1. The Chinese New Year day is being celebrated by the Chinese, all over the world today, 19 Feb. Actually it's the longest national holiday spanning a total of 15 days, with the new year day being the most important date of the Chinese calendar. Family reunions take place with families partaking food together and there's fun and frolic prevalent everywhere. To meet up with the families back in the villages, the large population of professionals and government employees traverse great distances making it a huge transportation blitz!
2. It would, therefore, be worthwhile to understand the characteristics of the Chinese Calendar, which are:-
(a) Is 'lunisolar' meaning that it's based on exact astronomical observations of the sun's
longitude and moon's phases.
(b) Its years, to a great extent, coincides with the tropical years and it shares similarities with
the Jewish calendar. In both, an ordinary year has 12 months(353 - 355 days) while a leap
year has 13 months(383 - 385 days).
(c) Originated in China, the calendar is followed by the Chinese communities all over the world
to determine festival dates(like the Chinese New Year) or auspicious dates(for eg. wedding
dates).
(d) Does not count years in an infinite sequence. Each year is assigned a name consisting of two
components within a 60 year cycle. The first component is a celestial stem and the
second component is a terrestrial branch which features the names of animals in a Zodiac
cycle of 12 months. The details are appended:-
(i) The first component - the celestial stem.
* Jia (growing wood)
* Yi (cut timber)
* Bing (natural fire)
* Ding (artificial fire)
* Wu (earth)
* Ji (earthenware)
* Geng(metal)
* Xiu (wrought metal)
* Ren (running water)
* Gui (standing water).
(ii) The second component - the terrestrial branch.
* Zi (rat)
* Chou (ox)
* Yin (tiger)
* Mao (rabbit)
* Chen (dragon)
* Si (snake)
* Wu (horse)
* Wei (sheep)
* Shai (monkey)
* You (rooster)
* Xu (dog)
* Hai (pig).
3. Each of the two components is used sequentially. Therefore, the first year of the cycle becomes, 'Jia-Zi', the second year 'Yi-Chou' and so on. The 10th year would be 'Gui-You', the 11th year ' Jia-Xu'(restarting the celestial stem) , the 12th year ' Yi-Hai' and the 13th year 'Bing-Zi'(restarting the terrestrial branch) and the 60th year would be 'Gui-Hai'.
4. This custom of numbering the 60 year cycle dates back to the 14th century BCE(2637 BCE), when the calendar was invented!
And Finally, Calculating the Chinese New Year.
It has two thumb rules viz. :-
(a) The new year should be the new moon closest to the beginning of spring(in the northern
hemisphere). In other words, the Chinese New Year will always fall between 21 Jan and 21
Feb!
(b) Most of the time, the Chinese New Year will fall 11(sometimes 10 or 12) days earlier than the
previous year! But if that means that the date would be outside the 21 Jan - 21 Feb range, a
leap month is added so that the Chinese New Year jumps 18(or 19) days later.
Tailpiece.
(a) It's interesting to note that China had resisted the use of the Gregorian calendar till 1912. It was Mao Tse Dong who'd ordered, on 01 Oct 1949, the use of the same.
(b) Here's wishing the Chinese, all over the world, a very happy new year!
2. It would, therefore, be worthwhile to understand the characteristics of the Chinese Calendar, which are:-
(a) Is 'lunisolar' meaning that it's based on exact astronomical observations of the sun's
longitude and moon's phases.
(b) Its years, to a great extent, coincides with the tropical years and it shares similarities with
the Jewish calendar. In both, an ordinary year has 12 months(353 - 355 days) while a leap
year has 13 months(383 - 385 days).
(c) Originated in China, the calendar is followed by the Chinese communities all over the world
to determine festival dates(like the Chinese New Year) or auspicious dates(for eg. wedding
dates).
(d) Does not count years in an infinite sequence. Each year is assigned a name consisting of two
components within a 60 year cycle. The first component is a celestial stem and the
second component is a terrestrial branch which features the names of animals in a Zodiac
cycle of 12 months. The details are appended:-
(i) The first component - the celestial stem.
* Jia (growing wood)
* Yi (cut timber)
* Bing (natural fire)
* Ding (artificial fire)
* Wu (earth)
* Ji (earthenware)
* Geng(metal)
* Xiu (wrought metal)
* Ren (running water)
* Gui (standing water).
(ii) The second component - the terrestrial branch.
* Zi (rat)
* Chou (ox)
* Yin (tiger)
* Mao (rabbit)
* Chen (dragon)
* Si (snake)
* Wu (horse)
* Wei (sheep)
* Shai (monkey)
* You (rooster)
* Xu (dog)
* Hai (pig).
3. Each of the two components is used sequentially. Therefore, the first year of the cycle becomes, 'Jia-Zi', the second year 'Yi-Chou' and so on. The 10th year would be 'Gui-You', the 11th year ' Jia-Xu'(restarting the celestial stem) , the 12th year ' Yi-Hai' and the 13th year 'Bing-Zi'(restarting the terrestrial branch) and the 60th year would be 'Gui-Hai'.
4. This custom of numbering the 60 year cycle dates back to the 14th century BCE(2637 BCE), when the calendar was invented!
And Finally, Calculating the Chinese New Year.
It has two thumb rules viz. :-
(a) The new year should be the new moon closest to the beginning of spring(in the northern
hemisphere). In other words, the Chinese New Year will always fall between 21 Jan and 21
Feb!
(b) Most of the time, the Chinese New Year will fall 11(sometimes 10 or 12) days earlier than the
previous year! But if that means that the date would be outside the 21 Jan - 21 Feb range, a
leap month is added so that the Chinese New Year jumps 18(or 19) days later.
Tailpiece.
(a) It's interesting to note that China had resisted the use of the Gregorian calendar till 1912. It was Mao Tse Dong who'd ordered, on 01 Oct 1949, the use of the same.
(b) Here's wishing the Chinese, all over the world, a very happy new year!
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