Winter Solstice (Dongzhi 冬至) Solar Term: Dates, Pentads and Meaning

Compiled by Haiyuan · AI-generated content · Updated 2026-10-12 · How we calculate

The Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn: the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. The ancients said "at the winter solstice, yang is born," since the days start growing longer from here. In Taiwan people eat tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) at the winter solstice, and there is a saying that eating them makes you one year older.

Winter Solstice dates, 2026–2035

Times computed by our calendar code (UTC+8); they agree with an astronomical calculation to within about a minute. Between 1901 and 2100, Winter Solstice always falls on December 21–23. Subtract 8 hours for UTC.

The three pentads of Winter Solstice

The ancients split each solar term into three pentads (hou 候) of about five days each, and marked them by changes in birds, animals and plants: seventy-two pentads a year. These follow the standard list in Wu Cheng's Yuan-dynasty Collected Explanations of the Seventy-Two Pentads. They were observed in the Yellow River basin, so they do not always match what you see in Taiwan, let alone elsewhere. Some, like hawks turning into doves, record old beliefs rather than biology.

Winter Solstice in the sky: where the Sun is

The solar terms follow the Sun along the ecliptic: one term for every 15°, and Winter Solstice is the moment the Sun reaches longitude 270°. In 2027, at Winter Solstice the Sun sits against the stars of Sagittarius (drowned out by daylight, of course). That day in Taipei the Sun rises at 06:34 and sets at 17:09, about 10 h 35 min of daylight.

What Winter Solstice means in BaZi

Winter Solstice is a qi (氣), or "middle term" (中氣): it falls in the middle of the Zi month (子), so the BaZi month pillar does not change here; it is the same Zi month before and after. Middle terms matter in the calendar for another reason: a lunar month with no middle term in it becomes the leap month.

BaZi months are not counted from the lunar new moon but from the jie terms: Start of Spring, Awakening of Insects, Pure Brightness, Start of Summer, Grain in Ear, Minor Heat, Start of Autumn, White Dew, Cold Dew, Start of Winter, Major Snow and Minor Cold each open a month. If you were born on the day of a jie term, within a few hours of it, your month pillar (and for the Start of Spring, your year pillar too) can shift by one; it depends on the exact time. See solar term boundaries, and for how the month's heavenly stem is worked out, the month pillar.

Customs

An old saying held that "the winter solstice is as big as New Year." The Zhou dynasty once began its year with the Zi month that contains the solstice, but BaZi still changes the year at the Start of Spring.

How the winter solstice 2026 is kept (Tue, Dec 22, at 04:50)

Rolling and eating tangyuan. In Taiwan people eat tangyuan at the winter solstice (dongzhi yuan), the red and white balls standing for togetherness and good fortune, and a saying goes that "eat your tangyuan and you are a year older." Traditionally the whole family rolls them together, and some people stick a few on doors and windows as an offering to the door gods.

Ancestor offerings. The winter solstice is one of the traditional days for honoring ancestors, with tangyuan and home-cooked dishes in the morning or at noon, which is where the saying "the winter solstice is as big as New Year" comes from.

"Fortifying for winter." Folk custom has people eat warming dishes at the solstice, such as sesame-oil chicken, mutton hot pot and ginger duck; this is a food custom, and what you eat is your own choice.

The winter solstice in BaZi. The solstice is the middle term of the Zi month, matched in the Book of Changes with the hexagram Fu, "Return" (one yang line coming back): yin has reached its peak and yang begins to rise. BaZi month pillars change at the jie terms, not the middle terms, so the month does not change at the solstice; the Zi month runs until Minor Cold.

Where the winter solstice comes from: the sun at its southernmost, "as big as New Year," and counting the nines

The winter solstice is the moment the sun reaches ecliptic longitude 270°, when it stands overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn: the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere, which the ancients called "the sun at its southernmost." After it the days grow longer one by one, so the solstice was seen as the start of a new cycle; the Zhou dynasty even began its year with the Zi month that contains the solstice.

Imperial courts held great sacrifices to heaven at the solstice, while ordinary families honored their ancestors and gathered together, which is how "the winter solstice is as big as New Year" came about. Taiwanese call the solstice tangyuan "dongjie yuan" and say "eat your dongjie yuan and you are a year older," another echo of the solstice once being the start of the year.

The solstice also starts "counting the nines": from the solstice onward, every nine days make one "nine," and after nine nines, eighty-one days, the weather turns warm, hence the folk "Song of the Nine Nines to Dispel the Cold." In BaZi the solstice is the middle term of the Zi month, when yin peaks and yang begins to return; the month pillar still changes only at the jie terms, so it does not change on the solstice.

Common winter solstice sayings

These are folk sayings that vary by place; enjoy them as part of the festival fun.

The almanac for the winter solstice 2026, and which sign it clashes

December 22, 2026 is the winter solstice. Its almanac entries and clash are below; the day before the solstice is a "Four Separations" day, which folk almanacs consider unsuited to celebrations, so it is worth avoiding as well when choosing a date.

The day branch is Wu (午), the Horse's branch. It clashes with the Rat; it forms a Six Combination with the Goat and a trine with the Tiger and Dog. No other sign clashes.

Calculated by our calendar engine (the same one behind the date finder and daily almanac); printed almanacs sometimes differ.

The terms before and after

The previous term is Major Snow; the next is Minor Cold.