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The Chinese Almanac

The oldest Chinese documents ever discovered were the Oracle bones. These Oracle bones were later interpreted and their meanings unearthed; they were the first basic calendars used by the ancient Chinese.

They were based on a system that represented a ten-day week. These were then correlated to the different phases of the moon by which the Chinese then measures the passing of seasons and time.

A day within the Chinese calendar was made up of 12 hours. Which when examined is hardly surprising since in those days work was only done in the day and the nights devoted to rest.

Later these were represented by the 12 animal signs that have become common place in Chinese culture throughout the world. In this manner a month was taken to have 60 days rather than the 30 days that the average Gregorian calendar prescribes. The twelve lunar months that were adopted by the Chinese meant that a year would be 720 days.

The Chinese maintained their years more closely tied with the ruling period of each emperor rather than by any stringent mathematical formula. This was natural since almanacs in China were issued by the Emperor himself. Believing that the emperor was deemed to be the son of god, these almanacs were treated as sacred and possessed a certain amount of power.

The almanac which in theory is similar to the Chinese calendar came into existence not too long afterwards. The almanac, which is a virtual necessity within any Chinese household, is used for a host of reasons.

It highlights the passing of a year and the birth of a new one; which is the second new moon after the winter solstice.

Any auspicious date would be marked out clearly as would any inauspicious dates. Using the almanac the dates for any affair would be duly arranged. This included weddings, engagements, celebrations, the opening of a new business and any special festival that was planned.

It is believed to be bad luck if the Almanac was not consulted before proceeding to arrange the date.

The question of course arose as to how the Chinese Calendar and the Almanac were related. The almanac is actually based on the Chinese calendars' calculations of time and space. Using these calculations, the Almanac is used to measure out the exact auspicious or more ominous periods based on astronomical signs.

There exists almost no record of ancient Chinese Almanacs as they were only useful for that year and as such destroyed at the end of the particular year. However recent archeologist have found the oldest written almanacs on record to be dated somewhere just more than 1000 years ago.

These Almanacs, revealed some startling evidence, they marked every seventh day instead of the usual tenth. Signifying, as present historians believe that the Gregorian calendar had made a significant mark on the Chinese culture by then.

For a look at Dragon Gate' s English interpretation of the Chinese Almanac, please click on the http://www.dragon-gate.com/calendar.asp.