Today is Minor Cold丨The coldest time of the year is coming, please remember to put on more clothes to keep warm!

Today (January 6), my country enters the Minor Cold solar term.

Minor Cold is the twenty-third solar term in the twenty-four solar terms, the fifth solar term in winter, and the first solar term in the new year of the Gregorian calendar. As the saying goes, "the coldest time is the 39th day of winter", Minor Cold happens around the 39th day of winter, when rivers are frozen and soil is frozen, marking the beginning of the coldest period of the year.

There are three signs in Minor Cold

The first sign is that the wild geese fly north: "乡" means direction. The wild geese feel the stirring of yang energy and begin to migrate north, acting as the forerunners.

The second phase is when magpies begin to build nests: At this time, magpies can be seen everywhere in the north. They feel the yang energy and have begun to build nests in preparation for breeding.

The third phase is the beginning of the pheasant crows: pheasants are pheasants, male birds; crows are the sound of courtship, pheasants are pheasants, and pheasants and doves begin to crow, looking for love in spring. There are also folk customs such as appreciating plum blossoms, offering sacrifices in the twelfth lunar month, preparing New Year's goods, and ice skating.

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Which is colder, Lesser Cold or Greater Cold?

People always say "Minor Cold and Greater Cold freeze everything into ice." Our ancestors more than 2,000 years ago set the Minor Cold and Greater Cold among the 24 solar terms. Both solar terms are very cold, but they are set as Greater and Lesser Cold to indicate different degrees of coldness. So which one is colder, Minor Cold or Greater Cold?

According to meteorological data records over the years, the probability of a Minor Cold season being slightly lower than that of a Major Cold season. It can also be said that Minor Cold is basically the season with the lowest temperature in the year.

During the first solar term of winter, the Beginning of Winter, the lowest temperature of 0℃ is generally located in central Shaanxi, southern Shanxi to northern Beijing; during heavy snow, the freezing line will reach southern Shaanxi, southern Henan to northern Jiangsu; at the Winter Solstice, the freezing line crosses the Huaihe River and moves south to central Jiangsu and Anhui, northern Hubei to southern Shaanxi; at the Minor Cold, the freezing line often reaches central and southern Jiangsu and Anhui to central and northern Hubei, and sometimes even crosses the Yangtze River.

During the previous solar term, the Winter Solstice, although the ground received very little solar heat, there was still some heat deep in the soil that could dissipate upwards; but by the Minor Cold, the heat deep in the soil had dissipated to the lowest point, and it was also the period when heat was most "inadequate".

Judging from the average temperature during the Minor Cold solar term, the temperature north of the Huaihe River is basically below zero degrees Celsius, especially in the central and eastern Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and northern Xinjiang, where the average temperature is basically below minus 15 degrees Celsius, and the weather is freezing cold.

Image source: China National Meteorological Administration

As the saying goes, "Nourish yourself in the coldest days of winter and you will be healthy in the coming year." When the weather is cold, people like to eat a hot and delicious meal. Whether it is Nanjing's boiled rice or Guangdong's glutinous rice, the family sits around the stove, the lights are friendly, and they are comfortable and at ease.

Combining folk traditions and the advice of health experts, cold is a yin evil, and the coldest solar term is also the period when yin evil is at its peak. Therefore, it is advisable to eat more warm food to resist the invasion of cold on the human body. However, it should be noted that it should be targeted and not blindly supplement. People can choose some warm food to supplement nutrition for the body according to their own situation, such as mutton, beef, red dates, radish, etc.

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During the cold winter season, remember to take care of your stomach and intestines, eat less spicy and greasy food, and eat some whole grains to enhance your body's ability to resist the cold.

Of course, everyone must remember to take measures to keep warm, and pay attention to keeping the head, abdomen and feet warm. If your physical condition allows, you can do some outdoor exercise at this time, but you must also keep warm and preheat.

Winter has arrived, but spring is not far away!

Comprehensive sources: Xinhuanet, Guangming.com, China Meteorological Center, China Weather Network, etc.