二十四节气 the 24 solar terms:
立春 spring begins 雨水 the rains 惊蛰 insects awaken 春分 vernal equinox 清明 clear and bright 谷雨 grain rain 立夏 summer begins
小满 grain buds 芒种 grain in ear 夏至 summer solstice 小暑 slight heat 大暑 great heat 立秋 autumn begins 处暑 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
冬至节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号，这一天是冬至，在中国这是一个很重要的节日，这成为了一个传统。早在2500年前，中国人通过观察太阳测量出了冬至。这一天有什么特殊的呢?答案是在这一天，白天最短，夜晚最长。这意味着新一轮的节气，冬至是最早的节气。作为一个传统，人们把这一天看得很重并庆祝。在北方，大多数人吃饺子，然而在南方，人们吃汤圆和水饺。虽然人们以不同的方式在庆祝，但是他们分享同样的喜悦，家人聚集在一起吃饭。冬至让家人有机会团圆，年轻人回家，和父母交谈，促进了交流。
介绍冬至的英语作文
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.