「大年三十」消失之谜:都是月亮惹的祸

Chinese social media has reacted with amusement-and some confusion-to the news that one of the nation's most important holidays will technically disappear from the calendar for five years starting from 2025.

Chinese New Year's Eve is one of the highlights of the Spring Festival holiday,when families across the country reunite to share a lavish meal and ring in the new year by setting off fireworks, exchanging gifts, and hanging red banners decorated with rhyming couplets.

The festivities normally take place on the 30th day of the 12th lunar month-known as danian sanshi in Chinese-in China's traditional calendar. But a quirk in the lunisolar cycle means the day is set to be skipped for the next half-decade.

Like every calendar, the traditional Chinese calendar does not match up exactly with the movements of the Sun and Moon, meaning that some adjustments have to be made occasionally to correct for these small discrepancies.

In the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the solar cycle, this is done by adding an extra day in February once every fourth year -known as a Leap Year. But the Chinese system is mostly based on the lunar cycle and has a different method.

The length of the lunar month fluctuates slightly throughout the year, ranging from29.27 days to 29.82 days. The Chinese system corrects for these changes by dividing the calendar into "big months"lasting 30 days and "little months" lasting29 days.

If the last month of the year happens to be a "little month," then the 30th day will be skipped over, meaning that danian sanshi will disappear from the calendar that year.

Though it is far from unusual for danian sanshi to be skipped over in a given year, experts told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that it is "relatively rare" for this to happen five years in a row.

The news has attracted significant interest on Chinese social media in recent days, with a related hashtag receiving more than 12 million views on the microblogging platform Weibo.

The reaction has mostly been one of amusement. One commenter jokingly blamed the Moon for the change, writing: "It's all the Moon's fault." Another lamented that as they were born on the 30th day of the 12th lunar month, they wouldn't have another birthday until 2030.

There were also some worries that the public holiday for Chinese New Year's Eve might disappear in years without a danian sanshi. But officials have reassured the public that this is not the case, as Chinese New Year's Eve will simply be celebrated on the 29th day of the 12th lunar month instead.

The Chinese government recently announced that starting from next year the country will grant an extra day of public holiday for Chinese New's Year Eve,meaning that the 2025 Spring Festival holiday will last eight days-from Jan.28(the 29th day of the 12th lunar month) to Feb.4 (the 7th day of the first lunar month).

The change is designed to encourage consumption on Chinese New Year's Eve,which is not only an important traditional holiday, but also a massive commercial event in China.

The run-up to the holiday sees anenormous spike in travel each year, as hundreds of millions of people return to their hometowns to visit their relatives-or, increasingly, jet off on vacation.

The Spring Festival is also a make-or-break period for businesses across a swathe of industries-from food companies to film studios- while state broadcaster CCTV's Spring Festival Galaon Chinese New Year's Eve is the world's most-watched TV program, attracting around 1 billion viewers each year.

中国社交媒体对这一消息反应热烈，既感到好笑又有些困惑--从2025年开始，国家最重要的节日之一将在未来五年内技术上从日历上消失。

除夕是春节假期的亮点之一，届时全国各地的家庭团聚，共同享用丰盛的晚餐，通过放烟花、互赠礼物和悬挂装饰有押韵对联的红色横幅来迎接新年。

这些庆祝活动通常在农历的腊月三十--在中文中称为“大年三十”——进行。但由于阴阳历周期的一个特点，这一天将在未来五年内被跳过。

像所有日历一样，传统的中国日历与太阳和月亮的运动并不完全匹配，这意味着有时需要进行一些调整来纠正这些小的差异。

在基于太阳周期的公历中，这通过每四年在二月份增加一天来实现--称为闰年。但中国的系统主要基于月亮周期，并有不同的方法。

农历月份的长度在一年中略有波动，范围从29.27 天到 29.82 天。中国的系统通过将日历分为持续 30 天的“大月”和持续 29 天的“小月”来纠正这些变化。

如果一年的最后一个月恰好是“小月”，那么第 30 天将被跳过，这意味着“大年三十”将在那一年从日历中消失。

尽管在某一年跳过“大年三十”并不罕见，但专家告诉国家通讯社新华社，这种情况连续五年发生是“相对罕见”的。

这一消息在最近几天引起了中国社交媒体的极大关注，相关话题在微博上获得了超过 1200 万的浏览量。

反应大多是愉快的。一位网友开玩笑地将变化归咎于月亮，写道:“都是月亮惹的祸。” 另一位则感叹，由于他们出生在农历的腊月三十，他们要到 2030 年才能再过一次生日。

也有人担心在没有“大年三十”的年份，除夕的公共假期可能会消失。但有关部门已向公众保证情况并非如此，因为除夕将改在农历的腊月二十九庆祝。

中国政府最近宣布，从明年开始，国家将在除夕增加一天的公共假期，这意味着 2025 年的春节假期将持续八天——从1月28 日(农历腊月二十九)到 2月4日(农历正月初七)。

这一变化旨在鼓励除夕的消费，这不仅是一个重要的传统节日，也是中国一个巨大的商业活动。

每年在节日前夕，旅行量激增，数亿人返回家乡探亲-或者越来越多地去度假。

春节也是各行各业企业成败的关键时期--从食品公司到电影制片厂--而国家广播公司央视的除夕春晚是全球收视率最高的电视节目，每年吸引约 10 亿观众。

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