Oriental calendar , which has been in force for several thousand years in Vietnam, Kampuchea, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan and some other Asian countries, was compiled during the time of the semi-legendary Emperor Huang Di in the middle of the third millennium BC. This calendar is a 60-year cyclical system.

It is based on astronomical cycles sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The 60-year cycle includes a 12-year Jupiter cycle and a 30-year Saturn cycle. The most important for the life of nomads, and in those days the main peoples of the East were nomadic tribes, was considered the 12-year period of Jupiter. ancient the Chinese and Japanese believed that the normal movement of Jupiter brings benefits and virtues.

Dividing the path of Jupiter into twelve equal parts and giving each part the name of a certain animal, the peoples of Asia created a solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle. Legend has it that all the animals were invited by the Buddha to celebrate the first New Year. Since only twelve arrived, the Buddha decided to give their names to the years, so that each person born in the year of a certain animal would acquire the character traits of that animal, both good and bad.

Jupiter completes five rotations in sixty years. This number corresponded to the worldview of Chinese natural philosophy. The number five was a symbol of the five elements of nature - wood, fire, metal (gold), water, earth, which correspond to color designations (blue, red, yellow, white, black).

The Chinese sixty-year-old was formed as a result of the combination of the duodecimal cycle (“earthly branches”), for each year of which the name of the animal was assigned, and the decimal cycle of the “elements” (“heavenly branches”): five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) , each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs, personifying the male and female principles (therefore, in the Chinese calendar there are consecutive years corresponding to different animals, but one element).

Such cyclicity multiple of 60 in ancient China was extended to account for the time of day, weeks and months. The day was divided into 12 double hours, each of which corresponds to an animal of the Chinese zodiac (months were also determined).

In China calendar was a sacred document supported by the reigning monarch. For more than 2 millennia, the Department of Astronomy has been making astronomical observations, calculating astronomical events, and preparing astrological predictions. In addition, successful calendar contributed not only to practical goals, but also confirmed the agreement between heaven and the empire.

Analyzing the surviving astronomical records on the bones, according to which divination and predictions were carried out in ancient China, they discover in China the lunisolar calendar with intercalation lunar months, dating back to the Shang dynasty of the XIV century BC. Various intercalation schemes were developed in early versions of the calendar, including the 19-year and 76-year moon phase cycles known in the west as the Metonic and Calliptic cycles.

From the earliest records, the beginning of the year was on a new moon around the winter solstice. However, choosing a month to start civil year varied over time and geographically. At the end of the second century BC. the calendar reform established the practice, which continues to this day, which requires that the winter solstice always fall on the 11th month of the year. This reform also included an intercalation system in which new moons were compared to 24 solar periods. However, the calculations were based on the average motion derived from cyclic relationships. The inequalities for calculating the motion of the moon were applied no earlier than the 7th century AD, but solar mean longitude was used to calculate solar periods until 1644.

Although eras were counted from the beginning of the reign of the new emperor The Emperor could also declare a new era arbitrarily during his reign. This was done to restore the broken connection between heaven and earth, personified by the emperor. The new era could indicate the death of an emperor, natural disasters, or the failure of astronomers to predict astronomical events. In the latter case, the era could mark the introduction of a new astronomical or calendar model.

Cycles in multiples of 60 were used to count years, months, days, and fractions of a day using a set of heavenly branches and earthly shoots.

The use of the 60-day cycle is seen in the earliest astronomical records. The 60-year cycle was only introduced in the first century AD. or a little earlier. Although such a count of days has ceased to be used at the present time, it is still tabulated in calendars. Western astronomical theories entered China with Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century.

This calendar is a 60-year cyclical system. The current cycle began on February 2, 1984 ( chinese year 4693). This date is bing yuin in a 60 day cycle, and the month of gui chow in a 60 month cycle. The beginning of the new year ranges from January 20 to February 20 and is tied to the new moon when the sun enters the constellation of Aquarius.

The 60-year cycle is based on the astronomical cycles of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The main ones are the 12-year Jupiter and 30-year Saturn cycles. The most important for the life of nomads, and in those days the main peoples of the East were nomadic tribes, was considered the 12-year period of Jupiter. The ancient Chinese and Japanese believed that the normal movement of Jupiter brings benefits and virtues.

Dividing the path of Jupiter into twelve equal parts and giving each part the name of a certain animal, the peoples of Asia created a solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle. Legend has it that all the animals were invited by the Buddha to celebrate the first New Year. Since only twelve arrived - Rat (Mouse), Ox (Ox), Tiger, Rabbit (Hare), Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar (Pig)- The Buddha decided to give their names to the years, so that every person born in the year of a certain animal acquires the character traits of this animal, both good and bad.

Thus, the Chinese sixty-year-old was formed as a result of the unification of the duodecimal cycle ("earth shoots"), for each year of which the name of the animal was assigned, and the decimal cycle of the "elements" ("heavenly branches"): five elements, each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs , personifying the masculine and feminine (Yang and Yin) (therefore, in the Chinese calendar there are consecutive years corresponding to different animals, but one element).

heavenly branches

Jia	Yi	Bing	Ding	wu	Ji	Geng	xin	Ren	GUI
Tree		Fire		Metal (Gold)		Water		Earth
Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin

earth shoots

Rat (Mouse)	Ox (Bull)	Tiger	Rabbit)	The Dragon	Snake	Horse	Sheep	Monkey	Rooster	Dog	Boar (Pig)
Zi	Chou	Yin	mao	Chen	Si	wu	Wei	Shen	You	Xu	hai
Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin	Jan	yin

Each of the two components is used sequentially. That is, for the next year you need to take the next sign of the zodiac and the next element.

The Chinese calendar, like the Jewish one, is a combined solar-lunar calendar, so they have a lot in common:

A normal year has 12 months, a leap year has 13.
A normal year has 353, 354, or 355 days; a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days.

The new moon is the first day of the month. In the Chinese calendar, the new moon is determined by the full conjunction with the sun, and not when the visible crescent of the moon appears, as in the Islamic and Jewish.

Month numbers are defined as follows: The date when the sun's longitude is a multiple of 30 degrees (0 is the vernal equinox, 90 is the summer solstice, 180 is the autumn equinox, and 270 is the winter solstice) is determined. These dates are called Principal Terms and are used to determine the number month:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
330o	0o	30o	60o	90o	120o	150o	180o	210o	240o	270o	300o

Each month gets the base period number for that month. In cases where a month contains two periods, the numbering is shifted. For example, a month containing period 1 and 2 will be numbered 1 and the next month 2. Period 11 (winter solstice) always falls on the 11th month.

To determine a leap year, which has 13 months, the number of new moons between the 11th month of the year and the 11th month of the next year is calculated. If 12 full months fall within the interval, it is a leap year. In this case, at least one month will not contain a main period. The first of these months is declared a leap month. It is numbered with the same number as the previous one, but with the clarification that this is an additional month.

All astronomical calculations are carried out for 120 meridian east longitude. This roughly corresponds to the east coast of China.

Dates of the new year according to the eastern calendar

Rat (Mouse)	Ox (Bull)	Tiger	Rabbit)	The Dragon	Snake	Horse	Sheep	Monkey	Rooster	Dog	Boar (Pig)
24.01 1936	11.02 1937	31.01 1938	19.02 1939	08.02 1940	27.01 1941	15.02 1942	05.02 1943	25.01 1944	13.02 1945	02.02 1946	22.01 1947
11.02 1948	29.01 1949	17.02 1950	06.02 1951	27.01 1952	14.02 1953	03.02 1954	24.01 1955	12.02 1956	31.01 1957	18.02 1958	08.02 1959
28.01 1960	15.02 1961	05.02 1962	25.01 1963	13.01 1964	02.02 1965	21.01 1966	09.02 1967	30.01 1968	17.02 1969	06.02 1970	27.01 1971
15.01 1972	03.02 1973	23.01 1974	11.02 1975	31.01 1976	18.02 1977	07.02 1978	28.01 1979	16.02 1980	05.02 1981	25.01 1982	13.02 1983
02.02 1984	20.02 1985	09.02 1986	29.01 1987	17.02 1988	06.02 1989	27.01 1990	15.02 1991	04.02 1992	23.01 1993	10.02 1994	31.01 1995
19.02 1996	07.02 1997	28.01 1998	16.02 1999	05.02 2000	24.01 2001	11.02 2002	01.02 2003	20.02 2004	09.02 2005	29.01 2006	17.02 2007
06.02 2008	27.01 2009	15.02 2010	04.02 2011	23.01 2012	10.02 2013	31.01 2014	19.02 2015	07.02 2016	28.01 2017	16.02 2018	05.02 2019
25.01 2020
Rat (Mouse)	Ox (Bull)	Tiger	Rabbit)	The Dragon	Snake	Horse	Sheep	Monkey	Rooster	Dog	Boar (Pig)

60-year cycles according to the Eastern calendar

Rat (Mouse)	Ox (Bull)	Tiger	Rabbit)	The Dragon	Snake	Horse	Sheep	Monkey	Rooster	Dog	Boar (Pig)
1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875
1876	1877	1878	1879	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887
1888	1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911
1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923
1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935
1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947
1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971
1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983
1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031
2032	2033	2034	2035	2036	2037	2038	2039	2040	2041	2042	2043
The day was divided into 12 parts, which, of course, should equal our two hours; they divided their "watches" into parts called ke. Each ke divided into 100 "minutes" and "minute" into 100 "seconds". The day was divided into two parts: "day" and "night" - each for 6 "hours". Midnight was considered the beginning of the day. In China, the calendar was a sacred document maintained by the reigning monarch. For more than 2 millennia, the Department of Astronomy has been making astronomical observations, calculating astronomical events, and preparing astrological predictions. In addition, a successful calendar contributed not only to practical purposes, but also confirmed the agreement between heaven and the empire. Analyzing the surviving astronomical records on the bones, according to which divination and predictions were carried out in ancient China, they discover in China a lunisolar calendar with intercalation of lunar months, dating back to the Shang dynasty of the XIV century BC. Various intercalation schemes were developed in early versions of the calendar, including the 19-year and 76-year moon phase cycles known in the west as the Metonic and Calliptic cycles. From the earliest records, the beginning of the year was on a new moon around the winter solstice. However, the choice of month to start the civil year varied over time and geographically. At the end of the second century BC. the calendar reform established the practice, which continues to this day, which requires that the winter solstice always fall on the 11th month of the year. This reform also included an intercalation system in which new moons were compared to 24 solar periods. However, the calculations were based on the average motion derived from cyclic relationships. The inequalities for calculating the motion of the moon were applied no earlier than the 7th century AD, but solar mean longitude was used to calculate solar periods until 1644. Although eras were counted from the start of a new emperor's reign, the Emperor could also declare a new era arbitrarily during his reign. This was done to restore the broken connection between heaven and earth, personified by the emperor. The new era could indicate the death of an emperor, natural disasters, or the failure of astronomers to predict astronomical events. In the latter case, the era could mark the introduction of a new astronomical or calendar model. Cycles in multiples of 60 were used to count years, months, days, and fractions of a day using a set of heavenly branches and earthly shoots. Chinese time reckoning was later transferred to Japan; it held firm in China until the arrival of European missionaries, that is, until the 17th century. One of them, the Jesuit Father Scholl, was well-versed in astronomy and introduced the Chinese to the European reckoning of time. Chinese scientists approved and adopted the European system - with the division of the day into 24 hours, and hours into minutes and seconds, 60 each. The Chinese officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1911.

In Feng Shui, time must be measured to achieve results. Today, something seems successful to us, but ten years will pass, the situation will change, and the way to achieve good luck may no longer be effective. In order to understand how time is measured in Feng Shui, it is necessary to understand how time is measured in China.

The inhabitants of China have a longer history of reckoning than all other peoples of the world. The Chinese chronicles date back more than 3600 years, the change of imperial dynasties has been noted since 2852 BC. e.

The chronology in Ancient China was carried out in parallel in two ways. Firstly, the years were counted according to the eras of the reign of one or another emperor. Since the real name of the emperor could not be written or pronounced, the emperor assumed a very magnificent pseudonym upon accession to the throne. This pseudonym consisted of two words, and under this name-motto the emperor was known to his subjects. The mottos could change in connection with some significant historical events, and with the change of the motto, the counting of years would start all over again. Therefore, in the Chinese chronicles there is very a large number of short and short eras. The duration of the era depended on the duration of the imperial motto, so such a reckoning was not very reliable.

In parallel, chronology was carried out according to cyclic (circular) tables, in which years were combined into cycles of 60 years. Chinese astronomers attached great importance to the symbolism of numbers. They found that the orbital period of Saturn is 30 years. If the basis of the calendar is two periods of Saturn's revolution, that is, 60 years, then Jupiter will make 5 revolutions during this time. The number 5 in the Chinese concept of the universe is a special number.

Since ancient times, the Chinese believed that the entire diversity of the world was generated by five primary elements, or five elements: Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth. Each of the elements is considered dual: positive (the positive beginning was masculine - yang) or negative (the negative beginning was feminine - yin). Therefore, the five elements formed ten cyclical signs, or ten "heavenly stems (or stumps)". Each of the ten "heavenly stems" in combination with one of the twelve animals, the signs of the "earthly branches", gave a name to each year in a 60-year cycle. In each 60-year cycle, the same sign of the "earth branch", that is, the name of the animal, occurs 5 times at intervals of 12 years. To refine the year within the cycle, this year is assigned the primary element for each animal. The Chinese cyclical calendar was developed based on centuries of observations.

Chinese calendar until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. was the only calendar among the peoples of East and Southeast Asia, which incorporated elements of earlier calendars: lunar, solar and Jupiter with a twelve-year animal cycle. In addition to the cyclical calendar, China uses moon calendar, based on lunar cycles, and the solar calendar, closely related to the seasons of the year and the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. The basis of any calendar is a day, which develops into weeks, months, years, centuries. Both months and years can be different in their duration. However, in China, the day is not divided into 24 hours, but into 12 hours, and each hour consists of 120 minutes.

The lunar calendars are older than the solar ones. In them, the month value is constant and is equal to 29-30 days, this is the time of the Moon's revolution around the Earth, and lunar year conditional value. The lunar month always begins on the new moon. To accurately translate the dates of the lunar calendar, there are special tables, and these dates are calculated many years ahead. In the solar calendar, on the contrary, the month is a conventional unit, and the year is a natural value, equal to the time of the Earth's revolution around the Sun. In the lunar calendars there is a division into a month and a seven-day week. The duration of the lunar month is slightly less than the celestial one, so the personnel beginning of the month is a little behind its natural beginning. For 30 years, a difference of about 30 days is accumulated. Lord Yao, who ruled in China between 2109 and 2068. BC e., indicates that the length of the year is 366 days, and orders to use the method of "intercalary thirteenth moon" for the correctness of the calendar.

At a later time, the Arabs, who also used the lunar calendar, began to add 11 days to each 30-year period to eliminate the lag, the Arabic calendar consists of 19 ordinary years of 354 days and 11 "leap" years of 355 days. The solar calendars of European civilization are the Julian and modern Gregorian calendars, created on the basis of the ancient Egyptian calendar of the 4th millennium BC. e. The modern Gregorian calendar is a four-year cycle in which 3 years of 365 days and a "leap" year containing 366 days.

Another ancient calendar used in the countries of East and Central Asia is the calendar of the twelve-year animal cycle. In addition to the traditional luminaries of the Sun and the Moon, the planet Jupiter participates in such a calendar. The orbital period of Jupiter is 12 years. The circle of Jupiter is divided into 12 equal parts, and each part is named after the animal:

1. Mouse or rat.
2. Cow or bull, ox, buffalo, yak.
3. Tiger or leopard.
4. Hare or rabbit, cat.
5. Dragon.
6. Snake.
7. Horse or horse.
8. Sheep or goat.
9. Monkey.
10. Chicken or rooster.
11. Dog or dog.
12. Pig or boar.

At first, the calendar of the twelve-year animal cycle was solar, but then it became more complicated. Lunar months of 29 and 30 days each were introduced into it, in fact, it was transformed into a lunisolar calendar. The beginning of each year of the lunisolar calendar falls on the period of January 21 to February 20, inclusive, according to the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese calendar of the 60-year cycle is more complex than the lunisolar-Jupiter calendar.

안창수. 청마의 기운으로 새해 행복하세요

For more than twenty years, it has become very fashionable in our country to name years according to the eastern cyclic “animal” calendar, necessarily adding color to the name of the animal, which immediately expands the cycle from twelve to sixty years.

So what kind of calendar is this, in which these multi-colored animals make their run in small twelve-year circles inside a large sixty-year circle, bringing breath and aroma to us Far East? What is its structure and symbolism, where and when was it born, in which countries is it common today? We know very little about all this, for the most part, and what we know is something very vague.

The sixty-year cyclic calendar was born in ancient times in China, and its signs have been used in this country for chronology since the beginning of the 1st century AD.

The cold night Moon, personifying in many nations the feminine, fertilizing principle of the world, and its daytime antipode, the bright, scorching Sun, are the main luminaries that determined not only the rhythms of natural phenomena and the biorhythms of the human body, but also much in the spiritual world of ancient man, had for him the meaning is magical and sacred. Cosmological concepts are also imbued with such views. Ancient China.

Following the Sun and the Moon, the astronomers of the Ancient East were especially interested in the giant planets of the solar system Jupiter and Saturn. This prompted the Chinese compilers of the cyclic calendar to try to link the astronomical cycles of the Earth and these four planets - the Moon, the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. The sixty-year cyclical calendar, born as a result of such searches, is a chronological system, the basis of the cycle in which is taken the time of two revolutions of Saturn - 60 years. During the same time, Jupiter makes five revolutions. It is this selection of numbers that is not accidental, because the number “five” in ancient Chinese natural philosophy symbolizes the “five primary elements” (elements) of nature.

In general, all the symbolism of this calendar is part of a single symbolic system, which at that time permeated literally all aspects of the life of the Chinese and reflected the essence of his vision and perception of the world and himself in the world. At the heart of ancient Chinese natural philosophy lies the idea of life as an endless chain of changes, where two principles interact in incessant movement - the active male force Yang and the passive female force Yin - two forces of nature, her Father and Mother, jointly creating Life. And, apparently, it would be wrong to say that Yang is a positive beginning, and Yin is negative, since it must be remembered that Heaven (Yang) and Earth (Yin), Earth-Mother, Earth-nurse were considered the visible embodiment of this idea. The ancient Chinese Book of Changes (I Ching) says: Yin and Yang have common properties, but soft and hard have their own characteristics. This is the creative essence of Heaven and Earth“. They are both the same and opposite at the same time. A vivid image of the merger of Heaven and Earth in a creative impulse is a spring thunderstorm. But the unity of Yin and Yang, Heaven and Earth is the harmony of singularity and plurality. The sky is single and at the same time infinite. Many and finite is the Earth. The image of the merger of Heaven and Earth is very capacious. He is also the embodiment of the duality of Spirit and Flesh, Hidden and Explicit.

The merger of Heaven and Earth gave rise to the “five primary elements”, which make up “ten thousand things”. The alternation of these elements - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water - determines all the phenomena of the visible and invisible world. It is this sequence of primary elements that is based on the theory of their “mutual generation” (“xiangsheng”).

Tree- this is the East, Morning, Spring, Beginning (of the day, year, birth of life, etc.), the planet Jupiter. Its symbolic color is Blue colour clear sky, blue green color sea water, the green color of vegetation awakening in spring. In ancient times, these colors were not clearly separated. And, apparently, because green is not the main color, blue is most often called the symbolic color of the Tree.

The tree gives birth Fire, Spring is followed by Summer. Fire is the South, Day, Summer, the planet Mars. Of course, its color is red.

Fire gives birth earth. Such an idea could have been formed due to the fact that the most ancient Chinese were farmers. Although at the dawn of their history, the Chinese proper settled only in the basin of the Yellow River, the banks of which are made up of fertile loess, similar to fine, densely packed yellow sand, but in ancient China there were significant forest areas, including on the fertile soils of the banks of the Yangtze River, where the Chinese began to settle widely in the 1st millennium BC. e. and at the beginning of N. e. And since they were engaged in agriculture there, it was most likely slash-and-burn, when the earth was freed from vegetation for the needs of agriculture with the help of fire and fertilized with ashes, that is, Fire gave birth to the Earth.

Earth spatially occupies the Middle. This is the end of summer, the harvest time, the time when the Earth gives its fruits to people. And therefore its symbolic color yellow is both the color of loess and the color of ripe bread. The planet corresponding to the Earth is Saturn.

Earth from its depths gives birth Metal. Harvest time is followed by Autumn. Metal- this is the West, Evening, Autumn, End, Completion, the planet Venus. Its symbolic color is white. The oldest explanatory dictionary of Erya explains this by the fact that in autumn the snow-white rice grain fills the bins. And if the East symbolizes the beginning of Light, the dawn of the day, morning, then the West is the evening, the harbinger of the night, the beginning of Darkness.

Metal gives birth water. What are the origins of this notion? Many hypotheses can be put forward in this regard. Let's risk it too. The extraction and processing of metals have been known to man since ancient times. And he observed the transition of a metal from a solid to a liquid state, like water. And just as all living things are born in water, so in the molten metal all those objects that the human hand will create from it are already contained in the embryo. On the other hand, the process of metal processing may be accompanied by the release of water or its vapors, which, being deposited, turn into water. For example, metal oxides, which in ancient times were most often identified with metals, under the influence of acids are converted into metal salts and water, and this is equally both ancient Chinese philosophers familiar with alchemy and artisans could observe in the process of their work.

So, Metal gives birth water. Autumn is replaced by Winter. Nature is asleep. Water- this is the North, Night, Winter, Peace, Development, gone inward, the planet Mercury. The day of the winter solstice comes - and Light is born in the depths of the Darkness. The days are gradually lengthening and the nights are waning, the seed of Life wakes up in the water and begins to develop... Spring is coming. Water gives birth Tree The circle closes...

Naturally, the symbol is inherent in ambiguity and it is often impossible to simply decipher its meaning. All that exists is the unity and opposition of opposites, their mutual relationship and mutual influence. Heat and cold, hard and soft, creation and destruction, without which creation is impossible, because any new is connected with the breaking of the old. Masculine and feminine principles. The unity of opposites is the main law of nature. Therefore, any element, each primary element is dual and contains the masculine Yang and the feminine Yin, manifesting itself in these two states.

The principle of this duality is reflected in the structure of the calendar, because the “five primary elements” underlying it have ten cyclic signs, or ten “celestial branches”, symbolizing the two states of each element. These signs have received certain names. The odd signs of the “celestial branches” symbolize the masculine, “strong”, “active” state of the elements and are called 1 - jia, 3 - bin, 5-y, 7 - gen, 9 - jen; even - female, "weak", "passive" their state and are called 2 - and, 4 - ding, 6 - ji, 8 - xin, 10 - gui.

The entire sixty-year cycle was divided into twelve periods, which also had their own signs, representing "earthly branches" or "earthly roots": 1 - tzu, 2 - chow, 3 - yin, 4 - mao, 5 - chen, 6 - sy, 7-u, 8-wei, 9-shen, 10-yu, 11-xu, 12-hai.

Having arranged the “heavenly branches” horizontally, and the “earthly” branches vertically so that when they crossed, sixty unique combinations arranged in a checkerboard pattern were formed, the Chinese compilers obtained a scheme of a sixty-year cycle, which absorbed both five- and ten-day cycles of the primary elements of nature. , and a twelve-year Jupiter cycle, and a nineteen-year lunisolar, and a thirty-year Saturn cycle.

The following is also very interesting. Each sixty-year cycle contains 21912 days, and it consists of five twelve-year lunar cycles containing, as a rule, a different number of days. Moreover, if in the solar-Jupiter twelve-year cycle there are only 4380 days, then in the lunar-Jupiter cycle there can be from 4370 to 4401, and in each of the twelve years of the cycle - from 353 to 385 days. For example, in a sixty-year cycle that lasted from 1924 to 1983, the first twelve years contained 4371 days, the second - 4400, the third - 4370, the fourth - 4401, the fifth - 4370. A total of 21,912, on average - 4382 days in a twelfth year, or as many as there are in a twelve-year solar-Jupiter cycle.

Along with this calendar cycle in China and Central Asia, from ancient times, the so-called twelve-year bestial or animal cycle, the Eastern Zodiac, was used for chronology, the system of signs of which is associated with a twelve-year cycle of fluctuations in natural phenomena. Recall that the word “zodiac” of Greek origin has the same root as “zoo”, and it is translated into Russian as “circle of animals”. Recall that the Sun during the year describes a trajectory on the celestial sphere, called the ecliptic, successively moving from one constellation to another. There are twelve such constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn , Aquarius, Pisces. They form the so-called belt of the zodiac and are called zodiac. Each constellation of the Sun passes in a strictly defined time period of the year.

In the cosmology of ancient China zodiac constellations bear other names. In the East, of course, there are many legends that explain the meaning of the signs of the Zodiac. Here is one of the traditional versions of such a legend.

Once, on New Year's Eve, the Buddha called to himself all the animals of the world, but only twelve of them came to pay respect to him. First came the Mouse, followed by the Cow, then the Tiger, the Hare, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Chicken, the Dog, and the Pig. When they all gathered, the Buddha generously endowed his guests, giving each of them the possession of a year. Since then, a twelve-year animal cycle has been born, in which each year is named after these animals, and the years follow one after another in the same sequence in which the animals came to the Buddha. Each year has acquired the features of its owner. The same traits are acquired by people born in the year of this or that animal. True, it should be noted that the names of the animals of the Eastern Zodiac in different countries ah somewhat vary. For example, there are countries where the fifth year of the cycle is the year of the crocodile, and in Vietnam the fourth year is the year of the cat, and the eighth is the year of the goat. The most common should be considered such names:

mouse (rat)
cow (ox, ox, buffalo, yak)
tiger (leopard)
hare (rabbit, cat)
the Dragon
horse (horse)
sheep (ram, goat)
monkey
chicken (rooster)
dog (dog)
pig (boar)

Of course, people born under the sign of any animal may have other traits, but these traits will not be defining for them. Therefore, it is believed that, knowing the year of a person’s birth, one can determine the main features of his character and even foresee his future. This is where the ancient Chinese added the name of the corresponding animal to each of the twelve "terrestrial branches" of the sixty-year cyclic calendar.

Below is table 1, illustrating the scheme for constructing this calendar. The name of each year is double and is formed from the following components: the first is one of the ten signs of the “heavenly branches”, the second is one of the twelve signs of the “earthly branches” (“roots”). For example, the first year of the cycle is indicated by the signs “jia-tzu” and is called the year of the tree and the mouse, the second - “i-chow” - the tree and the cow, the fifth - “wu-chen” - the earth and the dragon, the forty-fourth - “ding-wei ” - fire and sheep and so on. At the same time, five of the sixty years of the cycle bear the name of the same animal. This auxiliary attribute is repeated once every twelve years, and since each year of the same animal has its own color symbol, color symbols are used to clarify its place in the sixty-year cycle. True, in everyday life, when it comes to someone's year of birth, the Chinese resort to its shorter designation, simply naming the animal of the corresponding “earthly branch”. And if a Chinese person answers your question that he was born in the year of the tiger, then this can equally mean the third, fifteenth, twenty-seventh, thirty-ninth or fifty-first years of the cycle. Here you have to guess appearance interlocutor.

The beginning of the cyclic era is considered the year of the mouse, corresponding to 2637 AD. . This date is associated with the first year of the reign of the legendary Chinese ruler Huang Di. So to today it's already been 77 full cycles, and since 1984 it has been the 78th. The names of animals were added to the signs of periods or "terrestrial branches" only about two thousand years ago.

Table 1sixty year old Chinese calendar

	heavenly branches										Animals


W	1		13		25		37		49		Shu mouse
		2		14		26		38		50	Nu cow
											Hoo tiger
											Tu-zayad
											moon dragon
											She-snake
											ma-horse
											yang sheep
											howe monkey
											chi chicken
											go dog
											Zhu pig

There is no consensus on the origin of the Eastern animal calendar cycle. According to one hypothesis, the animal cycle, corresponding to the European Zodiac, apparently came to China from the Babylonians and the ancient Greeks through Central Asia. According to another version, the idea of creating a Jupiter calendar with the celestial symbolism of a twelve-year animal cycle was adopted by the peoples of East Asia directly from the nomads of Central Asia, who established that Jupiter makes a full revolution around the Sun in about 12 years. Dividing the path of Jupiter into 12 equal parts of 30 o , the peoples of Asia themselves created the solar-Jupiter calendar cycle, giving each part of Jupiter's trajectory the name of a particular animal. In any case, the names of the twelve animals in this cycle, both in China and in Central Asia, are in the same order. The opinion that the animal cycle is of Turkic origin and borrowed by the Chinese is also expressed by sinologists, who note that, say, on the bronze mirrors of the Han period (206 BC - 220 AD) symbolic the depiction of zodiac animals is in conflict with the original Chinese system of symbols. So, for example, a tiger (originally a leopard) appears on them combined with the Chinese Green Guardian Dragon of the East Qinglong and opposing the Chinese White Tiger of the West Baihu (see diagram).

Explanations. Elements typical of mirrors in the Han period. On the square of the Earth, in the center - the axis of the World, Mount Boshan, surrounded by a cloud pattern, along the edge - cyclic signs of the "twelve earthly branches" (roots), interspersed with grains of rice. On the white field – eight pillars connecting Heaven and Earth, compasses (Heaven), squares (Earth), T-shaped figures (signs of fertility?) and signs of the cardinal points. In a circle - a pattern of mountains and waves - the horizon (the beginning of Heaven). Elements that appeared on mirrors during the Tang period. Bagua signs – eight trigrams, located - “according to Wen-wang”; Clockwise from bottom: Water, Mountain, Thunder, Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Sky. Twelve zodiac animals of the Turkic cycle. (Being borrowed, they come into conflict with the original Chinese system of symbols. Thus, for example, the Turkic tiger (originally a leopard) is combined with the Chinese Green Dragon of the East and opposed to the Chinese White Tiger of the West.

To determine under what signs of the sixty-year cycle any year of the Gregorian calendar is, you need to do the following simple operations:

Divide the digital designation of the year by 60 and determine the remainder of the division;
subtract 3 from the resulting remainder if this is the year of our era; if the resulting balance is three or less than three, then you must first add 60 to it, and then subtract 3 from the resulting amount;
the figure found will be the ordinal number of the given year in the sixty-year cycle, it remains only to find its place in table 1 and write out cyclic signs from it: first, standing above the vertical and then standing in front of the horizontal column, at the intersection of which the calculated figure turned out.

For example, 1986. 1986:60=33 and 6 remain. 6-3=3. The third year of the sixty-year cycle is the year of "bing-yin", that is, the year of fire and the tiger.

It is much more difficult to translate the dates of the Chinese cyclic calendar into the years of the Gregorian calendar. To do this, it is necessary to have certain knowledge and have at hand tables of eras of government or mottos of the reign of Chinese emperors and dynasties. Those who are interested in this question can be recommended to refer to the appendices to the Great Chinese-Russian Dictionary “Chronological Tables” and “Calendar Designations”, compiled by V. S. Kuzes and I. M. Oshanin.

It is quite simple to find out under what sign of the animal cycle this or that year is. To do this, subtract 3 from the year of our chronology, divide the result by 12 and determine the remainder of the division. He will show the serial number of the given year according to the calendar of the animal cycle. Let's do this operation with the same year 1986. 1986-3=1983. 1983:12=165 and 3 remain. The third year of the animal cycle is the year of the tiger. As you can see, everything matched.

This calendar, with some minor changes since ancient times, has been operating not only in China, but also in Vietnam, Kampuchea, Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand, Japan and a number of other Asian countries, adjoining and coexisting with other methods of reckoning. For example, the name of the year of the sixty-year cycle in Japan is formed somewhat differently than in China. In the first place is the name of the primary element, to which is added the genitive suffix “but” and the ending “e” in the case when the year symbolizes the masculine state of the element, or “that” when the year symbolizes its feminine state. Literally, these endings are translated as “elder brother” and “younger brother”. This name is followed by a hyphen the name of the corresponding this year animal. Here is how the names of the years of the current animal cycle sound in Japanese:

§ 2008- Tsuginoe-ne - year (of the earth and) of the mouse
§ 2009- Tsuginoto-ushi - the year (of the earth and) of the cow
§ 2010- Canoe-tatsu - year (metalai ) tiger
§ 2011- Kanoto-mi - the year (of metal and) of the hare
§ 2012- Mizunoe-uma - the year of (water and) the dragon
§ 2013- Mizunoto-hitsuji - the year (of water and) of the snake
§ 2014- Kinoe-saru - the year (of the tree and) of the horse
§ 2015- Kinoto-tori - year (of the tree and) of the sheep
§ 2016- Hinoe Inu - year (of fire and) monkey
§ 2017- Hinoto-i - year (of fire and) chicken
§ 2018- Tsuginoe-ne - year (of the earth and) of the dog
§ 2019- Tsuginoto-u - year (of the earth and) of the pig

Among the Mongols, the five elements are replaced by the names of the five colors (suits): blue, red, yellow, white and black. Moreover, if for the Chinese the initial year of any sixty-year cycle is the year of the tree and the mouse, then for the Mongols it is always the year of fire and the hare, so the Mongolian sixty-year circle begins three years after the Chinese, and those born within one small, that is, twelve-year cycle were considered peers. Mongols called “male” years hard, and “female” - soft.

The animal cycle calendar is used in Everyday life peoples of China and Central Asia and now. In ancient China, for example, before marriage, the parents of the bride and groom necessarily exchanged “eight signs”, information about the year, month, day and hour of the birth of their children, and the most important thing here was the name of the animal, which in this case denoted age. In Mongolia, when concluding a marriage, it was considered extremely important that the year of birth of the bride should not be “harder” than the year of birth of the groom, because in this case the dominant masculine principle is lost, and such a marriage has no chance of prosperity. The Tibetans and many other peoples attach equal importance to the animal cycle.

In the appendix “Signs of the Zodiac” we have already cited to the ethnopsychological essays by V. A. Pronnikov and I. D. Ladanov “Japanese”, not only the characteristics of people who are carriers of a particular sign are given, but it is also reported with whom this sign can be married and with whom it is not recommended. For example, there is a belief that a man born under the sign of the Mouse, who marries a Fire Horse woman, dies a violent death. It is fortunate that such a Horse is born only once every 60 years. But for the Tiger, the Horse (like the Dragon) is the best marriage partner.

Today, science has tables calculated by scientists from different countries for translating dates from the cyclic lunisolar calendar to the European one. At the end of our short story, we will indicate the dates of the beginning of all years of the current twelve-year cycle according to the European calendar (Table 2) and give a table that seems very interesting to us of the traditional Chinese division of the time of day into hour periods (guards) and their names in traditional China and other countries Far Eastern region (Table 3).

table 2Synchronistic table of the years of the current twelve-year cycle, the second in the 78th sixtieth cycle

year number in the cycle	60 year cycle			12 year animal cycle	Start date of the year European calendar
year number in the cycle	element	color	State element	12 year animal cycle	Start date of the year European calendar
25	Earth	yellow	Husband.	Mouse, rat	07.02.2008
26	Earth	yellow	Female	cow, bull	26.01.2009
27	Metal	White	Husband.	tiger	14.02.2010
28	metal	white	Female	Hare rabbit	03.02.2011
29	Water	Black	Husband.	the Dragon	23.01.2012
30	Water	Black	Female	snake	10.02.2013
31	Tree	Blue	Husband.	horse	31.01.2014
32	Tree	Blue	Female	sheep	19.02.2015
33	Fire	Red	Husband.	monkey	08.02.2016
34	Fire	red	Female	Hen, rooster	28.01.2017
35	Earth	yellow	Husband.	dog	16.02.2018
36	Earth	yellow	Female	pig	0502.2019

Table 3 Traditional ideas of the Far East about the hour periods of the day and their correspondence to the animal cycle of the Eastern Zodiac

To designate the months of the year, the same twelve symbols were used - “twelve earthly branches”. They also designated the time of day, which was divided into twelve double hours: from 23 to 1 o'clock - zi, from 1 to 3 o'clock - chow, etc.

hour period	animal cycle	Name of hour period (guards)				Traditional Chinese about this segment of the day
hour period	animal cycle	Chinese	Japanese	Vietnam-	Korean	Traditional Chinese about this segment of the day
From 23:00 to 1:00	mouse hour	Tzu	Ne	Tee	Cha	Midnight
From 1 to 3 o'clock	hour of the cow	Chow	wuxi	shyu	Chhuk	Roosters
From 3 to 5 o'clock	tiger hour	yin	Torah	Zan	Ying	Dawn
From 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.	hare hour	Mao	At	Mao	Myo	Sunrise
From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.	hour of the dragon	Chen	Tatsu	Thin	Ying	Breakfast
From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.	hour of the snake	Sy	Ma	Tee	Sa	By noon
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.	hour of the horse	At	Uma	Ngo	ABOUT	Noon
From 13:00 to 15:00	Sheep hour	Wei	Hitsuji	Mui	Mi	declination
From 15:00 to 17:00	hour of the monkey	Shen	Sarah	Than	Syn	By the evening
From 17:00 to 19:00	chicken hour	YU	Tori	zau	YU	Sunset
From 19:00 to 21:00	hour of the dog	Xu	Inu	Tuat	sul	Twilight
From 21:00 to 23:00	Hour of the pig	hai	AND	hoi	He

“For example, I am frankly embarrassed by people who have simple explanations for complex processes. The inscription here there may be dragons is often more honest and prettier than a detailed physical map of the area, drawn up on the principle of one
Vladimir Guriev, 2003, Computerra Magazine

East Asia Calendars

Operating for several thousand years in Vietnam, Kampuchea, China, Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand, Japan and some other Asian countries, the 60-year cyclic calendar is a chronological system based on the astronomical cycles of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. This calendar, which is not easy to construct, is further complicated by the fact that the five- and ten-year cycles of the “elements of nature”, the 12-year Jupiter, 19-year lunisolar and 30-year Saturn cycles, which will be discussed below, are organically included in the 60- summer cyclic calendar, do not have serial numbers and are closed.

Since ancient times, in the countries of East and Southeast Asia, when compiling calendars, great importance was attached to the periodicity of the movement of the Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. This primarily applies to the nomads of Central Asia and is largely due to their way of life. Each nomad family had its own yurt, the dome of which remained open during the warm part of the year, and the poles of the dome served as a guide for observing stars and planets. So, each yurt was a kind of family "planetarium", thanks to which observations of the movement of the stars were accumulated and passed on from generation to generation. As scientists have repeatedly noted, the nomads had excellent innate vision. The famous Russian navigator and traveler in the north of Siberia, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel (1796-1870), noted this quality among the Yakuts: “One middle-aged Yakut assured the head of the Ust-Yanskaya expedition, Lieutenant Anzhu, that he a large bluish star (Jupiter) swallowed other smaller stars and then spat them out. Thus, this Siberian could observe the eclipse of Jupiter's satellites with simple eyes.

There is reason to believe that the idea of creating a Jupiter calendar with the celestial symbolism of the 12-year animal cycle was adopted by the peoples of East Asia from the nomads of Central Asia, who established that Jupiter makes a complete revolution around the Sun in about 12 years. Dividing the path of Jupiter into 12 equal parts of 30° each and giving each part the name of a certain animal, the peoples of Asia created a solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle: 1) a mouse (rat); 2) cow (bull, ox); 3) tiger; 4) hare (rabbit); 5) dragon (crocodile); 6) a snake; 7) horse; 8) sheep (ram); 9) monkey; 10) chicken (rooster); 11) dog; 12) pig (boar).

In the middle of the II millennium BC. e. the peoples of East Asia developed hieroglyphic writing. By this time, a lot of knowledge had already been accumulated that made it possible to scientifically substantiate some laws of nature. Astronomers of the Ancient East were able to determine the new moons, solar and lunar eclipses and predict many other natural phenomena. For example, they found that the duration of the lunar month is approximately 29.5 days, and the solar year 365.25 days. On this basis, the lunar and solar calendars were compiled, and then in the 4th century. BC. - lunisolar-Jupiter calendar.

The frequency of the movement of the luminaries

The creation of this calendar was preceded by the discovery of patterns in the ratio of lunar months and solar years. In particular, it was found that the duration of 76 solar (tropical) years and 940 lunar (astronomical) months almost coincide:

365.2422 x 76=27758.7 days,

29.5306 x 940=27758.4 days.

This discovery made it possible to draw up a cyclic lunar-solar calendar, in the 76-year period of which there are 48 ordinary years containing 12 lunar months lasting 29 or 30 days, and 28 years having 13 months each. In order to operate with smaller numbers, they decided to reduce all these indicators by four, due to which a cycle of 19 years was formed. In each such cycle, 12 years contain 12 months each and 7 years 13 each. Each such 19-year cycle contains about 6940 days (6939.6). The thirtieth month is called "inserted" or "additional". It can fall on both the lunar and solar calendars at any time of the year. The sequence of years with an intercalated month is not permanent. Over the past two thousand years, in the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a 19-year cycle, it has changed nine times. In the XIX and XX centuries. the sequence of years with an intercalated month is as follows: 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17 and 19. Moreover, as an exception, in the current 19-year period, which began in 1981, in the Chinese calendar, instead of the ninth year (1985), there will be an eighth (1984), while Vietnam, Korea and Japan, which use similar chronology, will retain the ninth year (1985).

In the countries of East Asia, earlier a class society began to take shape primarily in China, where the slave system dominated for one and a half thousand years, starting from the 14th century. BC e. The largest astronomical center of ancient China was the city of Zhougun (modern Henan province). Here, more than three thousand years ago, there was already an astronomical observatory, observations of planets and stars were made and recorded. Of particular interest to the astronomers of the Ancient East were the largest of the giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn.

Although astronomical science did not yet have accurate data on the time of planetary revolution (it was believed that all the planets revolve around the Earth), it was nevertheless determined that Jupiter completes its circuit in about 12, and Saturn in 30 years. In addition, attaching great importance to the symbolism of numbers, and especially to the search for cycles in the movement of cosmic bodies, the Chinese compilers of the calendar selected such a ratio of the periods of revolution of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which would exclude fractional results of division more for less. So, they took as the basis of the cycle the time of two revolutions of Saturn, equal to 60 years. During this time, Jupiter makes five revolutions.

Such a selection of numbers also corresponded to the worldview of Chinese natural philosophy: the number five was a symbol of the five "elements" of nature wood, fire, metal, water, earth, which correspond to color designations (blue or green, red, yellow, white, black). Color signs were also used to designate planets and seasons. In a summary form, the Chinese symbolism of "elements" and "elements" is as follows:

"Elements" of nature	"Elements"	Colors	Geographic direction	planets
1. Wood	Spring	Green or blue	East	Jupiter
2. Fire	Summer	Red	South	Mars
3. Earth	End of summer	Yellow	Center (middle)	Saturn
4. Metal	Autumn	White	West	Venus
5. Water	Winter	Black	North	Mercury

Naturally, the symbols of the "elements" of nature were used in compiling the calendar of the 60-year cycle. In accordance with the principles of natural philosophy, each of these elements has a commonality of opposites, since the unity of opposites is the most important law of nature. Therefore, any element has positive and negative qualities. For example, fire gives heat, thanks to which the animal and plant world develops, but it can burn and destroy. Water nourishes the animal and plant world with moisture, but it can also cause damage, flood, destroy.

The five "elements" have ten cyclic signs, or ten "celestial branches", which are sequentially called: jia, yi, bin, ding, wu, tzu, gen, xin, ren, gui.

In addition to the "heavenly branches", there are twelve more "earthly roots": I-tzu, II-chow, III-yin, IV-mao, V-chen, VI-sy, VII y, VIII wei, IX shen, X yu, XI sui, XII-hai.

By placing the "celestial branches" horizontally, and the "earthly roots" vertically, so that sixty unique combinations are formed at the intersection, we will get a diagram of the 60-year calendar cycle of the Chinese calendar.

But since in China and other countries of East Asia there has been a 12-year animal cycle since ancient times, the name of the corresponding animal is inherent in each of the twelve "earth roots".

From the table of the 60-year cycle below, it can be seen that each year has a double name. The first component is one of the ten signs of the “heavenly branch” (jia, yi, bing, etc.), the second is one of the twelve signs of the “earth roots” (zi, chow, yin, etc.) If within 60 -year period, take any year, for example 56, then it will be depicted like this: zi wei. In other words, no year out of sixty has the same name. As for the third component of any year, the name of an animal, within a 60-year cycle, five of the years bear the name of the same animal.

Combinations of signs of the 60-year cycle of the lunar-solar-Jupiter calendar

		"Heavenly Branches"
		Mu (tree)		Ho (fire)		That (Earth)		Jin (metal)		Shui (water)		Animal name
		chia I	And II	bin III	din IV	at V	tzu VI	gene VII	blue VIII	jen IX	gong X	Animal name
"Earth- nye cor- nor"	1. Tzu	1		13		25		37		49		Rat (mouse)
	2. Chow		2		14		26		38		50	Cow (bull)
	3. Yin	51		3		15		27		39		Tiger
	4. Mao		52		4		16		28		40	Hare
	5. Chen	41		53		5		17		29		The Dragon
	6. Sy		42		54		6		18		30	Snake
	7. Do	31		43		55		7		19		Horse
	8. Wei		32		44		56		8		20	Sheep (ram)
	9. Shen	21		33		45		57		9		Monkey
	10. Yu		22		34		46		58		10	Chicken
	11. Xu	11		23		35		47		59		Dog
	12. High		12		24		36		48		60	Pig (boar)

In the lunar-solar-Jupiter calendars, the animal names of certain years are only an auxiliary attribute.

Since in each 60-year cycle the same animal occurs five times at intervals of 12 years, additional color symbolism is used to clarify the year within the cycle:

Mouse	1 blue	13 red	25 yellow	37 white	49 black
Cow	2 blue	14 red	26 yellow	38 white	50 black
Tiger	3 red	15 yellow	27 white	39 black	51 blue
Hare	4 red	16 yellow	28 white	40 black	52 blue
The Dragon	5 yellow (1988)	17 white (2000)	29 black (2012)	41 blue (1964)	53 red (1976)
Snake	6 yellow	18 white	30 black	42 blue	54 red
Horse	7 white	19 black	31 blue	43 red	55 yellow
Sheep	8 white	20 black	32 blue	44 red	56 yellow
Monkey	9 black	21 blue	33 red	45 yellow	57 white
Chicken	10 black	22 blue	34 red	4 6 yellow	58 white
Dog	11 blue	23 red	35 yellow	47 white	59 black
Pig	12 blue	24 red	36 yellow	48 white	60 black

Thus, each year has its own conditional combination. For example, the year of the Dragon (5, 17, 29, 41, 53) is named as follows: 5 yellow dragon, 17 white dragon, 29 black dragon, 41 blue dragon, 53 red dragon.

Since this rather complicated and at the same time interesting and very common calendar among the peoples of East Asia has not yet been published in our country, we consider it appropriate to cite as an example a fragment (1996-2000) of the calendar table, including the period 1864-2000 gg.

Ending.

Years of the 60-year cycle	13	1996-1997	14	1997-1998	15	1998-1999	16	1999-2000	17	2000
	Mouse		Cow		Tiger		Hare		The Dragon
	Number of days		Number of days		Number of days		Number of days		Number of days
1st	29	19-II	30	7-II	30	28-I	30	16-II	30	5-II
2nd	30	19-III	29	9-III	29	27-II	29	18-III	30	6-III
3rd	29	18-IV	30	7-IV	29	28-III	29	16-IV	29	5-IV
4th	30	17-V	29	7-V	30	26-IV	30	15-V	29	4-V
5th	30	16-VI	30	5-VI	29	26-V	29	14-VI	30	2-VI
Plug-in					29	24-VI
6th	29	16-VII	29	5-VII	30	23-VII	29	13-VII	29	2-VII
7th	30	14-VIII	30	3-VIII	30	22-VIII	30	11-VIH	29	31-VII
8th	29	13-IX	30	2-IX	29	21-IX	29	10-IX	30	29-VIII
9th	30	12-X	29	2-X	30	20-X	30	9th	29	28-IX
10th	30	11-XI	30	31-X	30	19-XI	30	8-XI	30	27-X
11th	29	11-XII	30	30-XI	29	19-XII	30	8-XII	30	26-XI
12th	29	9-I	29	30-XII	30	17th	29	7-I	29	26-XII
Number of days in a year	354		355		384		354		354

Each 60-year cycle has 21,912 days, and it consists of five 12-year lunar cycles, containing, as a rule, a different number of days, and if the solar-Jupiter 12-year cycle contains 4380 days, then the lunar- the cycle of Jupiter can be from 4370 to 4401 days, and in each of the twelve years from 353 to 385 days. As can be seen from the attached table, the current 60-year solar-lunar-Jupiter cycle contains 4371 days in the first twelve years, 4400 in the second, 4370 in the third, 4401 in the fourth and 4370 in the fifth; in total -21912, and on average 4382, i.e. as much as one 12-year solar-Jupiter cycle contains.

In the current 60-year cycle, the beginning of the 19-year cycle coincided with the first year of the 60-year cycle, that is, 1924 according to the Gregorian calendar. The next 19-year cycles began in 1943, 1962 and 1981. Each of them contains 6940 days.

In the table of the 60-year cycle, in its left side vertically, there are numbers indicating the order of the lunar months in each year. In total, the year has 12 months, and in some years there is another intercalary month that does not have a serial number and can be in various combinations with other months.

Each 19-year period contains twelve years of 12 months and seven years of 13 months. In the upper column, horizontally, there are numbers indicating the ordinal number of the year in the 60-year period.

In the second column, horizontally (above), the names of animals are given that fall on one or another year. The same column contains the years according to the Gregorian calendar. In vertical columns, in accordance with each year of the 60-year period, the number of days in a particular lunar month is indicated, and at the bottom the total number of days in the corresponding year.

In the columns under the years of the Gregorian calendar, dates are placed that fall New Year and the beginning of subsequent lunar months of the luni-solar-Jupiter calendar. At the same time, a regularity can be traced New Year falls on numbers ranging from January 21 to February 20.

So, if the New Year in 1982 fell on January 25, then in the subsequent years of the 20th century. New Year's holiday falls respectively on: 13-11, 2-11, 20-11, etc.

One of the features that distinguish the lunisolar-Jupiter calendar from the solar-Jupiter 12-year animal cycle is that the number of days in a year is not constant and can be equal to 353, 354, 355 or 383, 384, 385 days. In addition, unlike the Muslim calendar of the classical lunar Hijra, it does not have a strict sequence of alternating months of 30 and 29 days and can meet two, three and even four consecutive months of 30 days.

The creation of calendars in the countries of East Asia, in addition to the direct need for chronology, was accompanied by the goal of strengthening the monarchical system and asserting the authority of Chinese emperors. The fact is that there are a huge number of eras in East Asia. Eras began with the year of accession to the throne of one or another monarch, and the years of his reign were divided into periods, each of which was given special symbolic names-slogans. Therefore, the dating of certain events was counted from the beginning of the reign of the emperor, and if the emperor had mottos, then from the beginning of this or that motto.

When using the lunar-solar-Jupiter calendar or when translating the dates of this calendar into the dates of the lunar or solar calendars, first of all, it is necessary to know the chronological framework of the motto, and in cases where only the name of the emperor is indicated, you need to know the years of his reign. Usually in the summary chronologies of each country, in addition to 60-year tables, the names of monarchs, mottos and corresponding dates are given in alphabetical order.

In China, the last emperor was Pu-yi, who reigned from 1909 to 1911. Emperor Pu-i marched under the motto Xuan-tung.

At the end of 1911, a republican system was established in the country, and the outstanding democratic revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

The traditional 60-year calendar, in a somewhat modified form, retained its effect, especially in rural areas, but in parallel with it, the European (Gregorian) calendar became widespread in cities, which began to be introduced into Chinese business life as early as the middle of the last century.<>

Notes:

Wrangel F. P. Journey along the northern shores of Siberia and the Arctic Sea. 1820-1824 M., 1948, p. 318.

The same pattern was established in 433 BC. e. famous Athenian astronomer and mathematician Meton.

In the middle of the II century. Ptolemy in the Almagest gave calculations of the apparent motion of the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and other planets with an accuracy of 10 minutes. Much later, more accurate calculations were given, and in particular, it was established that the time of circulation of Jupiter is 11.862 years, and Saturn is 29.458 years.

In some calendars, the alternation of colors and their shades is accepted: blue, bluish, red, reddish, yellow, yellowish, etc.

From the book: V. V. Tsybulsky
"Calendars and chronology of the countries of the world", M., 1982