Major Cold: Final chapter

As the year draws to an end, we bid farewell to winter's embrace.

Major Cold, the last solar term, is nature's last pause in deep winter, and a quiet buildup for the coming spring. Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Yuan Zhen captured this glimpse of warmth between the changing seasons in Ode to the Twenty-Four Solar Terms: Major Cold, Mid-Twelfth Lunar Month: "New cycles unfold when winter is gone; And plums and willows of spring will be reborn."

Major Cold has arrived, and spring is on its way. Let us welcome all new beginnings, and set forth on our next journey.