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The Moon
among
the Chinese
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The Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is obviously a solar-lunar calendar, that's to say, the one that takes both the Sun and the Moon into account. Indeed, its years are modeled after the itinerary of the Sun on the ecliptic (tropical year), while the months that compose its years are modeled after lunar revolutions, the first day of every month necessarily being a new Moon day.
It's this ingenious peculiarity which makes that, in the Chinese calendar, there exists from time to time a year with thirteen and not twelve months. The year with thirteen months is called "embolismic year".
Why does the Chinese New Year's Day never coincide with the New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar, which is currently the international calendar? The Chinese New Year's Day isn't fixed simply because it has to comply with two precise criteria:
- In the first place, it has to take place at the beginning of Spring. In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day falls in the heart of Winter. Is it logical? Shouldn't the beginning of a new year correspond to the renewal of nature?
- Secondly, it must be a new Moon day, because it's the first day of the first month of the year. Now new Moon days - just as full Moon days - are mobile in relation to days of the Gregorian calendar. It's for this reason that the Christian Easter holiday is also mobile - it must intervene on the first Sunday after the full Moon day which follows the Spring equinox.
In order to comply with these two requirements, Chinese New Year's Day always has to be the day of the second new Moon after the Winter solstice. If this statement seems a little hermetic to you, know that in practice:
- If a new Moon takes place on February the 20th of the Gregorian calendar, this day is certainly Chinese New Year's Day.
- If no new Moon takes place on February the 20th of the Gregorian calendar, then Chinese New Year's Day is the day of the new Moon taking place between January the 21st and February the 19th. In other words, Chinese New Year's Day always takes place, as the case may be, between January the 21st and February the 20th of the Gregorian calendar.
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