Today is the coldest day of the 24 solar terms in China.
author: lnbay
2026-01-20
Today, January 26, 2026, the second day of the twelfth lunar month, is the Great Cold (Great Cold), the last of the twenty-four solar terms. The Great Cold occurs when the sun reaches the 300° meridian in the Gregorian calendar on January 20-21. Just like the Small Cold, the Great Cold is a solar term indicating the severity of cold weather. The Great Cold represents the extreme cold of the season. This solar term falls within the period of the third and fourth "Ninths", and it is the coldest time of the year.
In ancient China, coldness and warmth were often described through phenomena such as climate and phenology. The cold in the north was always accompanied by ice. Ancient people used the condition of ice to determine the coldness of the solar term. The reason why the Great Cold is called "Great" is that at this time, the thickness of the ice reaches its maximum throughout the year and the area is also the largest. The "Explanation of the 72 Solar Terms" uses "the water and lake are solid" to describe the climatic characteristics of the Great Cold. In the eyes of the ancients, the Great Cold was colder than the Small Cold.
During the Great Cold period, the direct sunlight point moves from the Tropic of Capricorn to the equator, but cold air still frequently moves southward. The northern hemisphere has cold temperatures. The folk saying goes, "Small Cold and Great Cold, without wind it is cold," indicating that the Great Cold is one of the coldest periods of the year and also the period with the least rainfall. During the Great Cold period, the atmospheric circulation is relatively stable, and the adjustment cycle of the circulation is approximately 20 days. In some parts of China, during the period from the Great Cold to the Beginning of Spring, there are many important folk customs, such as cleaning and changing clothes, making preserved meat, worshiping the stove god, and the tail festival. The tail festival, also known as "making the stove" or "stove festival", has the custom that after the stove festival, the whole family sits together to "eat the tail festival". The popular "year-end party" is the legacy of the "tail festival".
In ancient China, coldness and warmth were often described through phenomena such as climate and phenology. The cold in the north was always accompanied by ice. Ancient people used the condition of ice to determine the coldness of the solar term. The reason why the Great Cold is called "Great" is that at this time, the thickness of the ice reaches its maximum throughout the year and the area is also the largest. The "Explanation of the 72 Solar Terms" uses "the water and lake are solid" to describe the climatic characteristics of the Great Cold. In the eyes of the ancients, the Great Cold was colder than the Small Cold.
During the Great Cold period, the direct sunlight point moves from the Tropic of Capricorn to the equator, but cold air still frequently moves southward. The northern hemisphere has cold temperatures. The folk saying goes, "Small Cold and Great Cold, without wind it is cold," indicating that the Great Cold is one of the coldest periods of the year and also the period with the least rainfall. During the Great Cold period, the atmospheric circulation is relatively stable, and the adjustment cycle of the circulation is approximately 20 days. In some parts of China, during the period from the Great Cold to the Beginning of Spring, there are many important folk customs, such as cleaning and changing clothes, making preserved meat, worshiping the stove god, and the tail festival. The tail festival, also known as "making the stove" or "stove festival", has the custom that after the stove festival, the whole family sits together to "eat the tail festival". The popular "year-end party" is the legacy of the "tail festival".
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