China Internet Information Center
January 2006
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
Slight cold
6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15th/12th mo.
15 16 17 18 19 20
Great Cold
21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29
1st/1st mo.
30 31

Holidays and Observances:
1: New Year's Day
7: Day of Winter Sacrifice (8th day of the 12th lunar month) on which porridge made with cereals, beans, nuts and dried fruit is traditionally served.
22: Preliminary Eve (23rd of the 12th lunar month). According to legend, the kitchen god delivers reports on families to the Jade Emperor of Heaven. To induce the kitchen god to speak favorably, people traditionally offer sacrifices of candy or sweet, sticky cake to him.
28: Lunar New Year's Eve, the last day of each lunar year. Includes such traditional activities as pasting New Year's couplets on doorframes and New Year's pictures on doors or walls, offering sacrifices to ancestors, having a family reunion dinner, staying up to see the old year out and usher in the new, and giving children gifts of money.
29: Spring Festival (Chinese New Year's Day), 1st of the first lunar month, three days off.
Blacksmith's Day, an annual celebration of the Jino ethnic group in southwest China, held on a day selected by the clan chief during the 12th lunar month. One member of each family in the village is selected to go hunting, bringing back a pair of bamboo rats for the blacksmith and other game for the clan chief. Bamboo rats are an important food source for the Jino; and the rodents are honored as representatives of ancestors by the Blang, another southwestern group.
Notes:
1. In the traditional calendar, the new moon indicates the first day of a lunar month; the full moon marks the 15th day.
2. Dates in red are official holidays. To give workers three week-long holidays during the year, the Saturday and Sunday immediately preceding or following the extended holiday are official workdays. In 2006, there are an official work weekend in April, and two divided between late January and early February and between late September and early October.
3. The 24 Seasonal Division Points:
Order & Name of Seasonal Division Point Sun's Position at Ecliptic Gregorian Calendar Date
Spring 1.Beginning of Spring
2.Rain Water
3.Waking of Insects
4.Vernal Equinox
5.Pure Brightness
6.Grain Rain
315°
330°
345°

15°
30°
4 or 5 February
19 or 20 February
5 or 6 March
20 or 21 March
5 or 6 April
20 or 21 April
Summer 7.Beginning of Summer
8.Grain Budding
9.Grain in Ear
10.Summer Solstice
11.Slight Heat
12.Great Heat
45°
60°
75°
90°
105°
120°
5 or 6 May
21 or 22 May
6 or 7 June
21 or 22 June
7 or 8 July
23 or 24 July
Autumn 13.Beginning of Autumn
14.Limit of Heat
15.White Dew
16.Autumnal Equinox
17.Cold Dew
18.Frost's Descent
135°
150°
165°
180°
195°
210°
7 or 8 August
23 or 24 August
7 or 8 September
23 or 24 September
8 or 9 October
23 or 24 October
Winter 19.Beginning of Winter
20.Slight Snow
21.Great Snow
22.Winter Solstice
23.Slight Cold
24.Great Cold
225°
240°
255°
270°
285°
300°
7 or 8 November
23 or 22 November
7 or 8 December
22 or 23 December
5 or 6 January
20 or 21 January
Traditional Chinese Festivals
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