导语：The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Minor Snow, (Chinese:小雪),
The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Minor Snow, (Chinese: 小雪), the 20th solar term of the year, begins this year on Nov 22 and ends on Dec 6. When the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 240 degrees on November 22 to November 23 each year, it’s the time for “Minor Snow”.
Some areas along the Yellow River start to snow. It’s usually light snow, freezing in the night and melting in the morning. The soil is not cold enough, and snow can’t accumulate a lot on the ground. During this period, the rainbow is gone since it doesn’t rain anymore.
glutinous rice cake
Traditional food for this day is glutinous rice cake. In ancient times, glutinous rice cake is traditional sacrificial offerings. It’s used by farmers to sacrifice for the “God of Ox”. Nowadays,
It’s a popular food in south China. After this day, farmers also start to make preserved meat, to eat in the coming Spring Festival.
Wearing hats and scarves
In China, starting in Minor Snow, the wind blows from the northeast a lot. Because it’s still not bitterly cold, many people do not wear hats or scarves yet. In fact, according to an old Chinese saying, "the head is the place where all passages of the body gather". It’s sensible to keep one's head warm.
Making preserved pork
After Minor Snow, the temperature declines sharply and the air becomes dry. It is the best time to start making preserved pork, which by the Chinese Spring Festival would be ready to enjoy.
In the past, when storage conditions were poor, people developed many ways to store food and preserved pork is one such example. So even in the bitter winter, the whole family could enjoy meat. Some even say preserved pork tastes more delicious than fresh meat.
Making pickled vegetables
For thousands of years, the people of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, have welcomed Minor Snow with pickled vegetables made in different ways.
Nanjing is known for its pickled vegetables. In the past, due to inconvenient transportation, vegetables sold in Nanjing were few and expensive. Thus people there made pickled vegetables for the winter.
Dry fish
During minor snow, fishermen along the coast of south-central Taiwan begin to dry fish and store dry food. Schools of mullet fish come to the Taiwan Strait around light snow, along with sailfish, sand fish, and so on. Taiwan common saying: October beans, fat to the head, refers to the area in Chiayi County cloth bag, to the lunar calendar month can be caught "beanlards".
吃刨汤Eating "Goutang"
Before and after the minor snow, the Tujia people began the annual folk activity of "killing new year pigs and welcoming the new year", which added a warm atmosphere to the cold winter. Eating "Goutang" is the custom of Tujia people; in the folk activity of "killing new year pig and welcoming the new year", the delicacy made by meticulously cooking high-quality fresh pork with hot air is called "Goutang".