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,1February matches the four seasons, that is, spring, summer, autumn and winter, with three months in one season and four months in leap months, which is too irregular. Second, the solar terms such as vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox and winter solstice have moved back and forth for a month in a year, and most people can't grasp them. 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 not only conforms to astronomical practice well, but also facilitates the mastery and arrangement of agricultural time. It is a calendar with great scientific value and practical significance. However, the calendar of 12 years 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 law of alternation of four seasons in a year and alternation of cold and summer, and is of great significance to guiding agricultural production and handicraft production.

The method of setting 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 gas, which has been used until 1644 in traditional calendars. Of course, the Northern Song Dynasty also used the method of balancing qi.

In the traditional lunar calendar, the solar terms set by the sun movement and the months set by the moon movement are not fixed, and there are insurmountable contradictions. 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 bold innovations and founded Qi Twelve 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, beginning of winter 1 ... 65438+ 1 in severe cold. Big moon 3 1, small moon 30. Generally, the big moon and the small moon appear alternately, but once in a normal year, three small moons are connected together. Although the moon's profit and loss has nothing to do with solar terms, it can be marked with "new moon" and "hope" in the calendar as the general content.

This is a pure solar calendar system, which is simple and convenient for all kinds of production activities. But it was impossible to be adopted in ancient times when the traditional forces were extremely powerful. In this regard, Shen Kuo has long predicted, saying: "This calendar theory, in particular, must be blamed, 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 now are essentially similar to the twelve-year calendar. In 1930s, the principle of "Shore Calendar" used by the British Met Office to count agricultural climate was the same as that of 12 year calendar.