Vietnamese-Chinese-Thai Calendar System

“Methodology”

Notes:

1 Each Vietnamese/Chinese lunar year is associated with both a “Heavenly Stem” and an “Earthly Branch”, which correspond to an “element” (or “house”) and an “animal”, respectively.  If you were born in September 1974, this would equate to the 1^st Stem and 3^rd Branch, and you would be said to be “born in the Year of the (Water-in-nature) Tiger”.  Likewise, September 1976 would equate to the 3^rd stem/5^th branch, meaning you were “born in the Year of the (Lighted-fire) Dragon”.

2 The lunar years do not quite align with our solar years.  Lunar years of 12 lunar months (29 to 30 days) are “adjusted” about every 3^rd year by adding a 13^th month to keep in sync with the solar year.  The effect is that the start of the lunar varies from January 21^st to February 21^st.  For 2004 the lunar News Years Day was January 22^nd (Year of the Monkey), and for 2005 it will be February 9^th (Year of the Rooster).

3 Since there are 10 stems and 12 branches, the entire cycle repeats every 60 years.  So someone born this lunar year would be a “(Water-in-nature) Monkey”.  When he or she is 12 years old, or 24, or 36, etc., it would be “his or her year”.  Just imagine what the 60^th year means:  the year 2064 would be a really special year for anyone blessed with a little Monkey born this year!

4 Check out 1984!  -- (Remember the book?  Do you think that George Orwell knew about this little “coincidence”?)   

J df