Winter Is Here -冬döng至zhì

As I quote the great Mamas and Papas： "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray" (California Dreamin', written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips). When the golden warmth is taken away from our lives, it seems that nothing much is left.

The title sounds a bit depressing, even though it is as benign as the weatherman announces the storm of the century is at your home front. Winter being the season at the end of a year, along with the chilling cold, is associated mostly with death and the end. Many people, myself included, feel the sense of loneness and lost especially during this time of the year. Another year goes by, what have we achieved and what have we missed again? As the last leave falling from the dried up twig, our eyes are saddened by the fading lives, and our hearts not knowing where to go…..


Now before we self pity ourselves into suicidal attempts, let's give this winter blues a big turn around with the Chinese style golden lining.


As I mentioned before, the Chinese segregated a year into 24节jéi气chì, nodes, based on the lunar calendar. We talked about the Dragon Boat Festival (端düan午wŭ节jéi, lunar 5th of May), the Moon Festival (中zhöng秋qïu节jéi, lunar 15th of August), and now let's talk about the Winter Festival（冬döng至zhì）.


冬döng至zhì Winter Festival itself is a very interesting festival. There is actually no officially celebration to it, and the date of the celebration is not even in lunar calendar date like the ones for the Dragon Boat Festival and Moon Festival. After researched online, I found that the actual lunar date of this festival to be as fuzzy as many of the long lost Chinese arts/inventions - everybody knows about it, but no one knows exactly why. So bear with me, as I bear with my wise ancestors, and mark 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of December under the regular calendar as the possible suspects of the Winter Festival dates. As suggested by one of my research articles: "Due to the calendar, the date of the winter festival is uncertain but normally falls in 21st to 23rd of December, and is generally within the November of the lunar calendar." (web page, Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan)


Though this festival declares the coldest day of the year, it actually celebrates the end of the darkness. The day of the winter festival is the day when the night is the longest and the day is the shortest (in northern hemisphere, that is). This also means that from this day forward, the night is getting shorter and the day gets longer. The term冬döng至zhì declares not the coming of the winter, since 冬döng means winter and至zhì normally refers to arrival. The至zhì here refers to 'the most', 'the ultimate'. Since the 'ultimate winter day' comes and goes, what comes next?


If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (Ode to The West Wind, P.B. Shelly)



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The source of the picture is from google.