Chinese Lunar Calendar

The Chinese Lunar Calendar is actually based on the cycles of the moon. In Chinese calendar, you will notice that the beginning of the year always falls somewhere between late January and early February of the Gregorian calendar. In the United States, you know that the years are dated from the birth of Jesus Christ. Take for an example the year 2001, it is also means 2,001 years after the birth of Christ.

The Chinese calendar is in fact lunisolar calendar. It incorporates the movements of the sun as well as the moon. It was conceived around 500 BC and it is also known as the Agricultural Calendar or the Xia Calendar. The lunar year is divided into 12 months. Each of the month consists of one cycle of the moon from full to new (29.5 days for each month) which match with the zodiac signs of Western astrology. Since Chinese New Year falls in late January or early February of the Gregorian calendar, its first month correspond to zodiac sign of Pisces while the 12th month matches up with zodiac sign of Aquarius.

In order to adjust the calendar, an intercalary month is added to every two and a half years. The intercalary month is consecutively interposed from the 2nd – 11th months of the lunar year. Therefore, the addition of this month will produce the Lunar Leap Year. A leap year has 13 months and the name of a leap month is tthe same as previous lunar month.

If you want to know when is the beginning of each of the lunar month, it will be the date of the New Moon marked on the Westen calendar. Here, a new moon is the completely ‘black’ moon (it is the time when the moon is in conjunction with the sun) and not the first visible crescent used in the Hebrew and Islamic calendars. Hence, the date of a new moon will become the first day of a new month.

Once every 19 years, the Chinese calendar coincides with the Gregorian calendar. Because of this, the Chinese will find that their 19th, 38th and 57th birthdays are usually the same according to both system.

Although the Western calender (which based on the movements of the sun) is easier to follow and more consistent but the lunar calender is more accurate and widely used by people from the East in registering the changes in seasons and also the growth of all life in the universe. The calender is also used by the Chinese farmers every year as an almanac for the most favourable days to sow and reap their crops. In ancient times, long before people can forecast the weather using modern science, the Chinese relied heavily on their horoscope to predict the rains.

If you notice, when a year’s natural element is water then there will be an abundance of water or destructive floods (depends on whether its influence is linked to the negative or positive sides of the element). An authentic lunar calendar usually contains all the information about the Do’s and Dont’s for each day of the year, and down to the most unfavorable and favorable hours of each day. Many Chinese calendars will also print both the solar dates and the Chinese lunar dates.

Lap Chun

You may interested to know that a freshly laid egg can be made to stand erect on its base on the first day of Spring in Chinese lunar calendar. Try it! – seeing is believing. In Hong Kong, this day is called the Lap Chun. It is also believed that if you wear red color shirt and then bank in money on the Lap Chun day, luck and fortune will follow you the whole year. There are two Lap Chuns in certain lunar years while in other lunar years there can be no Lap Chun at all (this happens when the Chinese New Year starts after 5th of February and ends before the first day of Spring in the succeeding year). A year without a Lap Chun is regarded as a ‘blind year’ and such years are generally not auspicious for getting married.

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