, attempting to try as many different varieties of tangyuan on offer!
Personally, I was very keen on the Hakka and Peranakan tangyuan, I have never heard or know about those two varieties of tangyuan. Alas, my fellow guests also had the same thoughts as me, many queuing up to try those two.
Although I didn’t get to taste the Hakka and Peranakan tangyuan, I still got to eat other varieties of tangyuan to celebrate Winter Solstice 2025 with my family, and group of heritage and cultural kakis.
Make this Community Level Winter Solstice Celebration at SCCC a regular annual event!
This fun, unique, fun and enjoyable hands on Winter Solstice SG60 celebration event organised by SCCC, I feel this event deserves to be a regular annual event at SCCC, where we can bring different communities, organisations, friends and supporters from different dialect and ethnic communities to come together for a community level of cross cultural interaction, building community bonds through this special gathering and reunion, getting hands on action in the making and tasting of tangyuan.
I also learned much more about Winter Solstice (冬至), beyond just family reunion and kinship, the deeper cultural significance and varieties of tangyuan made by different dialect groups.
Thank you Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre for planning and organising a uniquely Singapo人 community festival, the SCCC Winter Solstice SG60 Community Celebration Event 2025!
Wishing all a Happy Winter Solstice 2025, may this season of reunion bring you, your family and loved ones, warmth, harmony, and good health!
祝大家冬至快乐，团团圆圆，冬至安康！