Auspicious Snow Sealing the Earth: The Nascent Yang within Supreme Yin at the Major Snow Solar Term
This article offers a deep reading of Major Snow (Daxue) among the twenty-four solar terms, drawing upon pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, etymological origins, astronomy, and phenology. It analyzes the etymology of 'da means flourishing — at this point snow flourishes,' examines the Hexagram of Return (Fu) with its 'single yang returning' in the zi month, and reveals the virtue of auspicious snow sealing and protecting nascent yang, along with the profound cosmology of 'supreme yin birthing yang — the heart of Heaven and Earth.'
Chapter Thirteen: Major Snow's Rituals — Midwinter Fasting and the Customs of Storing Ice and Treasuring Snow
I. Midwinter Fasting: Solemn Preparation for Welcoming the Single Yang's Return
The core ritual of the midwinter month in which Major Snow falls is "fasting" (zhai jie). This is intimately connected to the approaching solemn moment of the winter solstice's "single yang returning."
Fasting is the ritual preparation of purifying the body and stilling the mind before a sacrifice. Midwinter fasting prepares for and welcomes the single yang's return at the winter solstice — the revelation of Heaven and Earth's heart, the beginning of a new cycle of life. The ancients welcomed this moment with fasting just as they would welcome the most solemn of sacrifices — expressing through bodily purification, mental stillness, and concealed seclusion their supreme awe before Heaven and Earth's heart and the single yang's return.
II. The Rite of Storing Ice: "Chiseling Ice with Clinking Blows" in the Book of Songs
Deep winter around Major Snow and the winter solstice is the important season for the ancient rite of "storing ice" (cang bing).
The Book of Songs (Bin Feng, "Seventh Month") records: "In the second month of Zhou twelfth month of the Xia calendar, deep winter, they chisel ice with clinking blows; in the third month of Zhou, they store it in the ice-house (ling yin). In the fourth month of Zhou, at dawn, they offer lambs and leeks in sacrifice."
"Chiseling ice with clinking blows" — what a vivid scene of midwinter labor! Around Major Snow and the winter solstice, when the cold was most bitter and the river ice thickest, the ancients chiseled out blocks of ice and stored them in ice-houses for use the following summer.
The rite of storing ice profoundly embodies Major Snow's wisdom of "storing" and the cosmological concept of "preparing yin for yang." Storing ice in the season of deepest yin and hardest frost, to be used in the season of fullest yang and fiercest heat — this was the ancients' deep grasp of yin-yang modulation and the four seasons' mutual supplementation.
III. Treasuring Snow and Sweeping Snow: Folk Appreciation of Auspicious Snow
Beyond storing ice, the ancients also practiced storing snow-water and cherishing snow. Snow-water was regarded as clean, sweet, and medicinally potent. The ancients preserved snow-water for brewing tea and preparing medicines.
Folk customs also included sweeping snow, appreciating snow, and composing poems about snow during Major Snow. Appreciating and composing poetry about snow elevated Major Snow's white beauty and pristine atmosphere into an aesthetic and spiritual enjoyment.
IV. Year-End Sacrifice and Reunion: The Human Warmth of Major Snow's Customs
Major Snow falls near the year's end, and its customs are suffused with human warmth — sacrifice and family reunion.
The Book of Songs scene of year-end feasting — "with paired vessels of wine we feast; we slaughter the lambs; we climb to the public hall; may you live ten thousand years!" — depicts the warm gathering of family and kin after a year's toil, offering sacrifice, sharing food and drink, and praying for longevity. This is the virtue of "storing" expressed in the realm of human bonds: all the emotions, kinship, and gratitude of a year are stored and concentrated in this year-end reunion.