The+Chinese+Calender

 =__**Type of Calender**__=

The ancient cultures of Asian based their holidays, ceremonies, and lives around a type of calender called a "lunisolar calender". A lunisolar calender is a combines elements of a lunar and solar calender. Though modern Asian cultures run on a Gregorian calender, they still mark the dates of their holidays using a lunisolar calender.

=**__Calculating the Chinese Year__**=

When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations:
 * First, you must find the dates for the new moons. The date of a new moon is the first day of a new month.
 * Second, you must find the dates when the sun’s longitude is a multiple of 30 degrees. These dates are called the //Principal Terms//and are used to determine the number of each month:
 * Principal Term 1 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 330 degrees.
 * Principal Term 2 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 0 degrees.
 * Principal Term 3 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 30 degrees.
 * Principal Term 11 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 270 degrees.
 * Principal Term 12 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 300 degrees.
 * Each month is the number of the principal term.
 * Principal Term 1 is January
 * Principal Term 12 is December
 * In rare cases, a month may contain two Principal Terms; in this case the months numbers may have to be shifted. Principal Term 11 (Winter Solstice) must always fall in the 11th month.

= = = = = = =__**Naming the Year**__= Within each 60-year cycle, each year is assigned name consisting of two components:

The first part is a celestial stem. These words have no English equivalent:
 * 1 || jia || 6 || ji ||
 * 2 || yi || 7 || geng ||
 * 3 || bing || 8 || xin ||
 * 4 || ding || 9 || ren ||
 * 5 || wu || 10 || gui ||

The second part is a terrestrial branch. The names of the animals in the zodiac cycle of 12 animals are given in parentheses.

====A myth goes along with how the order for the animals were chosen to represent the calender. A common one is often told as follows: When the Jade Emperor in heaven needed to decide the order of the zodiac, he invited all the animals to participate in a race. The order of the zodiac would be decided by the order that animals finished the race.When the competition started, the ox was leading the pack, but the rat jumped on his back. Since the rat was so light and small, the ox did not realize that the rat was hitching a ride. As the ox approached the finish line, the rat leap off his back and was crowned as the first animal to complete the race.After all the creatures finished the race, the order was finalized:rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.====
 * 1 || zi (rat) || 7 || wu (horse) ||
 * 2 || chou (ox) || 8 || wei (sheep) ||
 * 3 || yin (tiger) || 9 || shen (monkey) ||
 * 4 || mao (hare, rabbit) || 10 || you (rooster) ||
 * 5 || chen (dragon) || 11 || xu (dog) ||
 * 6 || si (snake) || 12 || hai (pig) ||

= = = = =__**Chinese Holidays that Correspond with the Calender**__=
 * In China, the Dragon Boat Festival memorializes the Chinese patriotic poet Chiu Yuan, who committed suicide by jumping into the river after tying himself down with a rock on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. Because of the day he died, the Dragon Boat Festival is always celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
 * The Elder's day is the Double-Nine Festival, the 9th day of 9th lunar month. The Double-Nine Festival began in the Han Dynasty. One person, called Mr. Chai, who lived in the palace liked to wear dogwood and drink chrysanthemum wine in the 9th lunar month. He said that the dogwood can warn people of disaster and that they would live longer after drinking chrysanthemum wine in the 9th lunar month.


 * Valentine's Day, also called the Daughter's festival. The story for this day is about the 7th daughter of the Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd. They were separated by the Emperor. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. They are allowed to meet only once a year on the day of 7th day of 7th lunar month.


 * Chinese New Year is the most important and the longest holiday in their calender. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.
 * The lantern festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Some of the lanterns may be works of art, painted with birds, animals, flowers, zodiac signs, and scenes from legend and history. People hang glowing lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.