Grain Fills (Xiaoman) 小滿
The solar term
The name says the grain of the summer wheat in the north is beginning to fill out, but is not yet fully ripe. In the south, this is often a time of heavy rain.
| Year | Grain Fills |
|---|---|
| 2026 | May 21 |
| 2027 | May 21 |
| 2028 | May 20 |
| 2029 | May 21 |
| 2030 | May 21 |
Dates are for China time (UTC+8); in other time zones the term may fall on a different day.
The three pentads
Each solar term lasts about fifteen days and is divided into three pentads of five days, each named after a sign in nature. In 2027:
Sow thistle flowers 苦菜秀from May 21
Sow thistle, a bitter wild green eaten since ancient times, grows thick and flowers.
Fine grasses wither 靡草死from May 26
Fine, soft grasses that love the shade wither as yang reaches its height.
The wheat harvest comes 麥秋至from May 31
The wheat is ripe and the harvest begins. “Autumn” in the Chinese name means harvest time, not the season.
Hexagrams
In the table of the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar (recorded in the New Book of Tang), the three pentads of Grain Fills belong to three hexagrams:
- first pentad9 Xiaoxu (Small Restraint)Duke
- second pentad1 Qian (Heaven)Sovereign
- third pentad14 Dayou (Great Possession)Marquis
The second, Qian (Heaven), is one of the twelve sovereign hexagrams (十二辟卦), which trace the waxing and waning of yin and yang through the year. It stands for the fourth month of the traditional calendar: all six lines yang, yang at its height.
Separately, the twenty-four lines of Kan, Zhen, Li and Dui govern the twenty-four solar terms in turn; Grain Fills belongs to Zhen, six in the fifth place.
The hexagram calendar marks the season. It says nothing about fortune and has no bearing on a hexagram you cast. See sources and method.