Birthday poem · January 4Winter Solstice, the 22nd solar term: the longest night of the year.
Birth character
新 xīn · new
新 first meant cutting wood with an axe; it was borrowed to mean new.
客舍青青柳色新
“The willows by the tavern look so fresh and green.” — Wang Wei, ‘Farewell to Yuan Er on His Mission to Anxi’
The poem
“New Year's Day” 元日
- 爆竹聲中一歲除Amid the crackle of firecrackers, one year departs;
- 春風送暖入屠蘇the spring wind brings warmth into the tusu wine.
- 千門萬戶曈曈日On a thousand doors, ten thousand homes, the sun rises bright,
- 總把新桃換舊符as everyone swaps old peach-wood charms for new.
Why this poem
Wang Anshi on New Year customs: firecrackers, tusu wine, new door charms.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Winter Solstice.