Why is there no fixed date in Tomb-Sweeping Day?
Xinhuanet Nanjing, April 3 (Reporter Cai, Zhou Runjian) There is a folk saying in China called "Qingming Festival in the 4th Five-Year Plan", that is, Tomb-Sweeping Day is on April 5. Astronomers say that the date in Tomb-Sweeping Day actually changes from April 4th to April 6th every year, and it is not fixed on April 5th.
According to the astronomical calendar, the "Tomb-Sweeping Day" with 24 solar terms will be ushered in on the 5th 12: 05, when the sun will travel to the Yellow River 15 degrees. "
Qingming is a solar term representing phenology, which means sunny weather and lush vegetation. At this time, the spring is bright, the willows hang down, the grass is lush, and there is a vibrant scene inside and outside the urban and rural areas.
Yan Jiarong, Deputy Secretary-General of Jiangsu Astronomical Society, said that among the 24 solar terms, Qingming is the only solar term that is both a solar term and a festival. As a festival, "Tomb-Sweeping Day" was only formed in the Tang Dynasty, but Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi, as a symbol of time sequence, has long been known by the ancients and clearly recorded in the Han Dynasty. "Qingming" is a day to worship ancestors and sweep graves; In addition, it is also called "Walking Festival".
According to Yan Jiarong, the time for the earth to go around the sun once is called "tropic year" or "solar year", and the running route of the sun under the starry background is called "ecliptic". Since the Qing Dynasty, the vernal equinox has been set at 0 degrees, and every time the sun runs 15 degrees on the ecliptic, it is set as a solar term or neutral gas, so 24 solar terms are 24 specific moments, not 24 specific days. This method of making solar terms is called "fixing gas method".
Yan Jiarong said that because the length of a year is determined by the movement of the sun, and the 24 solar terms are also determined by the position of the sun, basically the date of each solar term does not change much in each year. However, the actual length of a tropical year is 365.2422 days, and the Gregorian calendar year is 365 days, so there will be 0.2422 days (equivalent to 5.8 hours) every year, and the specific time of solar terms will be "delayed" by 0.2422 days every year; As a result, it accumulated to 0.9688 days in four years, almost one day. In order to correct it, there is a "leap year" system in the Gregorian calendar, with one more day on February 29th every four years. If the date of a solar term is delayed from midnight to the next day or advanced to the previous day because of a leap year, the date of the solar term will change, but the date difference will only be within 3 days.
According to astronomical experts, in recent decades, the date of Qingming has been changing from April 4 to 6. Statistics show that the Qingming date of 190 1 to 1943 is April 5 or 6; April 5 1944 to1975; 1976 by mid-2000, there was a leap year on February 29th, April 4th in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and 5th in other years; In the 20 years since 2008, every leap year and the Qingming Festival of the following year are April 4. For example, in 2008 and 2009, 20 12 and 20 13, 2020 and 202 1, the Qingming date in 2024 and 2025 is April 4.