One is the lunar calendar, also called the lunar calendar (in fact, it should be called the summer calendar).
The difference between the two calendars is that the solar calendar arranges dates according to the running rules of the sun, while the lunar calendar arranges dates according to the changes of the moon.
China is a traditional agricultural country. At first, the calendar was mainly produced according to the needs of agricultural production.
These farming activities, such as sowing and harvesting, are mainly closely related to the changes of the four seasons caused by the movement of the sun, but have nothing to do with the profit and loss of the moon. Therefore, people in China have always used the solar calendar in agriculture, and never used the lunar calendar seriously.
Many people think that 24 solar terms, where farmers farm, is based on the lunar calendar.
Actually, this is a misunderstanding. The twenty-four solar terms are out-and-out solar calendars.
It is determined according to the position of the sun in the sky. Every time the sun moves 15 degrees on the ecliptic, it is defined as a solar term.
So the dates in the 24 solar terms are fixed in the solar calendar and not in the lunar calendar.
24 solar terms appeared very early in the history of China, which proves that China has used the solar calendar since ancient times.
There are four solar terms in The Book of Rites: beginning of spring, Changxia, beginning of autumn and beginning of winter.
In these solar terms, after the emperor wants to fast, the relatives, handsome officials, nine ministers and princes and doctors meet in the suburbs.
There are eight solar terms in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals: "beginning of spring, Equinox, Long Summer, Summer, beginning of autumn, Equinox, beginning of winter".
Actually, this is easy to understand. The vernal equinox and autumnal equinox are equal in length, while the summer solstice and winter solstice are the longest and shortest days respectively, so it is easier to measure.
Taichu calendar, written in BC 104 (the sixth year of Han Yuanfeng), stipulated that a year was equal to 365.2502 days, and four seasons were divided by 24 solar terms.
This arrangement is beneficial to the farming season, and it will be the same in the calendars of later generations.
"Before and after Grain Rain, we planted melons and beans", "Early dew, late cold dew, and the autumn equinox is the time to plant wheat" are all very popular agricultural proverbs here. Are based on the solar calendar, and have nothing to do with the lunar calendar.
The lunar calendar is not only useless in farming activities, but also very troublesome to use.
Strictly speaking, the lunar calendar is a combination of yin and yang: the month is determined by the gain and loss of the moon, and the year is determined by referring to the return year of the sun.
A new moon in the lunar calendar (the time when the moon is full and short once) is about 29.53 days on average.
In this way, the annual difference between lunar calendar 1 year and solar calendar 1 year is about 1 1 day.
Arrange a leap month every three years and another leap month every two years, forming a "19 7 leap system".
"Leap at both ends in three years" and "No leap at the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month" are both aimed at this troublesome lunar calendar.
Therefore, compared with the solar calendar, the lunar calendar is a useless (coastal residents determine the tide is useful), troublesome and backward calendar.
In the history of China, the lunar calendar has never been used purely.
The time and name of China New Year are not immutable.
The word "Nian" was the word "hairpin" in ancient times, and "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" said: "Nian, Gu Shu.
Judging from the "bumper harvest, all is silent", the New Year begins with the maturity of millet, and the New Year probably evolved from celebrating the bumper harvest of crops.
(Before the Tang Dynasty, Tibetans used cooked wheat to celebrate the New Year, and it was not until the introduction of the Central Plains calendar that they changed to celebrate the New Year with the Han nationality, which can be used as supplementary evidence.
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In ancient times, the first day of New Year was called New Year's Day, and the date of New Year's Day changed.
New Year's Day in Xia Dynasty is the first day of the first month, in Shang Dynasty it is the first day of December, in Zhou Dynasty it is the first day of November, and in Qin Dynasty it is the first day of October. The taichu calendar Law enacted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty restored the tradition of taking the first day of the first month as the New Year.
19 12 When China Huamin was founded, the Gregorian calendar year was adopted, and Sun Yat-sen designated 1 in the solar calendar as New Year's Day.
19 15, Yuan Shikai designated the first day of the first lunar month as the Spring Festival.
(It turns out that beginning of spring was called Spring Festival that day).
1949 On September 27th, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference passed the New China's Law on the Chronology of the AD, with the Gregorian calendar 65438+1 October1as New Year's Day and the first day of the first lunar month as the Spring Festival.
From the long river of history, nothing is static, and advanced things will eventually replace backward things.
New China abandoned the backward lunar calendar, adopted the international calendar year, and set the Gregorian calendar 1 1 as New Year's Day as the beginning of the new year, which is a great progress.
At present, we have legal holidays, some with the solar calendar and some with the lunar calendar, which makes the annual holiday date not fixed and brings some inconvenience to production, life and rest.
We should abandon the backward lunar calendar and set the Lunar New Year at 65438+ 10 1 in the solar calendar, and put the traditional customs of the lunar calendar on this day.
Other traditional festivals can also be properly fixed in the statutory "A.D. calendar year".
This can not only implement the legal status of the solar calendar, but also be in line with the world and make appropriate adjustments to holidays so that people can enjoy it better.
Attachment: holiday adjustment method.
Take 2009 as an example: New Year's Day merged with Spring Festival (10 day, 1 0 month), Tomb-Sweeping Day (3 days, April), Labor Day, Youth Day merged with Dragon Boat Festival (6 days, May), and National Day merged with Mid-Autumn Festival (8 days, 10 month).
There is no difficulty in the first three items. The fourth item, Mid-Autumn Festival, is more difficult. If fixed in solar calendar 15 or autumnal equinox, the former is too hot, and there may be no full moon at night, which can be determined as the first full moon between autumnal equinox and cold dew.
Students' winter vacation is roughly in 65438+ 10 month, and summer vacation is roughly in July and August.