What does the winter solstice mean on the calendar?

The winter solstice in the lunar calendar is the most important of the 24 solar terms.

The winter solstice falls on June 65438+February 265438 in Gregorian calendar, which is the shortest day in a year. Winter solstice, also known as solstice, winter festival, child year, etc. It has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only an important solar term among the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional folk ancestor worship festival in China. The solstice in winter is one of the eight festivals in four seasons, and it is considered as a big holiday in winter. In ancient times, there was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as a year. The custom of winter solstice varies in content or details due to different regions.

In the south of China, there is a custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors and feasts from winter solstice, and in the north of China, there is a custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice every year. In winter solstice, although the sun is low and the days are short, the temperature in winter solstice is not the lowest in meteorology. Because there is still heat accumulation on the surface, it is usually not very cold before the winter solstice, and the real cold is after the winter solstice. Because of the huge climate difference in China, the winter with this climatic significance is obviously late for most parts of China, and the winter solstice marks the upcoming cold season.

The origin of winter solstice:

As early as more than 2,500 years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, China had observed the sun with earth gauges and determined the winter solstice, which was the earliest of the 24 solar terms, and the time was between 0 and 23 in the solar calendar 65438+February 265438+February, which was the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. In most parts of northern China, it is also the custom to eat jiaozi and jiaozi on this day.

According to the records of the Zhou Dynasty, people worship heaven in the suburbs on the winter solstice. Since the first month of the weekly calendar is 1 1 month in the summer calendar, the first month of the Zhou Dynasty is equal to our present 1 1 month, so there is no difference between celebrating the New Year and celebrating the winter. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the summer calendar that the first month and the winter solstice were separated. Therefore, it can be said that the "Winter Festival" was celebrated only after the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has existed ever since.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the solstice in winter was the day of ancestor worship. On this day, the emperor went to the suburbs to hold a ceremony to worship heaven. On this day, people must worship their parents. There are still some places to celebrate the winter solstice.

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