Why does the winter solstice become an important solar term in China?

Winter solstice, commonly known as "winter festival", "dragon solstice festival" or "Asian New Year", is an important solar term in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar and a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The solstice in winter is a "winter festival", so it is considered as a big holiday in winter.

In ancient times, there was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year". In ancient times, people wandering in other places had to go home for the New Year at this time. The so-called "returning home at the end of the year" said in ancient times that "the winter solstice is a sunny day", that is to say, the spirit of the sun began to pick up slowly from the winter solstice.

Extended data

Pointing to the bucket, the longitude of the sun is 270, which is the solstice in winter. The first month is the first month, November is the second month, and the winter solstice is the 22nd of the 24 solar terms. The winter solstice usually falls on 65438+February 2 1 or 65438+February 22 in the Gregorian calendar. For example, the specific time of winter solstice in 2020: 65438+February 2 1, 18: 02.

Note: The average time method (used before 1645) does not consider the uneven speed of the sun moving on the ecliptic, which is different from the constant gas method (used since 1645), and the specific intersection time of each solar term is also different.

Astronomically, the "winter solstice" is the turning point of the sun's southward movement. In winter, the earth is located near the perihelion, and its running speed is slightly faster, which leads to that the time of direct sunlight in the southern hemisphere is about 8 days shorter than that in the northern hemisphere in a year, so the winter in the northern hemisphere is slightly shorter than that in summer.