Solar Terms | Minor Cold

Solar Terms I Minor Cold

Minor Cold, also known as Xiaohan in Chinese, falls on Jan. 5th this year. It is the 23rd solar term, also the penultimate of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, marking the coldest period of the year. Affected by the cold wave, Nanjing has experienced strong cold weather, but the plants at campus are still taking on a different charm during the Minor Cold.

As the old saying goes, “the sanjiu is pretty cold”, meaning the third nine-day unit after the Winter Solstice is frigid. The sanjiu usually overlaps with the period between the Minor Cold and the Major Cold. It is important to keep warm during this period. It is the best time of the year to have a hot pot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it also has to notice that too much spicy food may cause acute gastritis.

In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually faded. Nevertheless, the custom of eating vegetable rice (菜饭) is still followed nowadays.

The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients, aijiaohuang (矮脚黄, a kind of green vegetable), sausage, and salted duck are the specialties locally in Nanjing.

For Chinese people, this period of year also sees preparation for the most important festival of the year: the Spring Festival. The last lunar month, also known as Layue usually begins around Xiaohan. The chill shouldn’t be a reason for anyone to be confined at home, exactly as British poet Percy Bysshe Shelly asked in his poem “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

Do not forget to stretch your body while preparing for final!

SEUers, Wish you all the best for the new year!

Source: CGTN

Written by Sun Danning

Proofread by Melody Zhang

Edited by Qi Yuchen

Photo by Zhang Muyao, Qi Yuchen

Some photos are from SEU General Office.