Spring Festival and Valentine's Day's to coincide for first time in 57 years

The coincidence of China's traditional Spring Festival and the western Valentine's Day has drawn attention from the public.

Most people have never experienced this kind of calendar phenomenon as the last time happened was more than a half century ago. The last meeting of these two festivals happened in 1953 which is 57 years ago and the next time will be in 2048.

According to astronomers, Valentine's Day belongs to solar calendar and the date is changeless, whereas the Chinese Spring Festival belongs to lunar calendar. As the solar calendar date is not the same as the lunar calendar date, the Spring Festival date is changeable in solar calendar. The earliest Spring Festival is in Jan 21, such as in 1966 and 2061; the latest is in Feb 20, such as in 1920 and 1985.

In order to make the lunar calendar dates basically the same with the solar calendar dates, the seven lunar leap months should be counted in every 19th year in the lunar calendar. As a result, the Chinese Spring Festival and Valentine's Day will meet only once every 19 years.

According to statistics, the Chinese Spring Festival and Valentine's Day would meet 7 times in 200 years. They are in 1915, 1934,1953,2010,2048,2067 and 2086. They are separated in time by 19 years or multiples of 19.

By People's Daily Online/Xinhua