BY ARCH. PIERFRANCESCO ROS
The Agreste calendar or Chinese Agricultural calendar, defined by the Hsia dynasty (2100 BC – 1600 BC) precisely the Hsia calendar, is formed by the Solar and Lunar calendars.
Therefore the ancient Chinese calendar is a Lunisolar calendar, which presents some analogies with ancient calendars, such as the Hebrew, Egyptian, Aztec and Mayan ones, which demonstrate that they were formed by initiated people, who had much more in-depth knowledge than today on the energetic realities that influence the earth.
Both systems are enclosed in an ancient text called Wan Nian Li or “The Calendar of Ten Thousand Years”, which covered a period of 250 years. The updated version is still available today, this one relates the two systems with our Gregorian calendar, in a time range that goes from 1900 to 2050.
Today, however, in common parlance the Agricultural calendar is defined as Solar or the Lunar one as Hsia. This is because, over time, the movement of the Sun was considered more influential, stronger for the life of men and its movement more precise for calculations, compared to the movement and subtle influence of the Moon. to differentiate itself from
The Solar calendar is based on the movement of the earth around the sun of 365 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes and 4 seconds to complete a full cycle. This period is called the solar year. The movement of the earth around the sun generates the various seasonal phases, which is why the solar calendar is more relevant for agricultural purposes.
To create a rural calendar, you have to draw a circle with 360° highlighted, which represent the ecliptic of the earth around the sun, it is divided into 12 sections of 30°, representing the 12 months of the year, each sector of 30° is further divided into two sections of 15° to represent the so-called 24 mini seasons.
Construction of a Luo Pan by the architect Pierfrancesco Ros
starting from the ring of time divided into 24 “gates” referring to the Rural calendar
The 12 divisions generate gates that determine the beginning of the Chinese month, and are called “Chieh” or “Festivities”. At the center of the twelve divisions there are twelve other gates called “Chi”. These last gates or divisions are placed so as to make the two solstices and the two equinoxes coincide in the 4 cardinal points or in the “Chi” of the four months involved, so we will have 0° or 360° on the winter solstice (December 21st) 180° on the summer solstice (June 21st), the spring equinox at 90° (March 22nd) and the autumn equinox at 270° (September 22nd).
This circular representation is also the basis of the explanation of the ancient and typical design of the Tao characterized by its two aspects Yin and Yang.
Observing the birth of the seasons in the Gregorian calendar, we note that they coincide with the advent of the equinoxes and solstices, while in the Chinese calendar these gates coincide with the middle of the seasons. We will see that this is because our modern calendar has followed more practical than energetic issues.
And here is the beginning of the formation of the ancient Chinese compass called Luo Pan, discussed in a future volume.
Construction of a rotating Chinese Luo Pan with cut-out cardboard
Each of the 24 mini seasons has its own specific energetic characteristics, which are linked both to the movement of the stars (especially the Big Dipper) and to the climatic variations of the Earth. Each birth of these energetic variations in the various gates was an occasion for propitiatory celebrations. These celebrations were like an attempt to get in tune and resonance with the energetic changes of the earth, using them for human purposes both on an internal and practical level.
The beginning of the year for this calendar begins in the sector or mini season called “beginning of spring”, in the gate of February 4-5. The variation between 4 and 5 is due to the fact that the Gregorian calendar “slips” for the addition of an extra day during the leap year (every three years of 365 days and every end of a century divisible by 400), to align and keep up with the solar year.
If we divide the circle into 8 sectors of 45° and place the 8 Elements there, we will see how this gate coincides with the birth of Wood, and remembering the motion of the ball, by analogy we can say at the birth of the movement towards the sky of the ball.
If we observe some of our festivities now considered ancient, they coincided precisely on the gates previously explained, for example the feast of Candlemas “the birth of light” still celebrated today in many Italian cities, coincides with the 4th-5th of February.
This calendar is found today in the form of simple tables with “weighted” averages for both the year and the month; for example in the 9 Star Ki Method, or in the form of precise annual and monthly tables in the book Wan Nian Li or “The Ten Thousand Year Calendar”.
The Lunar calendar is based on the movement of the moon around the earth. The moon takes 29.5306 days to complete a circumnavigation around the earth, called a lunation. Twelve lunations make up a lunar year. Twelve lunations also give 355 days, thus creating a discrepancy with the solar calendar. When the discrepancy reaches 30 days, after a few years, the 13th month is added to the year.
The Moon represents the Yin energy that influences the “subtle” aspects of man.
In Chinese astrology, lunar eclipses are highly regarded, both to rectify the lunar calendar,
and to determine the possible effects and upheavals they can cause on Earth.
The beginning of each month occurs at each phase of the new moon, considered as such by the Chinese at the moment of conjunction of the Moon with the Sun, that is, near the meridian of 120 degrees east of Greenwich, the meridian of the eastern coast of China. The months take their numbers from the main term contained therein, and by main term we mean the date on which the sun, in its apparent motion around the earth, determines an angle multiple of 30°, considering the angle of 0°, the one created by the position of the sun on the day of the spring equinox.
The main term 1 occurs when the longitude of the Sun is 330°, the 2nd when it is 0°, the 3rd when it is 30° and so on. If it happens that a month contains two main terms, the second is not taken into account. The main term 11, which coincides with the winter solstice, must always fall in month number 11.
When there are 13 full moons between the eleventh month of a year and the eleventh month of the following year (that is, between one solstice and a subsequent one), the following year becomes 13 months long, thus having an additional month that however has the same number as the previous month.
The birth of the year, in this calendar, coincides with the first new moon after the Sun enters the sign of Aquarius, or we can also say with the second new moon after the winter solstice. Therefore it varies from year to year and can go from January 21st to February 19th.
Even today this date coincides with the Chinese New Year called Hsin Nien, which lasts four days,
This makes us reflect on the fact that our New Year, given by our “social” and conventional calendar, has nothing “energetic”, in fact it does not coincide, almost more with the circadian cycle, that is, it does not relate to the changes and rhythms of nature. So this implies our distance from perceiving the importance of remaining in listening and in resonance with Mother Earth.
The Lunar calendar is found in the Wan Nian Li or “The Calendar of Ten Thousand Years”, in which the precise departures of each month and each year are found according to the moon.
Both options are widely used by the different Feng Shui methods, generalizing we can say that the Methods that follow more research on the personality of the individual and therefore studies of numerology and Astrology use the Lunar calendar, the methods that follow the relationship of man with the environment (most of the Feng Shui methods) use the Solar calendar or Hsia.
The Energy Cycles of the Chinese Calendar
Please see the table below. Both the Agreste and Lunar Calendars are based on various energy cycles related to time and planetary conjunctions, such as the sequences of 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 20, 60, 180, 3600. Below we see a table that links these cycles to the years of our Gregorian calendar from 1684 to 2043.
The largest cycle is represented by the epoch, which includes a period of 3,600 years coinciding with the conjunction of Neptune and Uranus (this suggests the vast Chinese knowledge of astronomy as Uranus was discovered in 1781 and Neptune in 1846). The epoch represents a multiple of 360 that fits perfectly into the Agreste calendar system.
The cycle of each era is in turn composed of 20 180-year cycles called Eras and 60 major cycles, called Dragons or Sexagesimal Cycles, of sixty years each.
Each Era of 180 years will therefore have 3 cycles of 60 years (corresponding to the same cycle of return to the same position of Jupiter and Saturn), specifically we will have the superior, median and inferior Cycle. Each Cycle of 60 years is divided into 3 periods of 20 years, therefore each Era of 180 years will have 9 periods of 20 years.
To simplify, see the following table
1 Period = 20 years
1 Cycle = 3 periods = 60 years
1 Era = 3 cycles = 9 periods = 180 years
1 Epoch = 20 eras = 60 cycles = 180 periods = 3600 years
Within the sequence of the 60-year Sexagenary cycle, there are also 5 minor cycles called Terrestrial Branches, originally used to mark the twelve years that the planet Jupiter takes to complete its orbit in the sky around the sun. The Chinese still call this cycle of Jupiter or Great Year in which each month is equivalent to our normal year.
Around the 9th century, since abstract concepts such as those of the Branches were difficult to understand for a lay people, and since Buddhism had become the most important religion in China, the monks expert in numerology and astrology, replaced the Branches with the names of the Twelve Animals, much easier to remember, thus making astrology more accessible to the common people.
Furthermore, within the sequence of the 60-year Sexagesimal cycle, there are also 6 smaller cycles of 10 years, identified by a sequence of characters called the Celestial Trunks, which represent extremely ancient celestial symbols – energies, later included in the names of the Emperors of semi-mythical China. These energies are seen above all in relation to the cycle of 5 (Five Elements).
Furthermore, within the sequence of the 180-year cycle, there are also 20 9-year cycles, which are identified by the sequence of the 9 stars.
Add to this the cycle of 8 linked to the Trigrams, of the 64 Hexagrams, of the 5 which is identified with the characters of the 5 Elements and finally the cycle of 2 which explains the characters Yin and Yang.
Before even going into the explanation of the table, let’s ask ourselves when and why these cycles began, of this great clock made of different gears with different diameters?
We must then go back to the year 2,637 BC, when the first Epoch began and precisely on February 26 (with respect to the Lunar calendar).
If we use a Western astrology program and go back to February 26, 2,637 BC, the following chart is determined.
