As the Winter Solstice was once the first day of a new year, the people of ancient China treated this day like the Spring Festival and used the natural phenomena to forecast the droughts and floods, harvests and crop failures of the next year. These psychic forecasts can be divided into the following categories:

Observing the shadows:

It is recorded in Yi gua tong yan (Interpretation of Divinatory Symbols) and Xiong Xian Zhi (Records of Xiong County) that “the shadow is in compliance with the measure. On the Winter Solstice, set up eight statues of gods and eight measures. At midday, observe the shadow. If it is the same as the measure, then the weather of next year will be smooth and people will live a good life. If it surpasses the measure, there will be a flood; if not, there will be a drought.”

Observing the clouds:

Tao zhu gong shu (Book of Taozhugong): “Observing the clouds on the Winter Solstice at dawn: If blue or green clouds appear, the country will be prosperous and the people will be at peace; if red clouds appear, there will be drought; if black clouds appear, there will be floods; and if yellow clouds appear, there will be a good harvest, and if there are no clouds, it is an ill omen.”

Yi gua tong yan (Interpretation of Divinatory Symbols): “If the clouds welcome the sun, the weather next year will be smooth, people will be at peace, and there will be no epidemic disease; if there are no clouds, next year will be hard for people. Red clouds bring drought, black ones bring floods, white ones bring ice and yellow ones bring a good harvest.”

Observing the wind:

Tao zhu gong shu (Book of Taozhugong): “Observing the wind on the Winter Solstice: the south wind means the crops will be expensive, the north wind means a good harvest, the west wind means the rice will be ripe, the southeast wind will bring dense fog and abundant raindrops, the southwest wind will bring a long time of cloudy days. An old saying goes, ‘The southwest wind will bring cloudy days and the continuous rain will last till the Qingming.’”

Raoyang xian zhi (Records of Raoyang County): “The east wind on the Winter Solstice will bring disaster to people, the south wind will raise the price of crops, the west wind will blow the rice ripe and the north wind will bring a good harvest.”

Suning xian zhi (Records of Suning): “The wind from the south will be evil and people will suffer from diseases and the wind that comes at night will bring no harm to the people.”

Observing the sunny or rainy weather:

Nongzheng quanshu (Dictionary of Farm Affairs): “There is saying that goes, ‘The sunny Winter Solstice will bring a wet year’, ‘The clean Winter Solstice will bring messy year’, or ‘A sunny Winter Solstice will bring a wet new year, and the farm work will be easy.’”

Nongsang Jiyao (The Summary of Farming and Sericulture): “fog on Winter Solstice will bring drought next year.”

Observing the snow:

The custom of Xixiang County in Shaanxi: “On Winter Solstice, people will go to the Bashan Mountain to observe the snow to forecast the harvest or crop failures of next year.”

Jiading xian zhi (Record of Jiading County): “The snow in the last month of the year is cover, while the snow in the spring is disaster. Snow on Winter Solstice will bring a good harvest next year, for it will kill the pests.”

Observing the price of rice:

Jiading xian zhi (Record of Jiading County) and Nongsang Jiyao (the Summary of Farming and Sericulture): “People like to see the price of the rice rise before the Winter Solstice. As the saying goes: ‘The price rises, the poor people could bring up their children more easily; if the price of the rice drops before the winter, the poor people will have to sell their children.’”

Other methods: Nongsang Jiyao (The Summary of Farming and Sericulture): “If people want to know the growth condition of the crops next year, on the Winter Solstice they will put all kinds of seeds in the bag and put them in the vault. Five days later, the bag will be brought out, and the one with more sprouts is the one that should be planted next year.”

Yixian zhi (Record of Yi County): “On the Winter Solstice, the peasant will check the root of the wheat and if the white sprout is longer, then there will be a good harvest.”

Ziyang xian zhi (Record of Ziyang County): “People fix the cooking stove to pray for longevity on Winter Solstice.”