November 7 welcomes Start of Winter (Chinese: 立冬), the 19th solar term in traditional Chinese lunar calendar. From now on, night will fall earlier and earlier in the Northern Hemisphere. As a year’s labor will soon be completed, crops harvested in autumn are stored up, animals are ready to hibernate, and people spend more time at home.
Ancient Chinese used to hold sacrificial ceremonies on Start of Winter, celebrating the consummation of a year and praying for another bumper year. Although nowadays we scarcely have rituals, anticipation and blessings remain. This is exactly what makes a solar term important. For most of the time, we repeat the cycle of eating, working and sleeping, but at every change of seasons, we pause to appreciate life.
Read by Pan Huirun & Zou Minghao, BGM by Esther Abrami
Approach Of Winter
John Clare
The Autumn day now fades away,
The fields are wet and dreary;
The rude storm takes the flowers of May,
And Nature seemeth weary;
The partridge coveys, shunning fate,
Hide in the bleaching stubble,
And many a bird, without its mate,
Mourns o'er its lonely trouble.
On hawthorns shine the crimson haw,
Where Spring brought may-day blossoms:
Decay is Nature's cheerless law--
Life's Winter in our bosoms.
The fields are brown and naked all,
The hedges still are green,
But storms shall come at Autumn's fall,
And not a leaf be seen.
Yet happy love, that warms the heart
Through darkest storms severe,
Keeps many a tender flower to start
When Spring shall re-appear.
Affection's hope shall roses meet,
Like those of Summer bloom,
And joys and flowers shall be as sweet
In seasons yet to come.
