Early Chinese New Year

[Brillig]

Today there was some commotion as celebrations were under way for Chinese New Year on the other side of the freeway. This got me to wondering how early in the Gregorian year Chinese New Year can be. Can someone who is familiar with how they calculate it give some sense of how early it can be?

We're having unusually warm weather for this time of year, so it makes sense, in a way, that Chinese New Year, which heralds the spring, is early.

Victor

[dpatte]

From Wikipedia:

The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines the date of Chinese New Year. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture, notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese, and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Year festivals outside East Asia, such as Iran, and historically, the Bulgars lands.

In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely the third if an intercalary month intervenes). In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

On 2012-01-22 22:26, Victor Engel wrote:

Today there was some commotion as celebrations were under way for Chinese New Year on the other side of the freeway. This got me to wondering how early in the Gregorian year Chinese New Year can be. Can someone who is familiar with how they calculate it give some sense of how early it can be?

We're having unusually warm weather for this time of year, so it makes sense, in a way, that Chinese New Year, which heralds the spring, is early.

Victor

[Irv Bromberg]

In the present era, that range of Gregorian dates should be stable, because the south solstitial mean year is presently very close to the Gregorian calendar mean year.

On 2012 Jan 22, at 22:45 , David Patte wrote:

In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely the third if an intercalary month intervenes). In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

On 2012-01-22 22:26, Victor Engel wrote:

Today there was some commotion as celebrations were under way for Chinese New Year ...

Can someone who is familiar with how they calculate it give some sense of how early it can be?

[Karl Palmen]

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Dear Victor and Calendar People

 

For a Chinese new year to occur on January 20:

(1)    The previous solstice occurs on December 21 in Chinese time

(2)    A new moon occurs on December 22 Chinese time

(3)    The next new moon occurs 29 days later on January 20 Chinese time

(4)    The principal term after the December solstice occurs on January 19 or earlier

(5)    The day of following principal term occurs before the day of the following new moon.

 

I’m not sure whether (4) ever occurs.  If only the first three conditions are satisfied, then month 11 will be followed by a leap month. This happens in 2033/2034. If only the first four conditions are satisfied month 12 will be followed by a leap month.

 

All this relies on December 21 being the earliest possible December solstice in Chinese time. It is so in 2096 , which has the earliest solstices for 400 years.

 

Karl

 

12(08(01

 

 

From: East Carolina University Calendar discussion List [mailto:CALNDR-L@...] On Behalf Of Victor Engel
Sent: 23 January 2012 03:27
To: CALNDR-L@...
Subject: Early Chinese New Year

 

Today there was some commotion as celebrations were under way for Chinese New Year on the other side of the freeway. This got me to wondering how early in the Gregorian year Chinese New Year can be. Can someone who is familiar with how they calculate it give some sense of how early it can be?

We're having unusually warm weather for this time of year, so it makes sense, in a way, that Chinese New Year, which heralds the spring, is early.

Victor

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