Solar term

Chinese
title=(Twenty-four) solar terms
t=(二十四)節氣
s=(二十四)节气
j=(ji⁶ sap⁶ sei³) zit³ hei³
poj=(jī-si̍p-sù) cheh-khùi
p=(èrshísì) jiéqì
w=(erh-shih-hsi) chieh-chi
hiragana=(にじゅうし)せっき
kanji=(二十四)節気
revhep=(nijūshi) sekki
kunrei=(nizyûsi) sekki
hangul=(이십사)절기
hanja=(二十四)節氣
rr=(isipsa) jeolgi
mr=(isipsa) jǒlki
qn=(24) tiết khí

A solar term is one of 24 points in traditional East Asian lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and are used by lunisolar calendars to stay synchronized with the seasons. Solar terms originated in China, then spread to Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. This is exhibited by the fact that traditional Chinese, Hanja, and Kanji characters for most of the solar terms are identical.

Because the Sun's speed along the ecliptic varies depending on the Earth-Sun distance, the number of days that it takes the Sun to travel between each pair of solar terms varies slightly throughout the year. Each solar term is divided into three pentads (候 "hou"). Each pentad consists of five days (rarely six), so there are 72 pentads in a year.

List of solar terms

# Simplified Chinese characters are shown in parentheses if they differ from the Traditional Chinese characters.
# Hanja is indicated in parentheses.
# Date can vary within a ±1 day range.

The "Song of Solar Terms" (zh-cp|c=節氣歌|p="jiéqìgē") is used to ease the memorization of "jiéqì":
;Chinese: _zh. 春雨驚春清穀天
_zh. 夏滿芒夏暑相連
_zh. 秋處露秋寒霜降
_zh. 冬雪雪冬小大寒
_zh. 每月兩節不變更
_zh. 最多相差一兩天
_zh. 上半年來六、廿一
_zh. 下半年是八、廿三
;Pinyinchūn yǔ jīng chūn qīng gǔ tiān,
xià mǎn máng xià shǔ xiāng lián,
qiū chù lù qiū hán shuāng jiàng,
dōng xuě xuě dōng xiǎo dà hán.
měi yuè liǎng jié bù biàn gēng,
zùi duō xiāng chā yī liǎng tiān
shàng bàn nián lái liù, niàn yī
xià bàn nián shì bā, niàn sān

Regional note

In Japan, the term Setsubun (節分) originally referred to the eves of Risshun (立春, 315°, the beginning of Spring) Rikka (立夏, 45°, the beginning of Summer), Risshū (立秋, 135°, the beginning of Autumn), and Rittō (立冬, 225°, the beginning of Winter), but currently mostly refers to the day before Risshun. The name of each solar term also refers to the period of time between that day and the next solar term, or 1/24th of a year.

See also

* Chinese calendar
* Korean calendar
* Japanese calendar

External links

* [http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/24solarterms.htm 24 Solar Terms - Hong Kong Observatory]
* [http://chinesecalendar.orados.com/ Chinese calendar with upcoming solar terms in 2008]