Blog entry

Today is Lantern Festival  元宵节. It falls on the 15th of the first month of the lunar new year i.e. the night of the first full moon. It marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations. Traditional activities include admiring lanterns and the full moon, guessing lantern riddles, eating tangyuan (glutinous rice dumplings), enjoying lion dance and stilt-walking performances.

大寒 (Dahan or Great Cold) which falls on 20 January in 2018 is the last of the twenty four solar terms under the traditional Chinese calendar. It is time to get rid of the old and bring in the new for the upcoming new year. This is also a period when Chinese companies hold year end parties 尾牙 (wei ya) for their employees and offerings to the kitchen god are traditionally made.

22 Dec this year is 冬至 (Dongzhi) Festival or Winter Solstice in China. Winter Solstice, of course, as in other countries is the shortest day of the year and marks the peak of winter. 冬至 (Dongzhi) was the first of the solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar to be fixed and an important festival that occurs from the 21 to the 23rd every year. Depending on the region, families gather to make and eat traditional foods to celebrate such as dumplings 饺子 or wonton 馄饨 (Beijing) in the north and tangyuan 汤圆 (glutinous rice balls) in parts of the south.

小雪 (Xiaoxue) meaning "Minor Snow" in the second winter solar term under the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. It marks the beginning of snowfall in North China and there is a folk custom of making preserved pork and sausages at this time so that they would be ready to eat in time for the Spring Festival. In the south, some areas will eat glutinous rice cakes.