New yellow calendar? What do you mean by four seasons, eight festivals and twelve atmospheres?

Twelve-qi calendar

Twelve-qi calendar is a calendar created by Shen Kuo, a scientist in the N

New yellow calendar? What do you mean by four seasons, eight festivals and twelve atmospheres?

Twelve-qi calendar

Twelve-qi calendar is a calendar created by Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, which is similar to the current solar calendar. The traditional calendar in China has two major shortcomings: First, 12 months matches the four seasons, namely, three months in a season and four months in a leap month, which is too irregular. Second, solar terms such as the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox and winter solstice move back and forth for a month in a year, which is beyond most people's control. In view of the above situation, Shen Kuo put forward a new calendar "twelve-year calendar": the solar calendar has no leap month; The moon is not determined by the first sight of the moon, but by the solar terms. Divide the year into 12 months, and the first day of the year is beginning of spring. The principle of the twelve-year calendar is the same as that of the current solar calendar. The twelve-year calendar can not only be well consistent with astronomical practice, but also facilitate the mastery and arrangement of agricultural time, so it is a calendar with great scientific value and practical significance. However, the 12 calendar was vilified by feudal forces and was not used.

The relationship between the twelve calendars and the twenty-four solar terms

The setting of 24 solar terms is a unique creation in the ancient calendar system of China. It correctly reflects the objective laws of alternating seasons and alternating cold and summer in a year, and is of great significance to guiding agricultural production and handicraft production.

The way to set the 24 solar terms is to divide the length of a solar year into 24 equal parts, which are evenly distributed in one year. This method is called the method of balancing qi, which has been used until 1644 in the traditional calendar. Of course, the method of balancing Qi was also used in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the traditional calendar of Yin and Yang, the solar terms set by the sun and the months set by the moon are not fixed, and there is an insurmountable contradiction. It often happens that the season has entered spring and the month is still in winter, that is, the season does not match the month. Adding a leap month is a last resort, and this contradiction cannot be eliminated. In order to solve this problem, Shen Kuo, a great scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, made a bold innovation and founded the "Twelve Qi Calendars".

12 calendar is a calendar system based entirely on solar terms. It is determined by 12 solar terms: beginning of spring 1, February 1, March 1 ... 65438+ 1. The big moon is 3 1 and the small moon is 30. Generally speaking, the big moon and the small moon alternate with each other, but once in a normal year, the three small moons are connected together. Although the moon's waxing and waning has nothing to do with solar terms, you can mark "new moon" and "hope" in the calendar as general contents.

This is a pure solar calendar system, which is simple and convenient for various production activities. However, it was impossible to be adopted in ancient times when the traditional power was extremely strong. In this regard, Shen Kuo once predicted: "In this calendar theory, it is particularly necessary to bear the blame and blame, but when it is different, it will be useful to the speaker." As predicted by Shen Kuo, the course of history was attacked by some people until the Qing Dynasty. The "calendar" used by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Gregorian calendar used today are similar in essence to the twelve-year calendar. In 1930s, the principle of "Shore Calendar" used by the British Meteorological Office to calculate agricultural climate was the same as that of 12 calendar.