Summer Solstice (Xiazhi) 夏至
The solar term
On the summer solstice the sun stands over the Tropic of Cancer and the northern hemisphere has its longest day. From here the days shorten, which the ancients called the first stirring of yin. The heat keeps building into high summer.
| Year | Summer Solstice |
|---|---|
| 2026 | June 21 |
| 2027 | June 21 |
| 2028 | June 21 |
| 2029 | June 21 |
| 2030 | June 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:
Deer shed their antlers 鹿角解from June 21
Deer begin to shed their antlers. The ancients counted the deer a creature of yang; sensing the first yin, it drops its antlers, the mirror of the elk at the winter solstice.
Cicadas begin to sing 蜩始鳴from June 26
Cicadas begin to sing.
Crow-dipper sprouts 半夏生from July 1
Crow-dipper, a shade-loving medicinal herb named for the middle of summer, begins to grow.
Hexagrams
In the table of the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar (recorded in the New Book of Tang), the three pentads of Summer Solstice belong to three hexagrams:
- first pentad31 Xian (Mutual Influence)Duke
- second pentad44 Gou (Encounter)Sovereign
- third pentad50 Ding (The Cauldron)Marquis
The second, Gou (Encounter), 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 fifth month of the traditional calendar: one yin line born beneath five yang, as yin begins to return.
Separately, the twenty-four lines of Kan, Zhen, Li and Dui govern the twenty-four solar terms in turn; Summer Solstice belongs to Li, nine at the beginning.
The hexagram calendar marks the season. It says nothing about fortune and has no bearing on a hexagram you cast. See sources and method.