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The Story of the Spring Equinox





Today is the Sping Equinox in the Chinese Calendar. The Spring Equinox, Chunfen, is the fourth of the 24 seasonal days of the year and is halfway between Jingzhe, awakening of insects, and Qingming, clear and bright. It belongs to February in the lunar carlendar and around March 20-21 in the solar calendar. 

The Chinese lunar calendar has 24 seasonal days, the first of which is Lichun, the beginning of spring. This year, Lichun fell on January 14 in the Chinese calendar and February 4 in the solar calendar. The second seasonal day was Yushui, Rain water, which was January 29 in the Chinese calendar and February 19 in the solar calendar. Both of these seasons fall in the first month of the lunar calendar, which is the month of the LUNG associated with the traditional Chinese medicine. 

February is the month of Large Intestine and includes Jingzhe and Chunfen. Jingzhe fell on March 6 in the solar calendar. If Jingzhe is the wake-up call for spring, Chunfen is the shake-up call for those who have yet to wake up, and the second reminder of spring.

Chunfen is the day when the sun reaches a point where it crosses the equator from south to north, causing night and day to be equal in length. The days get longer and the nights get shorter as Chunfen passes. Around the time of Chunfen, the coldness caused by strong winds is called the flower spring cold. It is said that the flower spring cold occurs because the wind god creates winds that prevent flowers from blooming. Chunfen is a reminder of the agricultural era, and it is a time when farmers get busy as the ground thaws from the winter freeze.

In modern times, it is said that communication failures due to solar interference can occur on the day of Chunfen, which means that when the sun, communication satellites, and relay antennas on the earth are in a straight line, solar waves that are much larger than satellite signals affect the communication network and cause interference. During this period, international communication replies using satellites may be noisy, and satellite broadcasts or radio waves may be interrupted. Solar interference can occur for a few seconds to 10 minutes each day arount Chunfen and Qiufen, Autumn equinox. 

Religiously, Chunfen has been used as a reference point for calculating Easter in the Christian church. Easter has been celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon from Chunfen. In Iran, a predominantly Shi'ite Islamic country, Chunfen is called nou'ru:z that is celebrated as the solar new year's day. Chufen is also a festibal day in northern West Asian and Turkestan. 


24 Seasonal days in the Chinese Lunar Calendar

January - LUNG -  Lichun  - solar 1/4/23 - Beginning of the spring
                                Yushui - solar 2/19/23- Rain water
February - Large Intestine - Jingzhe - solar 3/6/23 - Awakening of Insects
                                                Chenfen - solar 3/21/23 - Spring equinox
March - Stomach - Qingming - solar 4/5/23 -  Clear and bright
                                 Guyu - solar  4/20/23 - Grain rain (to grow)
April - Spleen - Lixia - solar 5/6/23 - Beginning of summer 
                           Xiaoman - solar 5/21/23 - Minor fullness
May - Heart - Mangzhong - solar 6/6/23 - Bearded Grain
                        Xiazhi - solar 6/22/23 - Summer Solstice 
June - Small Intestine - Xiaoshu - solar 7/723 - Minor heat
                                        Dashu - solar 7/23/23 - Major heat
July - Bladder - Liqiu - 8/8/23 - Beginning of Autumn
                            Chushu - 8/23/23 - End of Heat 
August - Kidney - Bailu - solar 9/8/23 - White dew
                                Qiufen - solar 9/23/23 - Autumn equinox
September - Pericardium - Hanlu - solar 10/8/23 - Cold dew
                                                Shuangjiang - solar 10/24/23 - Hoarfrost descends 
October - San Jiao - Lidong - solar 11/8/23 - Beginning of Winter
                                    Xiaxue - solar 11/22/23 - Minor snow
November - Gall Bladder - Daxue - solar 12/7/23 - Major snow
                                                Dongzhi - solar 12/22/23 - Winter solstice
December - LIVER - Xiaohan - solar 1/6/24 - Minor cold
                                   Dahan - solar 1/20/23 - Major cold 
                        
Sources:

Fruehauf, Heiner. Correlative cosmology in Chinese medicine

https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%85%B8%EB%A3%A8%EC%A6%88

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