Today is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and there is one thing worth reminding:
Please cherish this Chinese New Year's Eve because it will be the last Chinese New Year's Eve in the next 5 years. From 2025 to 2029, the Chinese New Year's Eve for 5 consecutive years is the twenty-ninth of the New Year, and if you think about the Chinese New Year's Eve, you have to wait until 2030.
This is not the first time that the Chinese New Year's Eve has "disappeared".
Since 2000, there have been 8 years without a Chinese New Year's Eve, namely 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2022. But the Chinese New Year's Eve of these years only "disappeared" for one year, and the next year came back, this year is different, February 9, 2024 is the last Chinese New Year's Eve in recent years, and the next 5 years will only be the 29th year of the Great Year.
The next 5 years of the Chinese New Year's Eve, all go **?
It's all the moon's fault
The number of days is actually closely related to the moon.
In astronomy, the periodic change of the moon's circle and absences is called the "moon phase", and this change is mainly due to the change in the relative position of the moon, the sun and the earth.
The Moon, like the Earth, is an illuminated, opaque sphere that shines by reflecting the sun's rays. When the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon are roughly in a straight line and the Moon is in the center, the Moon faces us as a dark hemisphere without sunlight, and the moon phase at this time is called the "New Moon" or "New Year", and this day is called "New Year", that is, the first moonless day of the month, which is equivalent to the first day of the lunar calendar. After that, the Moon begins to undergo a full cycle of orbit.
This phase of the moon is a complete cycle of change, also known as a synodic month.
It is important to note that a synodic cycle is not an integer.
The range of the synodic month is relatively large, from less than 293 days to 29It is possible to have more than 8 days, and in order to calculate the days, it is necessary to have a fixed value, so the average length of the synodic month is used, 29530588 days. However, the number of days must be an integer, and at the same time, it is necessary to take into account that the first day of the lunar month must be the "new day", and the Chinese lunar calendar stipulates that the number of days between the two "new days" is one month, the big month is 30 days, the small month is 29 days, and the big month and the small month account for six months respectively, so the lunar calendar is about 354 days a year.
The arrangement of the large and small months of the lunar calendar is not fixed, and it is common to have two large or small months in a row. If there are only 29 days between the "Shuo" of the wax moon and the "Shuo" of the first month, that is, the wax moon is a small month, then the Chinese New Year's Eve will be temporarily "absent", and if there are 30 days, the Chinese New Year's Eve will appear on time.
For example, January 11, 2024 is the first day of the lunar month, and there are a total of 30 days in the middle of the first lunar month on February 10, which belongs to the big month, and the Chinese New Year's Eve will naturally not be "absent"; January 19, 2025 is the first day of the lunar month, and there are only 29 days in the middle of the first day of the first lunar month on February 17, which belongs to the small month.
From 2025 to 2029, the number of days between the wax moon and the first month of the month will be small months, so there will be a special situation of "collective disappearance" of Chinese New Year's EveChinese New Year's Eve for 5 consecutive years. In the next three years of 2031 and 2032, as well as 2039 and 2041, the Chinese New Year's Eve will continue to be "invisible".
Chinese New Year's Eve is constantly changing
The reason why the "disappearance" of the 30th Chinese New Year's Eve has attracted people's attention is because in many people's hearts, Chinese New Year's Eve is the 30th of the Chinese New Year's Eve.
In fact, Chinese New Year's Eve is now the last day of the lunar month in China, which may be the 30th day of the Chinese New Year's Eve or the 29th of the lunar year, but in ancient times, Chinese New Year's Eve may not only not be the 30th day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, but may not even be in the lunar month.
This is mainly because the rulers of successive dynasties paid more attention to the rules on the beginning of the year, that is, which month was used as the beginning of the year, and the calendar changed with each dynasty, which led to a confusion in the beginning month of the new year, and correspondingly, the "handover day" (i.e. Chinese New Year's Eve) at the end of the year and the beginning of the year was also inconsistent.
Specifically, at the beginning of the pre-Qin period, the calendars of various countries were not completely unified, and the starting time of the beginning of the year was also set by each country itself. According to the "Historical Records", the Xia Dynasty used January as the first month, the Shang Dynasty took December as the first month, and the Zhou Dynasty took November as the first month. After the unification of Qin, the Zhuan calendar was promulgated throughout the country, with October as the first month, and this usage continued until the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the calendar was revised, and the solar calendar with the first month of the first month as the first day of the year and the first day of the first month was formulated, and at the same time, the 24 solar terms were included, and the intercalation method was reformed, so that the traditional Chinese lunar calendar was basically formed.
In those years when the beginning of the year came and went, the "handover day" at the end of the natural year and the beginning of the year also changed.
So when exactly did we come on Chinese New Year's Eve today?
Chinese New Year's Eve" officially entered our field of vision when it came to the Jin Dynasty. The "Chronicles of the Customs" of the Western Jin Dynasty mentioned the term "Chinese New Year's Eve" for the first time, indicating that the concept of "Chinese New Year's Eve" has basically formed since the Jin Dynasty.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, each phase and gift are called "Gift Year";
Wine and food are invited, called "farewell year";
The young and old gather to drink, and the blessing is complete, which is called "dividing the year";
Everyone stays awake all night long, waiting for the dawn, and is called "keeping the year".
It can be seen from this that the Chinese New Year's Eve activities of the Jin Dynasty are roughly similar to our Chinese New Year's Eve today. The customs of family reunion, eating, drinking, and keeping the New Year on Chinese New Year's Eve have also continued to this day. Chinese New Year's Eve developed as a festival to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and became a year-end festival with the participation of the whole people, which is synonymous with our Chinese New Year's Eve today.
So, even if the ancient "Chinese New Year's Eve" specifically refers to the uncertainty of which day, are the people in ancient times just "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new"?
Although it is uncertain whether the ancient "Chinese New Year's Eve" refers specifically to the last day of the lunar month as in modern times, it is certain that although there are differences in the past years, the ancients would choose to hold sacrifices to the gods and ancestors at the time of the transition between the old and the new to ward off evil spirits and welcome blessings, which is the prototype of "Chinese New Year's Eve".
It's just that at that time, it was not called Chinese New Year's Eve, but "wax (zhà) sacrifice" and "wax sacrifice".
Let's start with the wax sacrifice. Wax festivals are a relatively old agricultural custom, mainly carried out in the suburbs and fields. The Son of Heaven led his subordinates and the people to worship the gods of agriculture related to agricultural production, celebrating the agricultural harvest and repaying the gods including beneficial insects for their protection.
After the wax festival, it is a national holiday. People no longer work and can enjoy the entertainment and leisure of the New Year. From this perspective, this is very similar to the modern Chinese New Year's Eve after the holiday.
Let's talk about the wax sacrifice. The word "cured" here refers to bacon, which was made from hunted animals in ancient times. The main purpose of the festival is to worship ancestors, including thanking the five rituals (door god, household god, earth god, stove god, and road god) and the blessings of their respective ancestors, and praying for good weather in the coming year.
Originally, the wax festival and the wax sacrifice were two separate rituals, held separately and did not interfere with each other. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the great changes in society, "ritual collapse and chaos", and the date of wax sacrifice and wax sacrifice approaching, the two gradually merged into one, collectively referred to as "wax sacrifice", and became a year-end comprehensive festival to worship the gods, worship ancestors, and celebrate the harvest.
The Book of Historical Records and Heavenly Officials records: "On the day of the next day, the people will die at the age of death, and they will eat and drink for a while, and they will have yang energy, so they are called the first year." "It can be seen that the day of the Lap Day (the day on which the Lap Festival is held) is the end of the year-end sacrifice, which is equivalent to today's Chinese New Year's Eve. If you want to look at the wax days of each dynasty, you have to push forward according to the first month of the year to get it. Taking the Zhou Dynasty as an example, November is the first month, and it can be roughly inferred that the month of its wax day should be Mengdong October. In the Han Dynasty, the official date of the wax day was officially determined, which was the third day after the winter solstice.
It should be noted that now the Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year are connected in time, but the day of the day and the first day of the first month of the first month do not strictly follow this rule, the only thing that remains the same and unchanged is that both have the nature of sending the old and welcoming the new.
We also don't have to worry too much about the existence of the Chinese New Year's Eve, even if some years are less "Chinese New Year's Eve", but the taste of the New Year will not be less, and the customs and joyful reunion atmosphere of the New Year will not be less.
*: China News Weekly.