This 4th February corresponds to the beginning of both the month of the Tiger and the Chinese solar term Lichun 立春.
The Lichun is a very important solar term because it marks the onset of both the (Chinese) spring and the new year, according to the ancient Chinese solar calendar.
On the other hand, the date of the first day of the first lunar month of the year, celebrating the arrival of the new year, is always close to the date of the Lichun. That first day of the new lunar year coincides with the new moon that occurs sometime between 21 January and 20 February every year.
This is a good opportunity to clarify again the difference between the traditional Chinese calendar’s solar and lunar months.
We must bear in mind, first of all, that throughout the People’s Republic of China, the daily calendar is Gregorian, the same as that used in Western countries and other parts of the world. But for specific purposes, other calendars are used, namely the traditional solar and lunar calendars. This important difference is not always considered, even among Chinese people.
Nowadays, the solar months are largely used in divinatory practices. At the same time, the lunar calendar is closely linked to the dates of festive occasions, including the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival.
The Lichun is the first of the 24 Chinese solar terms, which are part of the traditional solar calendar. We explain what the 24 solar terms are in the article The Fifth Great Invention of China that can be found in the CHINESE WAY section of this website.
At the same time, this 4th February marks the start of the first of the 12 solar months of the solar year. It is a month of the earthly branch yin 寅, which is also known as the month of the Tiger.
The Month of the Tiger (earthly branch yin) is the first of the three months of Chinese spring season (dongtian 春天). The other two are the month of the Rabbit (earthly branch mao 卯), from 6 March and the month of the Dragon (earthly chen 辰), from 5 April, approximately.
On the other hand, the Tiger, the Horse and the Dog form a large equilateral triangle in the zodiac, since the same element (Fire, huo 火) circulates between them, linking them with a bond of familiarity. The Tiger’s ‘secret friend’ is the Pig. Whereas, since the Tiger and the Monkey occupy opposite places in the zodiac, they are likely to have a challenging relationship.
Some of the popular almanacs published in Southern China present monthly predictions for those born under each of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. However, this practice is of minimal value.
The traditional science behind the belief in the 12 signs (she’er shengxiao 十二生肖) is the study of human lives based on the balance of cosmic forces (the ‘five elements’, wuxing 五行) existing at the moment of birth. This balance (or imbalance) creates the pattern that will accompany each person throughout their life.
This traditional science is known by the names of Bazi 八字 (“eight characters”) or Sizhu 四柱 (“four pillars”), developed long before our scientific era. We will address this issue again on this and other platforms.
The big difference between this ancient science and the current popular belief of the 12 signs is that, in the former, what defines the individual is not the sign (i.e., the earthly branch, dizhi 地支) of the year of birth but rather the element (heavenly stem tiangan 天干) of the day of birth, which is much more specific.
Our Life Pillars app and other texts published on this website provide some information about this topic.
