Jingzhe

Jīngzhé (pīnyīn) or Keichitsu (rōmaji) (traditional Chinese: 驚蟄; simplified Chinese: 惊蛰; Japanese: 啓蟄; Korean: 경칩; Vietnamese: Kinh trập; literally: "awakening of insects") is the 3rd of the 24 solar terms (節氣) in the traditional East Asian calendars. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 345° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 360°. More often, it refers to the day when the Sun is exactly at a celestial longitude of 345°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around March 5 and ends around March 20th.

The word 驚蟄 means the awakening of hibernating insects. 驚 is to start and 蟄 means hibernating insects. Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernating insects, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.

Pentads

Each solar term can be divided into 3 pentads (候). They are the first pentad (初候), the second pentad (次候), and the third pentad (末候): Pentads in Jingzhe are

China

• First pentad: traditional Chinese: 桃始華; simplified Chinese: 桃始华 (pīnyīn: Táo shǐ huá), 'The peaches begin to blossom'.
• Second pentad: traditional Chinese: 倉庚鳴; simplified Chinese: 仓庚鸣 (pīnyīn: Cāng gēng míng), 'Orioles sing clearly'.
• Last pentad: traditional Chinese: 鷹化為鳩; simplified Chinese: 鹰化为鸠 (pīnyīn: Yīng huà wéi jiū), 'Eagles are transformed into doves'.

Japan

• First pentad: Japanese: 蟄虫啓戸 (Romanisation: Chitchū kei to), 'Awakening of hibernating insects'.
• Second pentad: Japanese: 桃始笑 (Romanisation: Momo Hajime Emi), 'Peach trees start to bloom (smile)'.
• Last pentad: Japanese: 菜虫化蝶 (Romanisation: Na mushi-ka chō), 'Caterpillars become butterflies'.