Related issues of calendar

A. day, month, year, year

The celestial phenomena often observed by the ancients are the appearance of the sun and the profit and loss of the moon, so the cycle of alternating day and night is a "day" and the cycle of phase change of the moon is a "month" (called the early moon in modern times).

The concept of "year" is related to agriculture. Shuowen: "Year, cooked food is also". The maturity cycle of grain is the cold and summer cycle, that is, the time for the earth to orbit the sun once, which is called the solar year. In ancient times, there was a difference between years and years. "Year" refers to the period between a solar term and the same solar term, and "Year" refers to the period from the first day of the first month to the first day of the first month of the following year.

B. lunar calendar

The calendar with the moon as the unit is the lunar calendar, and the calendar with the solar year as the unit is the solar calendar. In ancient China, the calendar was not a pure lunar calendar, but a combination of yin and yang. Average one year 12 months, 30 days for six big months and 29 days for six small months. There are big and small moons, because the phase of the moon changes between 29 and 30 days (the exact value is 29.53 days). Every year is 12 months and 354 days, but this figure is not enough for 1 solar year. The actual time for the earth to go around the sun is 365.2422 days, which is more than the sum of the lunar calendar 12 months 1 1 day. So every three years, the difference between the lunar calendar and the actual solar year is 1 month, so every three years, 1 month will be added, which is called leap month. This is to make the average time over the years equal to 1 solar year, which is roughly in line with the natural season.

Jumping is an important event in the ancient calendar. Zuo Wen Zhuan's Six Years in Office: "Leap with time, do things with time, do things well, and have such a good way of dealing with the world." It is not enough to leap once every three years, but twice every five years. Therefore, Shuowen said that "leap again every five years" was a bit excessive, and later stipulated that 19 leap for seven months.

The insertion of leap month was recorded in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, and leap month was generally placed at the end of the year. At that time, leap had not been customized, and some years even had two leaps a year. But in the spring and autumn period, there was no more. The leap in the early Han Dynasty was placed after September, which was called "the last September". In ancient times, leap was placed in the middle of a year, such as March and June. When you jump without jumping, it is called "missing jump". How to insert it is an important problem in ancient calendars.

C. four seasons

A year is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and then divided into Meng Chun, Midspring, Ji Chun, Xia Meng, Midsummer, Late Summer, Qiu Meng, Midautumn, Qiu Ji, Mengdong, Midwinter and Jidong according to the twelve months of the first month, February and March of the summer calendar. Ancient books often use these names as synonyms for months. "Mourning of Songs of the South": "When people are separated, Fang Zhongchun moves eastward". Midspring here refers to February in the summer calendar.

In the Shang Dynasty and the early Western Zhou Dynasty, a year was only divided into spring and autumn, so the later spring and autumn meant a year. Zhuangzi Xiaoyao Tour: I don't know the Spring and Autumn Period, which means that my life is less than one year. In addition, the historical materials recorded by historians were also called the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient times, because all the historical materials were written in chronological style. Later, the calendar became more and more detailed, and the two hours in spring and autumn were divided into two hours in winter and summer. Some ancient books list the four seasons in the order of "spring, summer, autumn and winter" instead of "spring, summer, autumn and winter". For example, in Mozi's Chronicles, there are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, a chapter on Ji Gang, a chapter on officials, regular sacrifices in spring, summer, autumn and winter, Confucius' seclusion in The Book of Rites, and four seasons in the sky.

Second, solar terms

A. names of solar terms

According to the laws of seasonal change and climate change, the ancients divided 365 days and 1/4 days of a solar year into 24 solar terms, such as beginning of spring, rain and fright. These solar terms are divided equally first, and each solar term averages 15.22 days. According to the speed of the sun's movement, some rules are as follows

14 days (for example, from winter to around), and some regulations are 16 days or more (from summer to around). The names and order of the 24 solar terms are as follows:

The first month: It rains in beginning of spring.

February: vernal equinox

March: Qingming Grain Rain

April: Little Man, Long Summer

May: summer solstice of awn seed

June: light summer and heavy summer

July: Autumn begins in summer.

August: Autumn Equinox of the White Dew

September: the first frost of cold dew

October: light snow in early winter

1 1 month: winter solstice with snow.

1February: slight cold and severe cold

This set of solar terms first appeared in Huainanzi Astronomical Training. Jing Ke was called "Qi Zhe" in ancient times, but Jing Di's name was taboo in Han Dynasty. The collocation of 24 solar terms and months is not absolutely fixed. Because the solar term follows the solar year, it has nothing to do with the new moon. The above is the general situation.

The ancients originally divided the twenty-four solar terms into solar terms and neutral gas. For example, beginning of spring is in the first month, the rain is in the first month, the fright is in February, the vernal equinox is in the middle of February, and so on.

The subdivision of solar terms has a certain relationship with leap. Because it takes about 30.5 days to add 1 solar terms and 1 neutral gas, which is longer than a new moon, the solar terms and neutral gas in each month will be delayed by 1 to 2 days compared with the previous month, and only the solar terms will be delayed to a certain month, and then this month will be a leap. So the ancients said, "leap month is not neutral." The solar calendar has solar terms and a neutral atmosphere every month. The 6th and 2 1 in the first half of the year are festivals, and the 8th and 23rd in the second half of the year are festivals.

B. Establishment of solar terms

The establishment of solar terms is related to astronomy. The ancients divided the sky around the ecliptic into twelve o'clock, such as astrology and mystery. When the sun runs for a certain time, it will pay a certain solar term. In fact, the 24 solar terms are 24 different positions on the earth's orbit around the sun.

Hanshu mentioned the relationship between solar terms and solar terms. For example, when the sun moves at the beginning of astrology, it will turn to the winter solstice, when it moves to the beginning of Feng Xuan, it will turn to cold, and when it moves to the center of Feng Xuan, it will turn to cold. The comparison of solar terms and solar terms mentioned in Hanshu is as follows:

1. astrology: snowy winter solstice

2. Xuan Biao: slight cold and severe cold

3. Hey: beginning of spring is stunned.

4. Loulou: The rain at the vernal equinox

5. Girder: Qingming in Grain Rain

6. Stone God: Long Summer and Small Man

7. Quail head: summer solstice of mango

8. Quail fire: light summer heat and great summer heat

9. Quail tail: beginning of autumn is in summer.

10. The birthday girl: the Millennium Equinox.

1 1. Fire: first frost and cold dew.

12. Analysis Wood: Xiaoxue, beginning of winter

When the sun moves to the beginning of a star, it is the previous solar term, and if it moves to the center, it is the latter solar term.

This comparison table was mentioned in Hanshu, which is different from the twenty-four solar terms of later generations, because it was before the rain and after the Qingming Festival in Grain Rain. The astronomical phenomena more than 2000 years ago are different from those in modern times. It is mentioned in Fahuazhi that when the solar term is over, it refers to the star and degree where the sun is, such as the winter solstice at the beginning of morning glory, near the beta star of Capricorn today, and the modern winter solstice in Sagittarius.

C. evolution of solar terms

The 24 solar terms are gradually improving. The ancients mastered the four most important solar terms, the vernal equinox and the summer and winter solstice. Yao Dian in Shangshu called Japan the vernal equinox, and midnight the autumnal equinox, because these two days are equal in length, and Lu Chunqiu called the day and night equinox. Yaodu called summer a day forever and winter a short day, because summer has the longest day and winter has the shortest day. Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals is also called day long and day short respectively. "Zuo Zhuan Xi Gong Five Years" said: "Every minute must be opened and closed." Here, the vernal equinox refers to the vernal equinox, Xia Dong refers to the summer solstice, Changxia refers to beginning of spring, and beginning of winter refers to beginning of autumn. Beginning of spring, Chang Xia, beginning of autumn and beginning of winter are clearly recorded in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals. In Huai Nan Zi, there are 24 solar terms with exactly the same modern names.

Third, the date method

The ancients used dry branches to mark dates, such as Zuo Zhuan Yin A.D. and May Ugly, Uncle Out * * *. Doing is heaven's work, that is, A, B, D, E, B, B, D, B, D, B, D, B is the earthly branch, that is, ugly Yin Mao Tatsumi asks for a letter at noon. Ten stems and twelve branches are combined in turn to form "Sixty Jiazi".

Jia Chubing Yin Dingmao Wu Renshen Gui You

Jia Haibing Zi Ding Chou Mao Xin Si Ren Wu Guiwei

Shen Jia Yi Youbing Xu Ding Wu Haizi ugly Geng Yin Xin Mao Renchen ghost silk

Wu Jia translated Shen Dingyou, the Reform Movement of 1898, and Ji Haigeng rewarded Ren Yin Guimao.

Chen Jia, Bess, Bing Wuding, Wu Shen, Ji You, Geng Xu, Xin Hai, Ren Zi, Gui Chou.

Jia Yin, Yi Mao, Chen Bing, Ding Si, Wu Wu and Xin You have not applied for this position, and they have all failed.

Each unit represents a day, and a fake date is Jiazi Day, so the days after Jiazi are ugly, Bingyin, Ding Mao and so on. Sixty jiazi goes round and round. This method of marking the sun can be traced back to the time of Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

When the ancients recorded the sun, they sometimes only remembered the heavenly stems and earthly branches. "Mourning for the Songs of the South" said: "Going abroad, what you have done is also right." This situation has long existed in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. There are geographical dates behind, mostly limited to specific days.

In ancient times, there were other names for a day in a month, such as "new moon" on the first day of each month and "bad luck" on the last day. So Zhuangzi said "at a loss". The third day is called fei3, the 16th day of the big month, and the 15th day of the small month is called Wang. Bao Zhao's poem "March 28th, there are you thousands of miles away" indicates that the moon looks at the sun. Looking at the day after, it is called looking forward. Su Shi's "Qian Chibi Fu" said that "autumn is endless, and July looks forward." Two days, the ancients often called it both a dry branch and a new moon. For example, in Zuo Zhuan, Xi Gong spent five years, in December, Bing Zishuo, Guo Gong rushed to the capital, and in Zuo Zhuan, Xiang Gong went out in October, and Qi Shi fled at night. On other days, I only remember those dry branches. People can calculate the days of this month by the trunk and branches of the new moon. For example, it says, "May is ugly, and uncle goes out * * *". According to the presumption of later generations, the "ugly" day was May 23rd of Luyin's year.

Sometimes, according to the order of branches, we can even infer the mistakes in ancient books. "Twenty-eight years of" xianggong "in the Spring and Autumn Period" said: "Ten times in February, Jia Yin, the king of heaven collapsed. B not, Zhao pawn ". The 42 days from Jiayin to Yu Wei can't be in the same month, so there must be some mistakes in this record.

Fourth, the timing method

In ancient times, day and night were divided into several periods according to the weather. It is called early morning at sunrise and evening at sunset. Therefore, in ancient books, we often see morning and evening, day and night at the same time. When the sun is in the middle, it is called the middle of the day, and the time near the middle of the day is called the corner, and the sun is setting in the west.

The ancients had two meals a day, and the solar eclipse was after sunrise and before the middle corner. This time is called food time or flea food. The total solar eclipse is after the sundial and before the sun enters, which is called time. After sunset, it depends on people. "Peacock flies southeast" has a poem "After dusk, lonely people will be in the early days", which is an accurate description of a period of time. It's midnight after the appointment.

The Book of Songs says, "When a woman cries, a scholar says she is ignorant." Cockcrow and Peony are the names of two consecutive periods after midnight. Ignorance is the dawn, also called "ignorance". In ancient books, Ping Dan and Ping Ming were often mentioned, which was at dawn.

After the ancients had the concept of equal division of day and night, they used twelve earthly branches to represent twelve hours, and each hour was exactly equal to two modern hours. Time is time. The twelve earthly branches are ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, Tatsumi. Compared with modern times, midnight 12 o'clock (24 o'clock) is midnight (so it is also called midnight), 2 o'clock in the morning is ugly, 4 o'clock is Yin Shi, 6 o'clock is Shi Mao, and so on. In modern times, every hour is subdivided into initial and formal establishment. At night 1 1

00 (23: 00) is the beginning of children, and midnight is 12. 65438+ 0 am is the beginning of ugliness, 2 am is the beginning of ugliness, and so on. This is equivalent to dividing a day and night into 24 hours. The comparison table is as follows:

The child is ugly, and the mother hasn't applied this afternoon.

Chu 231357 91135438+005171

Positive 24 24 6810/2141618 20 22

Five, remember the month method

In ancient times, calendar months were usually recorded by ordinal numbers, such as January, February and March, and the month at the beginning of a year was called positive 1. Every month in the pre-Qin period seems to have a special name. For example, the first month is "Meng Ci" (Chu Ci), April is "Chu" (Book of Songs), September is "Xuan" (Mandarin) and October is "Yang" (Book of Songs).

The ancients also had the so-called concept of "monthly construction", which was to correspond the twelve earthly branches with the ten months of a year. The gamete of the month (summer calendar) 1 1 month in which the winter solstice usually occurs is called Jianzi month, which is derived from this. December is the ugly month, the first month is the cloudy month, October is the moon, and so on.

Later generations will use heavenly stems and earthly branches to record the moon, which is later.

Six, chronology method

The earliest chronology in ancient times was based on the year when the princes ascended the throne. For example, 770 BC was the first year of Zhou Pingwang and the eighth year of Qin Xianggong. According to the ordinal number of yuan, two or three years, until the incumbent comes out. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to use the year number era, such as the first year of Jianyuan and the second year of Yuanguang. When the year number changes, the era is updated. These two chronologies are traditional chronologies used by ancient scholars. During the Warring States period, astrologers also had the so-called old star chronology and the old age chronology based on astronomical phenomena. Later generations also have a chronology of cadres and branches.