This year & the next celebration
When is Winter Solstice?
101 days away
Winter Solstice 2026
22 December 2026Open this calendar month →Meaning & living traditions
What is Winter Solstice?
The turning of daylight
Winter Solstice marks the Northern Hemisphere’s shortest daylight. The gradual return toward longer days gives Dongzhi its seasonal position even though the surrounding lunar date changes each year.
Different foods for a gathering
Northern traditions include dumplings, while Shanghai is associated with rice balls and Suzhou with wontons. These regional foods resist the idea that one dish defines Dongzhi everywhere.
A wider observance
Food customs belong to an occasion that has also included offerings to ancestors and Heaven. The calendar identifies the seasonal date; local and household practices give the gathering its particular form.
Counting the nines through winter
Dongzhi begins a traditional winter count called shu jiu, “counting the nines.” Starting with the solstice day, nine groups of nine days make 81 days. A winter-counting picture makes their passage visible: one design has 81 plum-blossom petals, coloured one per day; another fills the strokes of nine nine-stroke characters. The gradually completed picture expresses anticipation of spring. It extends Dongzhi’s meaning beyond the shared meal into a small daily ritual for following the season.
Calendar rule
When Winter Solstice falls
A seasonal observance fixed by the Winter Solstice solar-term instant.
The exact rule is Winter Solstice solar-term instant. It follows a solar-term instant, so it remains close to the same Gregorian date while surrounding lunar dates move.
The Winter Solstice solar term begins when the Sun reaches 270° of its apparent annual path. The observance uses the civil date containing that instant; the seasonal interval continues until the next solar term.
Winter Solstice dates, 2023–2032
| Year | Gregorian date | Calendar position |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 22 December 2023 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2024 | 21 December 2024 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2025 | 21 December 2025 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2026 | 22 December 2026 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2027 | 22 December 2027 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2028 | 21 December 2028 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2029 | 21 December 2029 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2030 | 22 December 2030 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2031 | 22 December 2031 | Winter Solstice solar term |
| 2032 | 21 December 2032 | Winter Solstice solar term |
Observance
How it is observed
In parts of northern China people eat dumplings, while Shanghai and some southern communities favour tangyuan; other foods and rites vary locally.
Common questions
Understanding Winter Solstice
Is there one traditional Dongzhi dish?
No. Dumplings, rice balls, wontons and other regional foods all have a place. A household’s tradition need not match the best-known national shorthand.
Does the nine-nine count begin on Dongzhi?
Yes. The solstice day is counted as the first day of the first nine-day period.
Why does a winter-counting picture have 81 petals?
Each petal represents one day in nine periods of nine days. Colouring one daily completes the picture at the end of the count.
The calendar around the next occurrence
Winter Solstice in 2026
Tuesday, 22 December 2026 is lunar month 11, day 14, in lunar year 2026. The festival falls in the Yang Fire Horse year.
The festival’s lunar year
Yang Fire Horse
354 days across 12 lunar months, with no leap month.
Explore this lunar year →Inside lunar month 11
30 days in this month
From 9 December 2026 to 7 January 2027. The festival is on day 14.
Winter Solstice
The solar term begins on 22 December 2026.
The Winter Solstice instant is 04:50:14 · UTC+8 on the festival date.
Convert the festival date →
Moon around the celebration
Waxing gibbous
This is the Moon phase on the festival’s civil date.
Moon phases for the festival month →Before and after this festival
18 October 2026
Double Ninth FestivalLunar date & day reading →22 December 2026
Winter SolsticeLunar date & day reading →15 January 2027
Laba FestivalLunar date & day reading →
The next celebration · 22 December 2026 · UTC+8
The complete Winter Solstice day reading
The festival sets the occasion; its day pillar, activities, directions and hours change each year. This reading is for 22 December 2026.
Daily almanac · 2026-12-22
Winter Solstice: activities & day animal
庚午 Yang Metal Horse
The stem gives Metal; the branch gives Horse.
Read this stem against your Day Master →Huang Dao and Hei Dao name the day-god cycle. For a particular plan, read its Yi and Ji activities below.
宜 Traditionally suitable
- Demolish a building破屋
- Demolish a wall坏垣
- Treat an illness治病
- No other activities recommended馀事勿取
忌 Traditionally avoid
Medical care should follow clinical need; do not postpone treatment because of an almanac entry.
Calendar terms explained
This day in the traditional cycles
Each result below names this date’s position and explains what the term means.
- Day pillar 日柱
- Yang Metal Horse · 庚午— this date’s position in the repeating 60-day stem–branch cycle.Hidden stems are stems conventionally contained in the day pillar’s earthly branch. Primary is the main layer; middle and residual are secondary layers.
- Yin Fire · Dīng 丁 (primary)
- Yin Earth · Jǐ 己 (middle)
- Month pillar 月柱
- Yang Metal Rat · 庚子— the month’s position in the 60-part stem–branch cycle.
- Year pillar 年柱
- Yang Fire Horse · 丙午— Fire reinforces Fire; the year’s position in the 60-year cycle.
- Day Na Yin 纳音
- Roadside Earth · 路旁土— a fixed named element assigned to this pillar; its element is Earth.
- Day animal 生肖
- Horse · 马— the animal of the earthly branch in this date’s pillar.
- Opposes 冲
- Yang Wood Rat · 甲子— a Six Clash (六冲), the branch directly opposite this date’s branch in the 12-branch cycle.
- Lunar mansion 宿
- Encampment · 室— this date’s position in the repeating 28-mansion cycle.North palace (北) · Pig creature (猪) · traditionally favourable (吉)
- Day officer 建除
- Break · 破— determined by this date’s earthly branch relative to its solar-term month branch.
- Auspicious directions 吉方
- Joy 喜神: Northwest (西北)
- Blessing 福神: Southwest (西南)
- Wealth 财神: East (正东)
- Peng Zu lines 彭祖百忌
- The verse cautions against setting warp and weft, saying the loom may stand empty.庚不经络织机虚张The verse cautions against roofing a house, saying its owner may have to make changes.午不苫盖屋主更张Two traditional almanac caution lines selected by this date’s stem and branch.
All hours and their hour gods · UTC+8
Auspicious hours for Winter Solstice
Read every interval and its traditional classification. A favorable hour is separate from suitability for a particular activity.
Golden Coffer
AuspiciousHeavenly Virtue
AuspiciousWhite Tiger
InauspiciousJade Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Prison
InauspiciousDark Warrior
InauspiciousController of Destiny
AuspiciousGou Chen
InauspiciousAzure Dragon
AuspiciousBright Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Punishment
InauspiciousVermilion Bird
InauspiciousHeavenly Punishment
Inauspicious
The Rat double-hour crosses midnight. Its 00:00–00:59 and 23:00–23:59 portions belong to different hourly cycles, so both are listed separately. How the hourly cycle works →
The Moon this month · UTC+8
December 2026 moon phases
Last quarter
Lunar 10/23
New moon
Lunar 11/1
First quarter
Lunar 11/9
Full moon
Lunar 11/16
Last quarter
Lunar 11/23
Calculated phase moments use fixed UTC+8. A lunar day number and a Moon phase describe different things. How they fit together →
Plan around Winter Solstice
See the festival in its month or compare the surrounding days with your own birth-year animal.