feng shui information :: chinese calendar

Using the Chinese Calendar

The Chinese calendar, unlike the western one, is based on the lunar year. This refers to the phases of the moon, so that a new year always begins according to the new moon phase. This means that the calendar does not correspond precisely with the western new year’s day. A year, according to this calendar, may start in late January or even early February. This is taken into account when we calculate a person’s birth information for a feng shui or zodiac reading – if your birthday, according to the western calendar, is January 1973, for instance, it may actually be 1972 according to the lunar calendar.

Of course, the ancient Chinese calendar also has its own way of calculating which year we’re in. This is actually one of the longest running consecutive calendars in the world, and the current year, according to this calendar, is 4702. The current year started on January 22 because of the lunar cycle.

Every year has a zodiac name and these rotate on 12-yearly basis. That is, every twelve years, the zodiac cycle begins again. Furthermore, the twelve year cycle is, itself, part of a sixty-year cycle.

The Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for billions of people. Although the government of China uses the Gregorian, or western, calendar for civil purposes, the traditional calendar is used for determining festival dates. The beginnings of this calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E.

This calendar is based on very precise and accurate astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon.

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