大寒：雪花静落梅花开
大寒是二十四节气中最后一个节气。与大寒相关的民俗活动丰富有趣，祭灶神、尾牙祭、喝腊八粥等。“寒”字的构造，从古至今基本没有太大变化：宝盖头代表房屋，最下边两点意味着冰天雪地，中间的部分则象征一个人依偎着茅草取暖。
中国艺术讲求书画一体，造字与绘画，都在追求与自然万物融为一体，天人合一。有的画家们喜爱以乡土为背景来表现大寒节气。王太利的《地坑院的晚冬》以深沉的暖色为基调，画中人蜷缩的憨态诠释了画面的温度。此外，地坑院在中国已经有数千年历史，又称“天井院”“地下四合院”，是仰韶文明的符号。
地坑院的晚冬（油画）王太利
冬日里的鸟儿最为人们所喜闻乐见。周中耀的《冬容》里，精勾微描的两只鸟儿相互依偎，栖息在石头上，羽毛的红、积雪的白与芭蕉的黄共同构建起充满诗意的深冬景致。任重的《雪竹幽禽》展示了绢本材质的细密精致，画中鸟儿纤毫毕现，神情安然，在雪竹的映衬下趣味十足。吴向东的《大寒小寒又一年》和宋荣耀的《晚冬》都是以雪景入画，积雪覆盖了大地的冻土和村屋的砖墙，但随着雪的升华，冻土的棱角与坚实的砖墙，似乎显露出一种被寒风“削”出来的锋利，而油画则格外擅长表现这种层次感。
晚冬（油画）宋荣耀
还有的画家则用写实的绘画来抒发对时间的哲思。有学者认为，“渔樵”和“山水”是解读中国传统文化的一个密码。刘金贵的《大寒》，孤舟独叟、红梅冬雪，寥寥数笔便把一江寒意化为思古的幽怀。老树的《大寒》布局疏朗、用色温和，未合上的书卷、未交代的时分，这幅画传递出了另一种对时间的感悟：天地虽然萧瑟，春风快要吹来。看着雪花静落，等着梅花绽开。
大寒（线描画）刘金贵
岁月流转，大寒是严冬的结束，也是新生的开始。
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英文版
Dahan, which means Major Cold,is the last one of the 24 solar terms. There are many interestingfolk activities related to this solar term, such as offering sacrifices to the god of kitchen and god of land,and drinking porridge with mixed ingredients.The structure of the Chinese character Han,which means cold, has not changed much sinceancient times, with its top part representing a house,the bottom two points standing for ice and snow,and the middle part symbolizing a person leaning on thethatch to keep warm.
Chinese art is known for blending calligraphy and painting. Both calligraphy andpainting seek to portrait unity of human and nature.Some painters like to depict Major Cold with ruralscenes. In his painting Late Winter in the SunkenCave House, Wang Taili uses deep warmcolors and shows a crouching person to indicate the cold in winter. The sunken cavehouses have a history of several thousand years in China. Known as sunken quadrangle, they are a symbol of ruraldwellings in early China.
People love to see birds inwinter. In Zhou Zhongyao’s painting Winter Scene, two lovely birds perching upon thestone snuggle up to each other. The red feathersand the yellow bananas against white snow create a poetic scene of late winter. Bamboo and Birds in the Snow by Ren Zhong is painted ondelicate silk paper. The birds in the painting, standing quietly on the snowy bamboo,are true to life. Wu Xiangdong’s painting Major Cold Heralds a New Yearand Song Rongyao’s Late Winter both depict scenes ofsnow, with snow covering the frozen ground and the brick walls of villagehouses. Oil painting is good at depicting a multi-dimensional scene, a scene inwhich the edges of frozen ground and brick walls pierce through snow as ifcarved out by the cold wind.
Other painters expresstheir understanding of time with paintings of realistic styles. Some scholarsbelieve that fishing, wood-cutting, mountains andrivers are key to understanding the traditional Chinese culture. In Liu Jingui’s painting MajorCold, a lonely old man sits in a boat on a cold river against thebackground of red plum and white snow, evoking nostalgia.In Major Cold, a painting by Lao Shu, the layout is simple, and gentle colors areused. The half-closed scroll book and unidentified time-setting convey another understanding of the passage of time: Although the winter day is still bleak, springis on its way. It’s a good time to watch thesnowflakes falling quietly and wait for plums to bloom.
Time flies. The solar term Major Cold indicates that the chillywinter will soon be over, and a new year willtake its place.