Friday, January 31, 2014

Too much for my poor brain

I thought I'd devote today's post to Chinese New Year, as that's today, but having researched the matter, my head is spinning and I'm no nearer a full understanding of how it is calculated.  It seems officially it falls on the day of the new moon which is closest to the beginning of spring except of course that we're not talking about the beginning of spring as we here know it, but the beginning of spring according to the Chinese calendar, which is around February 4th.  And then, we're not talking about a new moon as we see it, but as it is seen in China, which will be slightly out from ours.  Apparently the one definite thing you can say about it is that it cannot fall earlier than January 21st nor later than February 21st, and the easiest way of calculating it is to say it falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice (December 21st).  This will be correct nearly all the time. Of course, it's easier just to google it!  Anyway kung hai fat choi.

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