All 24 solar terms · 22/24
Winter Solstice 冬至 · Dōngzhì
Shortest day of the year and once as important as the New Year ('冬至大如年'). Families eat dumplings in the north and sweet rice balls (汤圆) in the south; the 'counting of the nines' (数九), nine periods of nine days, starts.
- Longitude of the Sun270°
- Jie / ZhongqiZhongqi (中气), a principal term: it fixes the months of the lunar calendar
- Sekki冬至 tōji
Winter Solstice: when it begins, 2026 to 2031
| 2026 | 22 December 2026, 04:50 | 21 December, 20:50 UTC |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 22 December 2027, 10:42 | 22 December, 02:42 UTC |
| 2028 | 21 December 2028, 16:19 | 21 December, 08:19 UTC |
| 2029 | 21 December 2029, 22:14 | 21 December, 14:14 UTC |
| 2030 | 22 December 2030, 04:09 | 21 December, 20:09 UTC |
| 2031 | 22 December 2031, 09:55 | 22 December, 01:55 UTC |
Its three kō in Japan
- 乃東生 natsukarekusa shōzu: Self-heal sprouts · 22 December 2026
- 麋角解 ōshika no tsuno otsuru: Deer shed their antlers · 27 December 2026
- 雪下出麦 yuki watarite mugi izuru: Wheat sprouts under the snow · 1 January 2027
Calculated from the Sun's apparent position (PyEphem), to about a minute. Names, meanings and customs after the Hong Kong Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and UNESCO.