What does "Hou" mean in beginning of winter's three stages?

In ancient China, beginning of winter was divided into three stages: the beginning of still water and ice; The second waiting place began to freeze; The pheasant drowned three times. "This kind of solar water can already form ice; The land also began to freeze; In the third stage, pheasant refers to a big bird like pheasant, and pheasant is a big clam. After beginning of winter, big birds like pheasants are rare, but you can see big clams with similar lines and colors at the seaside. Therefore, the ancients thought that pheasants would become big clams in early winter.

Extended data:

Beginning of winter, together with beginning of spring, Changxia and beginning of autumn, is called "Four Seasons", which is an important festival in ancient society. On this day, the emperor will lead civil and military officials to the northern suburbs of Beijing to set up an altar for sacrifice. Understanding "beginning of winter" can't just stay in the sense of beginning of winter. Tracing back to the source, the ancient people's understanding of "establishment" is the same as that of modern people, both of which mean establishment and beginning.

But the word "winter" is not so simple. In the ancient book "Twenty-four solar terms", the explanation of "winter" is: "Winter is the end, everything is harvested", which means that all crops in autumn are harvested, collected and put into storage, and animals have been hiding and hibernating. It seems that the beginning of winter does not just mean the coming of winter. In a word, beginning of winter is to put everything away and avoid the cold in early winter.