小雪至庆丰年 | 24 Solar Terms: Xiaoxue (Light Snow)

11月22日（农历十月初八），是今年第二十个节气——小雪。步入初冬，黄河以北部分地区已现初雪，西北风带着寒冷空气如约而至，就像连绵阴雨早已回到斯德哥尔摩的上空。

On November 22, or the eighth of the tenth month of Chinese lunar calendar, the 20th solar term – Xiaoxue (Light Snow) arrives. As winter begins, snow starts to descend in some northern parts of China. Northwest wind brings colder air to China, just as grey clouds have brought continuous rain back to Stockholm.

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Video provided by China Xinhua News Network Corporation

吃糍粑 / Eating glutinous rice cake

中国南方有农历十月吃糍粑的习俗。糍粑是南方传统的节日祭品，最早是农民用来祭献牛神的供品。糍粑做成圆形，寓意丰收、喜庆和团圆；做成长方形，寓意吉祥如意、年丰寿高。

In some southern Chinese provinces, people have the tradition of eating ciba, a kind of glutinous rice cake used to be a festive offering to the god of cow. Round-shaped ciba signifies harvest, joy and reunion; rectangle-shaped ciba implies good luck, prosperity and longevity.

打糍粑湖南省邵阳市城步苗族自治县 Pounding Ciba (glutinous rice cake) at Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Shaoyang, Hunan province

– 腌腊肉、腌菜 / Making preserved meat, picked vegetables

民间有“冬腊风腌，蓄以御冬”的习俗。小雪节气前后，气温急剧下降，天气干燥，是适合腌制腊肉、腌菜并为春节准备年货的好时节。旧时人们通过腌制、风干食材延长保存时间以备过冬。如今，食物的运输、存储等早已不是问题，但几千年来的习俗和饮食习惯依然传扬至今。

Temperature declines sharply and the air becomes dry around Xiaoxue （Light Snow), making it the best time to prepare preserved meat, mostly pork, for winter and the Chinese Spring Festival. In the past, people cured and air-dried food to prolong preservation time and prepare for winter when food was scarce; nowadays, such tradition and dietary habit remain popular even though food storage and transportation in winter is no longer a problem.

关岭香肠 Guanling sausage

小雪之后，农人们开始享受一年来辛勤劳动的的丰硕成果，而各地的苗族同胞则开始庆祝苗年节，也就是苗历的新年，是苗族人最隆重的节日。各地苗族同胞举行苗年节的时间不尽相同，但一般是在农历九月至十一月秋收完毕、一年农活基本结束时举行。过苗年一是为了悼念五千多年前在部落大战中罹难的苗族始祖蚩尤，二是庆祝一年劳作的收获，三是祭祀祖宗神灵及苗族视为保护神的枫木、竹木、岩妈、水井等。

After Xiaoxue, farmers begin to enjoy the fruits of a whole year of hard work, while the Miao people celebrate their New Year, which is the most important festival of Miao ethnic group. It is celebrated at different times in different regions, but is generally held somewhere from the ninth to the eleventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, after autumn harvest has been completed. The celebration of Miao New Year is to commemorate Chiyou, the ancestor of the Miao ethnic group who was killed in the tribal war more than 5000 years ago. It is also to celebrate the harvest of the year and to worship ancestors and maple, bamboo, rock mother, water well and what Miao people regard as guardian gods.

苗年 Miao New Year

苗族芦笙长鼓舞 Miao’s Lusheng Long-drum Dance / 王清扬 Wang Qingyang

苗家长桌宴 Long table feast

贵州雷山县的苗族人在农历十月中上旬欢度苗年。人们走村串寨，祭祖、杀年猪、打糍粑、吃长桌宴、跳芦笙舞，部分地区还举行斗牛、斗鸟、赛歌等活动，喜庆的节日狂欢会持续一整个冬天。自2000年，雷山县通过举办苗年活动保护和传承苗歌、苗舞、苗绣、苗族银饰锻制技艺表演等“非遗”项目，将其打造为当地著名的旅游名片。2008年，苗年被列入第二批国家级非物质文化遗产保护名录。

The Miao people in Leishan county, Guizhou province celebrate the New Year in the first half of the tenth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. People go from village to village, offering sacrifices to ancestors, killing new year pigs, pounding ciba, attending long table feasts and Lusheng dance. In some areas, bullfights, bird fights and singing competitions are also held. Festive celebrations can last all winter. Though the tradition has been celebrated for thousands of years, Leishan began holding official events in 2000 and has since developed it into a tourism brand to protect and present unique songs, dances, embroidery, silver forging technique, etc. of the Miao people. In 2008, Miao New Year celebration was listed as an item of national intangible cultural heritage.