Winter Solstice 冬至

  • Winter Solstice is one of the important solar terms. It was determined through measuring by ancient Chinese by means of the Sun observation with earth sundial 2,500 years ago. As the earliest officially recognized solar term, it starts from around 22nd December every year when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 270°.
  • 冬至是二十四节气中非常重要的节气，早在 2500 多年前就被人们用土圭观测太阳测定出来，是中国最早确立的节气之一。每年的 12 月 22 日左右，太阳运行位置到达黄经 270° 为冬至。
  • The ancient Chinese interpreting of Winter Solstice is quoted as “only as the Yin energy reaches its climax, does the Yang energy begin to grow; because the Sun arrives at the southernmost position, the daylight duration is the shortest and the Sun’s shadow is the longest”. It means that the Winter Solstice day has the shortest day and longest night.
  • 古人对冬至的解释为：“阴极之至，阳气始生，日南至，日短之至。日影长之至。” 意思是说，冬至这天，白昼最短，黑夜最长。
  • Winter Solstice, a traditional Chinese festival, is also called the Winter Festival, Long-arriving Festival or Sub-year. In the Song Dynasty, people valued the Winter Solstice day greatly as how they treated the Spring Festival, from which a saying goes as “Winter Solstice is as important as the Spring Festival”. From one day before the Winter Solstice day to one day after, all political and economic activities ceased.
  • 冬至时中华民族的传统节日，又称作“冬节”、“长至节”、“亚岁”等。宋代时，人们对冬至节的重视达到了顶峰，将冬至与春节相提并论，有 “冬至大如年”的说法。冬至前后的三天，帝王歇政，民间歇市。
  • In north China, people have dumplings on the Winter Solstice day. It is said that this tradition was created to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing, who is honored as the Saint in Medicine and lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhongjing, born in Nanyang City in Henan Province, was a medical official served in the government.
  • 在中国北方有冬至日吃饺子的习俗。相传该习俗是为了纪念东汉时期的医圣张仲景而流传下来的。张仲景原为医官，河南南阳人。
  • When he retired, he decided to go back to his hometown. It was winter time and he found that many people’s ears were suffering from cold injuries. He then asked his apprentice to set up a temporary shed, made foods with ear-like shapes and cured the patients with it. Later, people followed his way of processing these foods and named them dumplings.
  • 他告老还乡时正值冬日，他发现许多人的耳朵都被冻伤了。然后，他让徒弟搭起一个临时棚子，制作耳朵形状的食物，用它来治疗病人。后来，人们仿照他的方法制作食物，并将其命名为“饺子”。

Vocabulary

  • cease[siːs] ：v. 停止，结束，终止 | The company ceased production last year due to the ouotbreak of coronavirus. 该公司去年因新型冠状病毒爆发停产。
  • commemorate[kəˈmeməreɪt] ：vt. 庆祝，纪念；成为…的纪念 commemorative plaque 纪念匾 | This monument commemorates our victory. 这座碑是为纪念我们的胜利而建的。