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Minor Snow
The first snowflakes drift; bare branches wait for wintersweet.
Solar term date
Dates follow the Hong Kong Observatory’s calendar. They are civil dates, rather than precise astronomical times.
About this solar term
Minor Snow begins at solar longitude 240°. The name suggests increasing cold and the possibility of snow in some regions; it is not a forecast of snowfall or snow depth.
Traditional signs use the language of yin and yang to describe the world closing into winter. These are historical cosmological images, not modern meteorological explanations.
Preserving vegetables, fish or meat is a seasonal custom in parts of China. Local climate determines what winter actually looks like.
Seasonal signs
Rainbows fade; in traditional cosmology, heaven and earth draw apart as winter closes in.
Traditional seasonal signs combine observation with historical imagination. Weather and wildlife vary by region and year.
A reading of the poem
Do not wonder that the rainbow has vanished: Minor Snow has come. Heaven and earth take their winter places in the old language of yin and yang. A full moon lights the Milky Way, and a long wind sounds through branches. With a qin and clear wine before him, the poet still cannot smooth his troubled brow.
Tang dynasty · Traditionally attributed to Yuan Zhen
咏廿四气诗·小雪十月中
Poem source