Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Almanac inquiry - What is the zodiac this year?

What is the zodiac this year?

Year of the Rat.

The year is counted from beginning of spring in the twenty-four solar terms, because the year of the Zodiac is the year of the dry branch, and the year of the dry branch is the chronological method. The same is true of the official almanac (that is, the Yellow Calendar). There is no doubt that the lunar calendar only uses branches to mark the year, which ranges from the first day of the first month to New Year's Eve. Lunar calendar and trunk calendar are two different calendars, which are different in the starting point of a year, the division rules of months and the number of days in a year. Due to the use of the Gregorian calendar after the Republic of China, many people, including a few so-called experts, lack calendar knowledge, so the two are often confused.

The trunk calendar is a calendar marked with 60 different heavenly stems and earthly branches, which is a unique solar calendar in China. It takes beginning of spring as the beginning of the year and divides the year into twelve months and twenty-four solar terms. Every month contains two solar terms, and there is no leap month. The dry calendar is related to the periodic movement of the earth around the sun, which can reflect the climate change in a year.