Minor Cold 小寒

What it marks

Cold deepens after the solstice. Counter-intuitively, the coldest part of the year comes after the longest night, not on it — the ground keeps losing heat.

Traditionally favours

• endurance
• warmth
• steady routine

A reminder that the hardest part often comes after the turn, not before it.

These are the tradition’s tendencies, not guarantees — and a solar term describes a stretch of weeks, so for a specific day check today’s almanac, which reads the day’s own 宜 and 忌.