Author: Sun Zhengfan, Doctor of Astronomy, popular science author
Review: Wang Hongzhi, Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University
Rumors
Today, an old folk rumor rushed to the hot search: The Year of the Dragon in 2024 is the "Year of No Spring" and "Year of the Widow", which is not suitable for marriage.
Source: Weibo screenshot
analysis
Let's start with the conclusion: this is of course an absurd statement, the ancients desperately tried to predict the future from all signs, including the astronomical calendar, thus giving birth to the absurd saying of the "Year of the Widow".
However, although it is funny, it can be checked - the so-called "no spring year" refers to the fact that there is no spring solar term in the lunar year, just like whether there is a 29th day in February in the Gregorian calendar, which is just a phenomenon determined by the laws of the calendar, and has nothing to do with other things.
"No spring year" is just
The coincidence of the lunar and lunar calendars
Open the calendar, you will clearly see that the year 2024 of the Gregorian calendar obviously has a spring solar term, how to say "no spring year"?
Note that the so-called "no spring year" refers to the next year of the lunar calendar, that is, there is no beginning of spring in the year of Jiachen. The beginning of spring in 2024 in the Gregorian calendar is February 4, which is still in the lunar calendar.
Here we are going to distinguish between the Gregorian year and the lunar year. Let's open the calendar and take a look at a few decisive times:
January 1, 2024 (New Year's Day), November 20th of the Year of the Rabbit;
February 4, 2024 (the beginning of the Spring Festival), December 25 of the Year of the Rabbit;
February 10, 2024, the first day of the first month of the Year of the Dragon (Spring Festival);
January 1, 2025 (New Year's Day), the second day of the twelfth month of the year of the dragon;
January 29, 2025, the first day of the first month of the Year of the Snake (Spring Festival);
February 4, 2025 (the beginning of the Spring Festival), the sixth day of the first month of the Year of the Snake.
The year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar runs from January 1 to December 31, a total of 366 days, including the beginning of spring and the full 24 solar terms.
The Jiachen year of the lunar calendar is from the first day of the first lunar month (February 10, 2024) to December 29 (January 28, 2025), a total of 354 days, and there is no beginning of the Spring Festival.
Every 19 years
There are 7 years of "no spring"
First of all, it is necessary to correct a common misconception that the Chinese lunar calendar is not a lunar calendar, but a lunisolar calendar.
The lunar calendar is a calendar that only uses the moon phase cycle to keep track of the months, and there are only 12 months in a year, such as the Islamic calendar.
The Gregorian calendar uses only the solar cycle, which is the period of the earth's revolution around the sun, and uses 365 or 366 days as a calendar for a year, such as the Gregorian calendar.
The lunisolar calendar is a compromise between the lunar cycle and the solar cycle, with the lunar calendar taking the lunar cycle as one month (29 or 30 days) and the leap month (one more month) to adjust the length of the year. That is, a common year has 354 days in 12 months and a leap year has 13 months and 384 days, so that the average length of the years is equal to the solar cycle.
So although the ancients also knew that "a year is 360 days", in fact, in ancient China never used 365 or 366 days a year.
Year by year, year by year, in ancient astronomy refers to the solar cycle, to be more precise than 365.2422 days. The ancients divided it into 24 solar terms, each of which lasted about 15 days, and divided it into three phases, a total of 72 seasons. Therefore, the 24 solar terms are also the solar calendar, an indispensable component of the solar calendar in the lunar calendar.
So we have three things on our hands:
1. Solar terms - can be obtained by observing the sun;
2. Month - can be obtained by observing the changes in the phases of the moon;
3. Year - This is where the question arises, when will the year begin?
Although the beginning of spring is regarded as the first solar term of the four seasons, in fact, astronomers pay the most attention to the winter solstice when formulating the calendar. For no other reason, it's easy to observe – the winter solstice has the shortest days and the longest nights, especially at noon. For this reason, starting from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the lunar calendar defined the month in which the winter solstice falls as November.
The winter solstice and the beginning of spring are separated by 45 days. The winter solstice falls at the beginning of November, before the beginning of spring on the first day of the following year, and at the end of November, if there is no leap November or leap December, the beginning of spring must be after the first day of the new year.
Taking this year-free year as an example, the winter solstice of the year of the Lunar New Year is November 10th, and the beginning of spring after 45 days can only be on the 25th of the lunar month of the Lunar New Year. The winter solstice of the year of Jiachen is November 21, which makes the beginning of spring 45 days later can only be on the sixth day of the first month of the year of Yisi, resulting in the "no spring year" of the year of Jiachen.
The cycle of the beginning of the spring solar term is 365 days, and the length of the lunar year is 354 days (common year) or 384 days (leap year). Due to the difference in the number of days in the cycle, it is actually very common to have no spring year, 7 out of every 19 years are "no spring years", 7 years are "two spring years", and 5 years are single spring years.
Copyright stock image, no permission to reproduce
Why did the ancients think
"No Spring Year" is unlucky?
Astronomers value the winter solstice solar term, but the society attaches more importance to the beginning of the spring solar term, because it is the first day of spring, and it is also the ancient Spring Festival, also known as "the beginning of spring".
It is very important, our ancient New Year's Day is today's Spring Festival (the first day of the first month), that is, around the beginning of spring. According to the "Book of Rites and the Month Order", "On the day of the beginning of spring, the Son of Heaven personally commanded the three princes, the nine kings, the princes, and the doctors to welcome spring in the eastern suburbs. On the contrary, reward the princes, the princes, and the doctors in the court. ”
However, due to the disharmony in the dual-track system of the "luni-solar calendar" of the lunar calendar, it will inevitably lead to the emergence of "two-headed spring" and "no spring year". Why did the ancients think that the "no spring year" was unlucky?
This is based on a general cultural psychology of the desire to predict the future. For the ancients, life was much more difficult than ours. Phenomena such as wars, famines, floods and droughts, and even strange solar eclipses are mysterious.
Therefore, from the hundreds of officials of the imperial court to the common people, they are eager to predict what may happen in the future, whether the war can be won, what the harvest will be, and whether there are any threats. In this mentality, astronomy, which was able to formulate the calendar in advance, was shrouded in mystery and was expected to "predict" - this is how ancient astrology was born.
The solar term "Beginning of Spring" is a sign of the beginning of spring. After the "beginning of spring", it is time to prepare for the next year's major events, the emperor will sacrifice to the gods, and the peasants will plough the land. But you say it's weird, no, such an important beginning of spring solar terms will disappear in some years, will its absence become the source of misfortune in the new year?
In line with the "principle" that it is better to believe in what it has than what it does not, the "Year of No Spring" is labeled as the "Year of the Widow" and "unlucky", which may be especially detrimental to the major events of marriage and even all matters related to childbirth.
But in fact, the calendar given by astronomy can only help us count the days and know how the year, month and day should be calculated, and it does not have any prophetic function.
If we slightly modify the definition of year, month and day, then the phenomenon of "two-headed spring" and "no spring" may not exist, such as modifying the lunar calendar, celebrating the New Year one month in advance, so that the beginning of spring every year falls on the end of January and February of this year, then there will be "spring" every year.
Or, as proposed by the Song Dynasty scientist Shen Kuo, the date of the "lunar calendar" was abolished, and the 24 solar terms were set as 12 months, stipulating that the beginning of spring was the first day of the first month, but in fact it was completely changed to the solar calendar, and the first day of the year was also "spring".
For a variety of reasons, it is really unnecessary to think of a certain year as ominous. After all, every New Year is a day to look forward to.
Source: Science Refutes Rumors New Media
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