Why is it called Year of the Ox?

In ancient China, the method of chronology was called "Ganzhi Chronology", which was established on the basis of "Ganzhi Ten Days" and "Twelve Earthly Branches". The "ten-day stem" is composed of "A, B, C, D, E, Ji, Ke, Xin, Ren and Gui", and the "twelve earthly branches" are composed of "Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai".

The ancients corresponded a word in the heavenly stems with a word in the earthly branches, with the heavenly stems above representing Yang and the earthly branches below representing Yin. The heavenly stem begins with "A" and the earthly branch begins with "Zi". The method is the first year of Jiazi, the second year of Ugliness, and the third year of Bingyin ... Ren Xu is fifty-nine years, and until Guihai, a week is sixty years, which is called "Sixty Jiazi". Then start with Jiazi and go back and forth.

In fact, as long as we know the number of years, we can use mathematical methods to calculate the branches of years. As long as you subtract 3 from the number of AD years and divide it by 60, the positive remainder is the serial number of the main branch of that year. If the remainder is 1, the serial number of the trunk and branch of this year is 1, and it can be known from the sixty trunk and branch table that this year is Jiazi year; By analogy, if the remainder is 2, then this year is an ugly year; If the remainder is 59, this year is Ren Xunian. If the remainder is 0, the year is the year of Guihai.

Take 202 1 year as an example. If you subtract 3 from 202 1 and divide it by 60, you can calculate that the quotient is 33 and the remainder is 38, which is the serial number of 202 1. From the 60-year list, we can find that this year is the year of hating ugliness.

Extended data

The Year of the Ox is counted from beginning of spring in the twenty-four solar terms, because the year of the Zodiac is attached to the calendar year of the main branch, and the calendar year of the main branch is the calendar year method of the main branch. The same is true of the official almanac of past dynasties (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 each 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.