大寒 (dà hán) – Greater Cold

Dahan Encyclopedia:

Dahan – Greater Cold – is the day marking the beginning of the last of the 24 solar terms (January 20 or 21), after which the weather slowly grows warmer. Like the 小寒 (xiǎo hán) – Lesser Cold (January 5, 6 or 7, beginning of the 23rd solar term), Dahan also means the cold degree of the weather. In some parts of China, Dahan is not as cold as Xiaohan, but in some years and a few places along the coast, the lowest steam temperature of the year will still appear during Dahan. Xiaohan and Dahan are the periods with the least rain of the year.

After Dahan, the new year’s festival is close, this time is called “winter goes to spring”. Although it is cold, it will not be as cold as it was during the winter solstice because it is near spring. At this time of the year, people are busy removing the old and decorating the new, salting the new year’s food, preparing the new year’s goods and various sacrificial offerings, cleaning up the dust and other things, because the Spring Festival, the most important festival in China, is coming.

Cold temperatures:

During Dahan, the atmospheric circulation is relatively stable, and the circulation adjustment period is about 20 days. During the adjustment, large-scale rain and snow weather and strong wind cooling often occur. When the long wave ridge is 80 degrees east longitude to the West and the coastal trough is East Asia, the sustained low temperature will appear in China under the influence of the northwest wind flow control and the continuous supplement of cold air.

Dahan customs:

Dahan, also it’s the slack season, everyone is busy – busy preparing the New Year, this is the “welcoming the New Year in the cold” customs. The so-called “welcome in the cold”. During the period from Dahan to the lunar new year, there are a series of activities Chinese people will do, which can be summed up into ten major customs: “eating glutinous rice”, “drinking porridge”, “drinking water”, “making teeth”, “sweeping dust”, “pasting windows”, “steaming for supply”, “hastening marriage”, “gathering”, “bathing”, etc.

“Eating glutinous rice” refers to the food made by glutinous rice which was popular in ancient times on the day of the Dahan Festival.

“Eating porridge”, as the saying goes, “eating Laba porridge”, has a long history of porridge on the eighth day of the lunar month. This porridge is made of rice, beans, dates, lotus, peanuts, wolfberry, chestnuts, nuts, longan, raisins, walnuts and so on.

“Indulge in drinking” means to let go of banquets and indulge in drinking. Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty “arbitrary” said: “the wax, the end of the year big sacrifice, indulge in official people feast also.”.

“Making teeth”, also known as “making teeth sacrifice”, was originally a ceremony to sacrifice to the Duke of the land, from which came the so-called “tooth beating sacrifice” for a good meal. There are “head teeth” and “tail teeth” to make teeth. The head teeth are on February 2 of the lunar calendar, and the tail teeth are on December 16. The whole family sits together to “eat the tail teeth”.


Post time: Jan-20-2020