二十四節氣 the 24 solar terms:

　　立春 spring begins　　雨水 the rains　　驚蟄 insects awaken　　春分 vernal equinox　　清明 clear and bright　　谷雨 grain rain　　立夏 summer begins

　　小滿 grain buds　　芒種 grain in ear　　夏至 summer solstice　　小暑 slight heat　　大暑 great heat　　立秋 autumn begins　　處暑 stopping the heat

　　白露 white dews　　秋分 autumn equinox　　寒露 cold dews　　霜降 hoar-frost falls　　立冬 winter begins　　小雪 light snow　　大雪 heavy snow

　　冬至 winter solstice　　小寒 slight cold　　大寒 great cold

　　冬至節The Winter Solstice

　　On December 22, 2014, the day is the Winter Solstice, it is an important day in China, it becomes a tradition. More than 2500years ago, Chinese people had detected this day by measuring the sun. What is special on the day? The answer is that the daytime lasts the shortest while the night lasts the longest of the year. It means the new round of the solar term, the Winter Solstice is the earliest. As an old tradition, people treat that day a grand day, they celebrate it. In the north, most people eat dumplings, while in the south, people have rice dumpling and boiled dumpling. Though people celebrate in a different way, they share the same happiness, family get together and have a big dinner. Winter Solstice gives family a chance to get reunion, the young come home to have a chat with parents and promote their communication.

　　2014年12月22號，這一天是冬至，在中國這是一個很重要的節日，這成為了一個傳統。早在2500年前，中國人通過觀察太陽測量出了冬至。這一天有什么特殊的呢?答案是在這一天，白天最短，夜晚最長。這意味著新一輪的節氣，冬至是最早的節氣。作為一個傳統，人們把這一天看得很重并慶祝。在北方，大多數人吃餃子，然而在南方，人們吃湯圓和水餃。雖然人們以不同的方式在慶祝，但是他們分享同樣的喜悅，家人聚集在一起吃飯。冬至讓家人有機會團圓，年輕人回家，和父母交談，促進了交流。

　　介紹冬至的英語作文

　　Winter Solstice

　　As early as 2,500 years ago, about the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), China had determined the point of Winter Solstice by observing movements of the sun with a sundial. It is the earliest of the 24 seasonal division points. The time will be each December 22 or 23 according to the Gregorian calendar.

　　The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will benete longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will benete stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated.

　　The Winter Solstice became a festival during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and thrived in the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). The Han people regarded Winter Solstice as a "Winter Festival", so officials would organize celebrating activities. On this day, both officials and netmon people would have a rest. The army was stationed in, frontier fortresses closed and business and traveling stopped. Relatives and friends presented to each other delicious food. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the Winter Solstice was a day to offer scarifies to Heaven and ancestors. Emperors would go to suburbs to worship the Heaven; while netmon people offered sacrifices to their deceased parents or other relatives. The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) even had the record that "Winter Solstice is as formal as the Spring Festival," showing the great importance attached to this day.

　　In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upneting winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.