The Showers of Blessings

Saturday, January 28, 2017 is Chinese New Year. Since it is celebrated by many Southeast Asian Countries, it is also referred to as Lunar New Year.

According to the Lunar Calendar, there are 12 Chinese Zodiac signs. Each sign is represented by an animal. 2017 is the year of Rooster. Some Chinese, especially the older generation, believe in the Zodiac and look for what the year will bring to their lives.

Dragon Dances in Hong Kong visited businesses wishing them prosperous!

I visited my family in Hong Kong during one of the Chinese New Year.

The Current Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar that was first adopted in 1582. The Gregorian calendar adds one leap day on February 29 every four years.

The Chinese calendar uses the phases of the moon to determine its months and days of the month. The first day of the month is always the new moon; the 15th day of the month is always the full moon.

https://stardate.org/nightsky/moon

There are 29 days or 30 days in a lunar month. This would mean a 12-month year would have 354 days. As a result, to keep months and holidays in line with the seasons, the Chinese calendar requires a “leap month” to be inserted about every two or three years.

Between the 11^th month of this Chinese calendar year to the 11^th month of following year, if there is 13 moon phases, a leap month will be added. The leap month do not fall on the same month each appearance. It is added when there is a 13 moon phases. The name of the leap month is the same name as the prior month.

http://heredg.com/2014/01/whats-deal-chinese-leap-month