- published: 12 Jul 2010
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The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms (節氣). Xiǎohán (pīnyīn) or Shōkan (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 小寒; Korean: 소한; Vietnamese: Tiểu hàn; literally: "minor cold") is the 23rd solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 285° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 300°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 285°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 5 January and ends around 20 January.
Source: JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System
Don Juan (Spanish, or "Don Giovanni" in Italian) is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630. Evidence suggests it is the first written version of the Don Juan legend. Among the best known works about this character today are Molière's play Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre (1665), Byron's epic poem Don Juan (1821), José de Espronceda's poem El estudiante de Salamanca (1840) and José Zorrilla's play Don Juan Tenorio (1844). Along with Zorrilla's work (still performed every year on November 2nd throughout the Spanish-speaking world), arguably the best known version is Don Giovanni, an opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, first performed in Prague in 1787 (with Giacomo Casanova probably in the audience) and itself the source of inspiration for works by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Alexander Pushkin, Søren Kierkegaard, George Bernard Shaw and Albert Camus.