It is also thought that his minister Ta Nao prepared the first calendar, called the Chia-tzu or Kan-chih system, which is translated as “the system of cyclical characters”.Īnother phase was added to the calendar because the system was meant to be for popular use. It is believed that the Emperor Huangdi (Huang Ti or Huang Di) introduced the calendar between 30 BCE, or around 2637 BCE. The Shang oracle bones give evidence of a lunisolar calendar which has been much modified but persists to this day. The Chinese calendar's origins can be traced as far back as the 14th century BCE. The first month that does not have a principal term is determined as the leap month. The solar term system has 12 principal terms to indicate the Sun's longitudes at every 30 degrees. At least one month does not contain a principal term ( Zhongqi) in leap years. The leap year must be inserted if there are 13 New Moons from the start of the 11th month in the first year to the start of the 11th month in the second year. One must calculate the number of New Moons between the 11th month in one year, which is the month with the December solstice, and the 11th month in the following year to figure out if a year is a leap year. A leap year in the Chinese calendar does not necessarily fall at the same time a leap year occurs in the Gregorian calendar. The name of the leap month is the same as the previous lunar month. A leap month is added to the Chinese calendar approximately every three years (7 times in 19 years). Therefore, leap years in the Chinese calendar have 13 months, unlike leap years in the Gregorian calendar in which an extra day is included. However, an extra month is inserted in the calendar when a leap year occurs. The second rule of thumb is that most of the time Chinese New Year will fall 11 (or sometimes 10 or 12) days earlier than the previous year, but if that means that the event would be outside of the Chinese New Year range of January 21 to February 21, a leap month must be added so Chinese New Year jumps 19 (or sometimes 18) days later. Chinese New Year will always fall between January 21 and February 21. This rule is correct most of the time, but it can fail if Lìchūn falls close to halfway between two New Moons. The first rule of thumb is that Chinese New Year should be the New Moon closest to the beginning of spring (in the Northern Hemisphere), known as Lìchūn. Calculating Chinese New YearĪccording to Helmer Aslaksen, of the National University of Singapore, there are two rules of thumb used to calculate the new year in the Chinese calendar. It has been customary to number the 60-year cycle since 2637 BCE when the calendar was supposedly invented. A similar naming of days and months is no longer used but the date name is still listed in calendars. This pattern of naming years within a 60-year cycle dates back about 2000 years. The 10th year is gui-you, the 11th year is jia-xu (restarting the celestial stem) the 12th year is yi-hai, and the 13th year is bing-zi (restarting the celestial branch). One starts from the beginning when the end of a component is reached. Therefore, the first year of the 60-year cycle becomes jia-zi, the second year is yi-chou, and so on. What is 2024?Įach of the two components is used sequentially. It features the names of animals in a zodiac cycle consisting of 12 animals:Ģ023 is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. The second component is a terrestrial branch. Ding (associated with artificial fire).Each year is assigned a name consisting of two components within each 60-year cycle. The Chinese calendar does not count years in an infinite sequence. Moon Phases in your city Counting the Years and the 60-Year Cycle It is also used to determine Moon phases because it follows the Moon. It is used to determine festival dates, such as Lunar New Year, as well as auspicious dates, such as wedding dates. However, the Chinese calendar is still observed among various Chinese communities around the world. In Modern SocietyĪlthough the Chinese calendar originated in China, these days, the Gregorian calendar is used for civil purposes. In both these calendars, a common year has 12 months and a leap year has 13 months and an ordinary year has 353–355 days while a leap year has 383–385 days. It attempts to have its years coincide with the tropical year and shares some similarities with the Jewish calendar. It is based on exact astronomical observations of the Sun's longitude and the Moon's phases. The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar that is used to determine important festival dates, such as Lunar New Year. for the annual Chinese New Year celebration.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |