The Cycles Of The Chinese Calendar
Then this time reckoning was developed a long time ago by the Chinese people it merged into it the lunar and solar cycles. This became known as the Chinese calendar and incorporated parts of both the solar and lunar calendar which many Asians have been known to use in the past.
Each year represents something new and is represented by an animal or bird such as this year 2010 being the Year of the Tiger. It starts from February one year and ends February of the next year to be replaced by something new.
There are twelve of these objects with each one representing a different year with nine animals, a rooster, a snake and one dragon. The animals which make up the other objects are a rat, an ox, the tiger, a rabbit, a horse, the sheep or the goat, the monkey, a dog and a pig or a boar. In an explanation of why these particular objects were chosen there is a legend which surrounds it.
As the legend goes one object was to be the first on this calendar, but they all wanted to be first, so the gods decided that there should be a race to see who could cross a river from one side to the other. Whoever got there ahead of the others would be first on the calendar. There is a much longer story to this but to summarize the rat got there ahead of all the others while the pig was last. The gods decided that this was the order to be on the calendar.
Farmers have used it as a guide when planting and harvesting their crops. It follows the different phases of the moon and its workings are made around the solstices and equinoxes. Along the path of the sun it has twenty four points or markers which have spacings of 15 degrees apart with other adjustments to keep this time calculation aligned. With the new moon cycle the Chinese New Year begins around February.
The fifteen degree spaces within the twenty four points represent seasonal conditions. Each degrees means a different thing for each part of the season such a sixty degrees may mean grain full or the grains are plump and another degree may mean something else to do with farming such as extreme heat or start of autumn. The solstice and equinox seasons begin at different times for the Chinese calendar and the Western one with the former beginning in the center and latter being at the start.
A year consists of the lunar cycle of 354 days which has to be corrected with an intercalary month added now and then to keep it the same as the 365 day system. Nine festivals with two special holiday calculated into this are celebrated under this system. The Chinese time reckoner goes by a lunar cycle whereas the Western one goes by the solar cycle.
James Tien is a Chinese culture writer. He suggests Absolutely Feng Shui for additional information on Chinese Calendars and Chinese Astrology.
