小满
Xiǎo Mǎn · Grain Buds
Each year lands around 5/21 in the Gregorian calendar (the exact date shifts slightly year to year).
Three Hou — five days each
- Bitter herbs flourish
- Soft grasses wither
- Wheat's autumn arrives
The 'three hou' (三候) is the traditional five-day-each observation pattern within a single solar term — fifteen days in all.
What this term marks
Xiao-Man (Grain Buds). The wheat grains have started to fill but are not yet ripe. The name itself — 'small fullness' — points at the place between not-yet and almost-there. A taste of life's plateaus.
Folklore & farming
Folk custom 'worship the cart deity' (祭车神) — prayers for water-wheels and irrigation. After Xiao-Man, silkworm cocoons proliferate.
What it means in a BaZi chart
Mid-Si month; Fire is rising but not yet peak. Charts with Water as their climate-balancer are in their good moment now. Charts dry on Water feel this stretch as the driest of the year.
Guidance, not prophecy. For reflection, not decision.