Today (23rd of January 2012) is Chinese New Year, so happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends and students. Today, over 1 billion Chinese will be celebrating the start of the year of the Dragon (龍). From what I heard yesterday on the radio, many Chinese couples await to have children in the year of the Dragon, as this year is thought to be the most lucky of the cycle of 12 animals.
Candles being lit for Chinese New Year
Last year (2011), Chinese New Year was on the 3rd of February, and next year (2013) it will be on the 10th of February. The table below shows the dates of Chinese New Year from 2009 to 2014.
| year | date |
| 2009 | 26th January |
| 2010 | 14th February |
| 2011 | 3rd February |
| 2012 | 23rd January |
| 2013 | 10th February |
| 2014 | 31st January |
Clearly, Chinese New Year does not fall each year on the same date in the civil calendar. So, how is it calculated?
The Chinese calendar is an example of a lunisolar calendar, which means it depends on both the Moon (Luna) and the Sun (Solar). The same is true of the traditional Jewish calendar, and the calendars of many other civilisations and religions including Hindu, Tibetan and Buddhist calendars.
The date of the Chinese New Year is determined by the following, very simple, formula.
| The date of the Chinese New Year is the day of the 2nd New Moon after the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere). |
This fixes it between the 21st of January (the earliest it can be, which would occur if there were a New Moon on the day after the Winter Solstice), and the 20th of February, which would occur if there were a New Moon on the day of the Winter Solstice.
So, it is that simple. Today (23rd of January) is a New Moon, and the previous New Moon (the first after the Winter Solstice) was on the 24th of December, with the Winter Solstice itself falling on 22nd of December in 2011. Next year, 2013, the first New Moon after the Winter Solstice will be on the 11th of January, the 2nd one will be on the 10th of February, so this will be the date of the Chinese New Year in 2013.
How will you be celebrating Chinese New Year?
I hadn’t realised it was calculated like that…suppose it should’ve been obvious. Meanwhile, the Chinese part of your headline says “Lunar New Year”, not Happy New Year as I initially thought 😉
Yes, it really is a simple formula, even though I am yet to have a Chinese student of mine who knows how it is calculated. I just copied the Chinese characters from the Wikipedia page on Chinese New Year, so I have no clue what they say 🙂