Winter solstice (Dong Zhi )

The winter solstice, also known as the South solstice, winter festival and Asian year old, has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only an important solar term in the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional ancestor worship festival among Chinese people. The winter solstice is one of the four seasons and eight festivals. It is regarded as a major festival in winter. There is a saying "the winter solstice is as big as a year" among the ancient people. The winter solstice custom has different contents or details due to different regions. In southern China, there is the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors and feasting on the winter solstice. In northern China, there is a custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice every year.

The winter solstice is the 22nd solar term of the "24 solar terms", with douzhizi and 270 ° sun yellow meridian, which is handed over on December 21-23 of the Gregorian calendar every year. The winter solstice is the extreme of the southward travel of the direct point of the sun. On the day of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of cancer. The sun's light is the most inclined to the northern hemisphere and the sun's altitude angle is the smallest. It is the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. The winter solstice is also the turning point of the northward return of the direct solar point. After this day, it will go back. The direct solar point begins to move northward from the Tropic of cancer (23 ° 26 ′ s), and the days in the northern hemisphere (China is located in the northern hemisphere) will increase day by day.

On the day of winter solstice, although the sun is low and the day is short, the temperature of winter solstice is not the lowest in meteorology. In fact, due to the "accumulated heat" on the surface, it is usually not very cold before the winter solstice, and the real severe cold is after the winter solstice. Due to the great difference in climate across China, the winter of this climate significance is obviously late for most parts of China. The winter solstice marks the beginning of the cold season, and the people begin to "count nine" to calculate the cold days (as the folk saying goes: "three gengs fall in the summer solstice and nine in the winter solstice).

Dong Zhi Wiki:

Chinese name	Winter solstice
Foreign name	WinterSolstice
alias	Winter festival, short days, sub year old
Representative moral	The cold winter is coming.
Gregorian time	December 21 to 23 of the Gregorian calendar every year
Ecliptic position	The sun reaches 270 ° of the Yellow meridian
Climatic characteristics	cold and frozen
Phenological phenomenon	Wait for earthworm knot; Second, waiting for elk angle solution; Wait for the spring to move.
Agricultural activities	Building water conservancy
traditional custom	Eat dumplings and glutinous rice balls
Living and health preservation	Add clothes in time and exercise properly