The Return of First Yang: The Heart of Heaven and Earth at the Winter Solstice and the Origin of the New Year
This article offers a profoundly detailed interpretation of the Winter Solstice among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing upon pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, etymological analysis, and astronomical calendrics. It reveals the cosmic pivot of 'yin at its extreme giving birth to yang, the return of first yang, and the beholding of heaven and earth's heart,' examines the rites of the Round Mound sacrifice to Heaven, the origin of the calendar epoch at the month of Zi, and the foundational note of the Yellow Bell pitch-pipe, guiding you through the ancient wisdom by which our forebears discerned the generative heart of heaven and earth amid the deepest darkness.
Chapter Twelve: Counting the Nines and Folk Customs -- The Eighty-One Days of Dispelling Cold, and Winter Solstice Foods
I. Counting the Nines: Beginning from the Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice is the starting point for "counting the nines" (shujiu). "Counting the nines" is a folk method for reckoning the cold season -- beginning from the day of the Winter Solstice, every nine days is one "nine," proceeding as first nine, second nine, third nine... through the ninth nine, eighty-one days in all, called "the cold days of the counting nines." After the full eighty-one days, true spring warmth and blossoming arrive.
Why begin counting from the Winter Solstice$29 Because the Winter Solstice is the moment of yin's extreme and the point from which cold truly begins to intensify. Though yang has already returned on the Winter Solstice day, the accumulated cold at the earth's surface has not yet reached its peak -- the saying goes "the coldest comes in the third nine," with the bitterest cold falling during the "third nine" and "fourth nine" (roughly the nineteenth through thirty-sixth days after the Winter Solstice). This exemplifies a profound phenological principle: the astronomical extreme (Winter Solstice, longest shadow, shortest day) and the climatic extreme (the coldest of the third and fourth nines) do not coincide; the temperature nadir lags behind the astronomical maximum of yin.
Here lies a deeply moving dialectic: though the bitterest cold of the third and fourth nines lies ahead, that thread of nascent yang has already returned at the Winter Solstice. New life always stirs before "the retreat of the bitter cold"; hope always descends quietly before the most difficult time has passed.
II. The Nine-Nines Chart for Dispelling Cold: Painting Hope in the Waiting
Accompanying the counting of the nines is an exquisitely poetic folk custom -- the "nine-nines chart for dispelling cold" (jiujiu xiaohan tu). The most elegant version depicts a branch of bare plum blossoms with nine flowers, each flower bearing nine petals, eighty-one petals in all. Beginning from the Winter Solstice, one petal is colored red each day; when all eighty-one petals are colored, the nine nines are complete and spring has returned. Another version involves writing nine characters (each nine strokes, such as "the willows hang before the pavilion, treasure and await the spring wind"), filling in one stroke each day; when all eighty-one strokes are complete, spring has arrived.
The nine-nines chart is a supremely beautiful spiritual creation in the face of the long winter. It transforms eighty-one tedious, hard-to-endure days of cold into a process full of anticipation, with something to look forward to each day. Each petal colored, each stroke filled, is one more step toward spring, one more gentle vigil kept over that returning thread of yang. In the coldest, longest wait, people used a branch of gradually reddening plum blossoms, a line of gradually completed characters, to make hope visible and waiting poetic. What elegant and tenacious life-wisdom this is!
III. The Counting Nines Song: Recording Yang's Return in Verse
Accompanying the counting of the nines and the dispelling-cold chart is a widely transmitted folk song -- the "Counting Nines Song" (shujiu ge). Its words vary by region, but the most widely known version runs:
"First nine, second nine -- don't stretch out your hands. Third nine, fourth nine -- walk on the ice. Fifth nine, sixth nine -- watch the willows along the river. Seventh nine -- the river opens. Eighth nine -- the wild geese return. Ninth nine plus one nine -- plowing oxen fill the fields."
This simple song records, through the most intuitive phenological changes, the step-by-step return of yang and the gradual appearance of spring during the counting nines. It is a micro-chronicle, written in song, of how "the return of first yang" unfolds from the bitterest cold to the fullness of spring warmth.
IV. Winter Solstice Foods: Dumplings, Wontons, and Tangyuan
The food customs of the Winter Solstice differ between north and south, each rich with cultural meaning.
In the north, people eat dumplings (jiaozi). The folk saying goes: "If your bowl holds no dumplings at the Winter Solstice, no one will care when your ears freeze off." The core meaning of Winter Solstice dumplings is "driving out the cold" -- warming the body with a steaming bowl of dumplings at the coldest season. Shaped like gold ingots, dumplings also carry prayers for prosperity in the coming year.
In some regions, people eat wontons (huntun). The name "huntun" was fancifully associated with "primordial chaos" (hundun). The Winter Solstice, with its return of first yang, is precisely the moment when life emerges from chaos. Eating wontons at the Winter Solstice symbolizes breaking through chaos to engender new life.
In the south, people eat tangyuan (glutinous rice balls). Round tangyuan embody "roundness" -- reunion and completeness. The saying "eat tangyuan, grow a year older" reflects the tradition of the Winter Solstice as virtually the head of the year. The round tangyuan also subtly echoes the "roundness" of the Round Mound sacrifice to Heaven and the "circularity" of the Way of Heaven's cycle -- a small glutinous rice ball carrying the ancients' cosmology and ideals of "the round heaven," "completeness," and "cyclical return."
V. The Common Spirit Behind the Food Customs: Warmth, Reunion, and New Life
The Winter Solstice's food customs, though varying north and south -- dumplings, wontons, tangyuan -- share a common spirit: warmth, reunion, and new life.
Warmth -- whether dumplings or tangyuan, both are steaming hot foods that warm the body at the year's coldest season.
Reunion -- the Winter Solstice is a time for families to gather and share a meal together.
New life -- Winter Solstice foods carry prayers for the coming year (dumplings shaped like ingots pray for prosperity; wontons breaking through chaos symbolize new beginnings; tangyuan's roundness wishes for fulfillment and good fortune).
One may say that every Winter Solstice food custom is the ancients' transformation of abstract cosmological philosophy (yang born from yin's extreme, ending and beginning anew) into the warm practice of daily life. A bowl of dumplings, wontons, or tangyuan carries not merely nourishment, but recognition of heaven and earth's ceaseless generative virtue, cherishing of family reunion, and prayers for the new life of the coming year. This is the exquisite quality of Chinese culture -- "reaching the most sublime while dwelling in the ordinary" -- the deepest philosophy lies hidden in the most commonplace meal.