From End to Beginning: The Way of Culmination and Return in the Great Cold Solar Term
This article offers a deep reading of Great Cold (Dahan), the final of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, etymological analysis, and astronomical and phenological traditions. It reveals the dialectic of extreme cold and returning spring, the cyclic principle that every ending harbors a new beginning, and illuminates the late-winter rites of the Grand Nuo exorcism and the clay ox ceremony—inviting the reader into the ancients' cosmic wisdom of 'tracing origins by returning to endings' and the eternal circle of ceaseless renewal.
Chapter Sixteen: Great Cold in Literature--Meditations at Year's End and the Sense of Winter's Passing
I. Year's End in the Book of Odes: The Temporal Sigh of "Days and Months Depart"
Although the Book of Odes (Shijing) does not contain the name "Great Cold" (the systematic naming of solar terms came after the Shijing era), it has abundant chapters on "year's end" and "winter days," profoundly expressing the emotions and reflections of the ancients at year's terminus (the season in which Great Cold falls).
"Tang Feng," "The Cricket" (Xishuai) is a deeply reflective poem on "year-end meditation": "The cricket is in the hall; the year draws to its close. If today I do not make merry, the days and months will slip away. ... The cricket is in the hall; the year is passing. If today I do not make merry, the days and months will march on."
This poem profoundly expresses the ancients' intense awareness of time's passage at year's end (Great Cold, year's terminus). "The cricket is in the hall"--the cricket entering the house (a phenological marker of cold weather) signals year's end. "The year draws to its close"--the repeated chanting of "the year is nearly over" is the most direct temporal experience of year's end (Great Cold).
Yet the poem does not wallow in sorrow. It continues: "Do not give yourself over to great ease; think always of your duties. Enjoy your pleasures without abandoning your work; the worthy person is ever vigilant." From the year-end lament of "seize the day" comes the Confucian self-cultivation of "enjoy without abandoning duty, be ever self-watchful"--precisely corresponding to our earlier discussions of "year-end self-examination" and "being as careful at the end as at the beginning."
II. The Year-End Tableau in "Bin Feng, Seventh Month" of the Book of Odes
We have already cited "Bin Feng, Seventh Month" in our chapter on agriculture. This long poem, hailed as the crown of "agricultural poetry," depicts the farmer's life across all twelve months and leaves us the most complete, most vivid picture of year-end winter life.
Let us revisit its lines describing deep winter's cold: "In the first month, the wind howls; in the second month, the cold bites. Without clothes, without a rough cloth jacket, how shall I see the year through$6" "The second month" (roughly the twelfth month of the Xia calendar, precisely the month of Great Cold) and its "biting cold" (li lie)--a vivid depiction of the piercing severity of the La month where Great Cold resides. "Without clothes, without a rough cloth jacket, how shall I see the year through$7"--the true plight of the poor struggling to survive in the bitter cold at year's end.
Yet "Seventh Month" does not end in lamentation over the cold. As we have seen, after depicting year-end's severity and toil, it concludes with warm year-end feasting: "Set out the double-brewed wine for feasting; slaughter the lamb. Ascend to the lord's hall; raise the rhinoceros-horn cup: may you live ten thousand years!" From "the second month's biting cold" (year-end severity) to "may you live ten thousand years" (year-end blessing)--this is the ancients' real portrait of "guarding warmth in bitter cold, holding hope at year's end."
III. The Sense of Winter's End in the Chu Ci (Songs of the South): Qu Yuan's Temporal Anguish
The Chu Ci is the gem of southern literature. Master Qu (Qu Yuan) repeatedly uses the flow of the seasons to express his anxious longing: "Days and months rush on without lingering; spring and autumn succeed each other in their course. Thinking of the grasses and trees falling and withering, I fear the fair one's growing old" (Li Sao).
Master Qu's "fear of growing old," at root, is not passive but springs from an urgent sense of responsibility--he fears not aging itself but failing to accomplish his mission in the time allotted. This urgency at year's end (winter's close), ultimately transformed into even more resolute striving and steadfastness, accords with the Confucian spirit of "ceaselessly striving for self-improvement" and with the symbolism of "raptors hunting with fierce swiftness"--life's tenacious struggle in the face of adversity.
IV. The Dual Theme of Year-End Literature: Time's Sorrow and Hope's Light
Surveying the Shijing and Chu Ci's literature of year's end and winter's passing (the season of Great Cold), we can extract a dual theme running through it all--the interweaving of "time's sorrow" and "hope's light."
On one hand, "time's sorrow"--facing year's end (Great Cold), the year about to close, all things withering, time never returning, the ancients (whether the Shijing's "days and months depart" or the Chu Ci's "fear the fair one's growing old") give voice to deep temporal sorrow.
On the other hand, "hope's light"--this "time's sorrow" never sinks into despair but always transforms into self-watchfulness, into striving, into warm expectation and celebration. The ancients deeply knew "when things end, they begin again" and "extreme cold, returning spring"--deeply knew that year's end (Great Cold) is immediately followed by new spring (Start of Spring). Therefore year-end literature's "sorrow" always ultimately points toward "hope."
This dual theme of "seeing hope's light amid time's sorrow" is the deepest resonance, in literary emotion, of Great Cold's philosophy of "extreme cold, returning spring" and "when things end, they begin again."