Chinese New Year 2009

Chinese new year 2009 falls on 26th of January, 2009. The Chinese New Year is celebrated as the symbol of spring's celebration. In fact in China the Chinese New Year is still called the Spring festival. It is celebrated after the fall harvest and before the spring planting season. The date of the Chinese New Year is always changing and is dependant on the Chinese calendar. Emperor Huangdi in the year 2637 B.C.E invented the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese calendar is a combined solar/lunar calendar and is somewhat similar to the Chinese calendar. For the purpose of determining the dates of the Chinese New Year some astronomical calculations need to be taken care of. Firstly, we need to determine the dates for the new moon. The new moon is the black moon that is when the moon is in conjunction with the sun.The date of the new moon is taken as the first day of the new month. Secondly those dates are determined when the sun's longitude is the multiple of 30 degrees. These dates are termed as Principal terms and are used for determining the number of each month. The Principle term 1 takes place when the sun's longitude is 330 degrees, the 2nd Principle term occurs when the sun's longitude is about 0 degrees. The principle term 3 takes place when the sun's longitude is 30 degrees, the principle term 11 occurs when the sun's longitude is 270 degrees and the principle term 12 occurs when the sun's longitude is 300 degrees. The current 60-year cycle in the Chinese calendar started on 2nd February 1984. Given below are some dates for the past Chinese New Year and the future Chinese New Year.

4698 Dragon - February 5, 2000
4699 Snake - January 24, 2001
4700 Horse - February 12, 2002
4701 Sheep/Ram - February 1, 2003
4702 Monkey - January 22, 2004
4703 Rooster - February 9, 2005
4704 Dog - January 29, 2006
4705 Boar - February 18, 2007
4706 Rat - February 7, 2008
4707 Ox - January 26, 2009
4708 Tiger - February 10, 2010
4709 Hare/Rabbit - February 3, 2011
4710 Dragon - January 23, 2012
4711 Snake - February 10, 2013
4712 Horse - January 31, 2014
4713 Ram/Sheep - February 19, 2015
4714 Monkey - February 9, 2016
4715 Rooster - January 28, 2017
4716 Dog - February 16, 2018
4717 Boar - February 5, 2019
4718 Rat - January 25, 2020