Minor Snow
In Chinese: 小雪
The twentieth solar term, the Sun at 240° about 22 November: the first light snows of the north, heaven and earth closing, in the middle of the Pig month.
Meaning
Minor Snow, Xiaoxue, is the twentieth of the twenty-four solar terms: the Sun at 240°, about 22 November. In the north the first snows fall, light and quick to melt; in the south the air turns cold and dry. The year has entered winter, but its depth is still to come.
It is a principal term, the middle of the Pig month, and it names the tenth lunar month. Its three pentads describe the world closing for the season: the rainbow hides and is seen no more, the breath of heaven rises while the breath of earth sinks, and everything shuts tight as winter is made.
In the old picture of the year, heaven and earth no longer meet in this season: what they make together in spring and summer rests now, and the wise do the same, keeping their strength for the year to come.
In practice
- In BaZi nothing turns at Minor Snow: the month pillar stays the Pig month’s until Daxue. A birth near it is no nearer a change of pillar.
- In the Chinese calendar it names the tenth lunar month.
- The Calendar marks it on its day, with the Sun at 0° Sagittarius, as the middle of the Pig month; astrology marks the same instant as the Sun’s entry into Sagittarius.
- In the zodiac and Feng Shui the month animal and the month’s star are those of the Pig month, from Lidong to Daxue.
Across traditions
- In Western astrology the Sun enters Sagittarius at this very moment, the last sign of autumn in Western reckoning, a fortnight into winter in the Chinese one.
- In North America Thanksgiving falls in these days, the last harvest feast before winter, as families in the south of China cure their meats and make their rice cakes for the cold months.
- In Japan, Korea and Vietnam the term is shōsetsu, soseol and tiểu tuyết.
Origin and history
The Monthly Ordinances of the Book of Rites describe this month as the time of closing: the rainbow hidden, heaven’s breath and earth’s parted, the ruler ordering that stores be checked, roofs mended and gates kept. The Huainanzi, in 139 BC, sets the term among the twenty-four, and the old seasonal instructions give its pentads.
In southern China Minor Snow begins the season of curing: pork and sausages are salted and hung to dry in the cold, dry air, to be eaten at the New Year, and glutinous rice cakes are pounded in many villages. The term opens the quiet work of the winter kitchen.
Its weeks have their poem too. Bai Juyi, in the 9th century, offers his friend Liu Shijiu new wine still green with froth, a little stove of red clay and an evening sky about to snow, and ends with the question every winter host asks: can you come for a cup?
How Ulune calculates it
Ulune takes Minor Snow as the instant the Sun’s apparent longitude reaches 240°, from its table of the solar terms computed with the Swiss Ephemeris for 1800 to 2200. As a principal term it changes no pillar; the Calendar shows it on the reader’s own date. In 2026 it falls on 22 November at 07:23 UT.
Correspondences
| Correspondence | Minor Snow |
|---|---|
| Characters, pinyin | 小雪 xiǎoxuě |
| The Sun | 240°, entering Sagittarius |
| About | 22 November |
| In 2026 | 22 November, 07:23 UT |
| Its place | Middle of the Pig month; names the tenth lunar month |
| Season | The second term of winter |
| Its three pentads | The rainbow hides; heaven’s breath rises and earth’s sinks; everything shuts tight as winter is made |
| Before and after | Start of Winter, Major Snow |
| Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese | Shōsetsu, soseol, tiểu tuyết |
Related
- Solar termsThe twenty-four points of the Sun’s year, one every 15°, from the Start of Spring to Major Cold: the calendar of the seasons that sets the Chinese months.
- Start of WinterThe nineteenth solar term, the Sun at 225° about 7 November: winter begins in the Chinese year, the harvest is stored, and the Pig month opens.
- Major SnowThe twenty-first solar term, the Sun at 255° about 7 December: heavy snow in the north, the deep of winter, and the Rat month opens.
- Equinox and solsticeThe Sun entering Aries or Libra (the equinoxes) or Cancer or Capricorn (the solstices), opening the seasons and the zodiac’s four quarters.
- IngressA planet crossing from one sign into the next, every two and a half days for the Moon and every twelve to thirty years for Pluto.
Sources
- Liji (Book of Rites), “Monthly Ordinances” (Yueling), Han dynasty
- Lü Buwei (ed.), Lüshi Chunqiu, “The Twelve Months”, c. 239 BC
- Liu An (ed.), Huainanzi, “Patterns of Heaven” (Tianwen), 139 BC
- Yi Zhou Shu, “The Seasonal Instructions” (Shixun), Han dynasty or earlier
- UNESCO, The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 2016