立冬通常是每年的11月7日或8日。每年这个时候，河水就开始结冰。“Winter Begins” arrives on November 7 or November 8 each year. At this time of the year, some rivers in China start to freeze.

立冬是冬季的第一个节气，进入这一时节，天地万物活动都趋向休止，准备蛰伏过冬。It is the first solar term in winter, in this season, myriad activities tend to repose to the dormant winter.

2023 年的立冬是 11 月 8 日。The beginning of winter of 2023 is November 8.

自古以来，中国人把立冬视为冬天的开始。For centuries, the Chinese people take the start of winter as the beginning of the winter.

立冬后天气越来越冷，许多地区的降雨量将会明显减少。The weather is getting colder after the Start of Winter，many area's rainfall will be significantly reduced.

立冬不端饺子碗，冻掉耳朵没人管。Eat dumplings　on Beginning of Winter Day,　or your ears will be frostbitten."

饺子，是源于“交子之时”的说法。立冬则是秋冬季节之交，故“交子”之时的饺子不能不吃。到了立冬这天，家家都喜欢围在一起吃顿饺子。Dumplings, originated from the saying of "Jiaozi time". Beginning of Winter sits at a cross point between autumn and winter, or at the Jiaozi time.Dumpling is pronounced same as "Jiaozi" in Chinese, so eating dumplings is taken as a custom. On Beginning of Winter Day, every family likes to eat dumplings together.

在立冬之日吃上一碗，热气腾腾的饺子，是沿袭多年的习俗。it is a custom for many years　to eat steaming dumplings，on Beginning of Winter Day.

吃饺子Eating dumplings

相传在东汉（公元25年-220年）年末。“立冬”前后，很多河南的百姓患上了风寒，耳朵被冻伤，当时的医圣张仲景知道后使用其妙方法帮助百姓治好了伤寒。A legend has it that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD25-220), "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing saved many people in Henan province from a typhoidepidemic and their ears’ from being frostbitten around Start of Winter.

张仲景将羊肉，辣椒等驱寒药材煮熟，包如耳朵状面皮中。从此百姓开始模仿这种制作方法，制作食物，这就是现在被大家熟知的饺子，直到现在仍然有“立冬不端饺子碗，冻掉耳朵没人管”的说法。He cooked mutton, hot peppers and herbs to dispel the cold and increase body heat. He wrapped these ingredients into a dough skin and made them into an ear shape. Since then, people have learned to make the food which became known as "dumpling". Today there is still a saying that goes "Eat dumplings on Start of Winter Day, or your ears will be frostbitten".