天时人事日相催，冬至阳生春又来。
tiān shí rén shì rì xiāng cuī，dōng zhì yáng shēng chūn yòu lái
Heaven and earth press to change from day to day. From winter solstice spring will come without delay.
Dongzhi, the 22nd of the 24 solar terms, is one of the oldest solar terms and perhaps the clearest marker of change in the calendar. In ancient times, it was almost as significant as Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year. After the longest night of the year, days gradually get longer as spring creeps ever closer.
Taoism is a simple but broad philosophy. The two energy flows, or qi, yin qi and yang qi, are the dual attributes of all things, a unity of opposites. If the sky is yang and the earth is yin, day is yang and night is yin. The ancients believed that the winter solstice was the day when yin and yang swapped over. From this day forth, yin diminished and yang expanded, the beginning of the next cycle: a time for the emperor to offer prayers and for people to remember their ancestors.
邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身。想得家中夜深坐，还应说着远行人。
hán dān yì lǐ féng dōng zhì，bào xī dēng qián yǐng bàn shēn
xiǎng dé jiā zhōng yè shēn zuò，hái yīng shuō zhe yuǎn xíng rén
At roadside inn I pass the winter solstice. Clasping my knees, my shadow is my company.
I think, till dead of night, of where my family would stay and talk about poor, lonely, wayfaring me.
As the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi wrote in his poem, winter solstice is a time of homesickness. When it comes to festivals, Chinese people always want family reunions, but winter solstice is a time for staying out. In the north, there is a custom of eating dumplings on this day. In the south, it is Tangyuan, balls of glutinous rice. And both of them symbolize the reunions to come at the changing of the year.
But the winter is far from over. The solstice, in most parts of China, ushers in the deepest cold of the year, Shujiu. In ancient times, getting through the winter was a big challenge. Throughout the dark nights, people counted the days, waiting for spring.
岸容待腊将舒柳，山意冲寒欲放梅。
àn róng dài là jiāng shū liǔ，shān yì chōng hán yù fàng méi
The riverbank awaits the greening willow trees. The mountain chill casts mume tree blossom to the breeze.
As winter turns to spring, there are always flowers blooming, giving back to nature and enlightening heaven and earth. When deep winter arrives, spring is not far away.
冬至
“天时人事日相催，冬至阳生春又来。”冬至是24节气中的第22个，是最古老的节气之一，或许也是历法中最明显的变化标志。中国古代非常重视冬至节气，几乎和春节一样重要。在一年中最长的夜晚之后，随着春天的临近，白天逐渐变长。
道教是一个简朴而博大的中国古代哲学。阴阳能量，亦阴气和阳气，是万物的双重属性，是对立、统一的两个方面，如天为阳、地为阴；白天为阳、黑夜为阴。古人认为，冬至是阴阳转枢的日子，这一天之后，阴气渐消，阳气渐长。因此，人们认为冬至代表下一个循环开始，皇帝要于此日祭天，百姓要祭拜他们的祖先。
“邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身。想得家中夜深坐，还应说着远行人。”冬至是一个思乡的时节。提及过节，中国人离不开家庭团圆，但冬至有时却未能如此。在北方，有冬至吃饺子的习俗。在南方，则比较盛行吃汤圆，二者都象征着团圆。
不过，冬天还远没有结束。从冬至以后，中国的绝大部分地区都会经历最寒冷的时期，中国人叫它“数九”。在古代，度过寒冷的冬天是一个很大的考验，因此整个寒冬人们都在数着日子过，希望春回大地、万物复苏。
“岸容待腊将舒柳，山意冲寒欲放梅。”四季交替、冬去春来，总会有花朵盛放，给自然以回馈，给天地以启示。寒冬到了，春天就不会远了吧！
