Calendar

 It was in ancient times that the Chinese invented a calendar, a dating system unsurpassed in the whole of Eastern Asia. It was founded on the lunar cycles, therefore each month in it began with a new moon, and the middle of the month coincided with the full moon. Besides, the calendar took into consideration the movement of the Sun, determining the change of seasons, and thus the year cycle of farming agriculture, as well as the astronomic movement cycles of the Earth, the Jupiter and the Saturn. In such a way the ancient Chinese calendar uniquely unified in a single rhythm the movement of celestial bodies, the yearly recurrence of nature and the cyclicity of human economic activity that corresponded to the fundamental principles of the Chinese civilization, namely, the concept of intercorrespondence and harmony of the three fundamental elements of the Universe - the Sky, the Earth and the Man.

While compiling the calendar the symbols of 5 major elements were used - those of wood, fire, clay, iron and water. These possess 10 cyclic symbols and 10 "heavenly branches". Each element could be paired or replaced with a certain color; the wood with dark blue, the fire - red, the clay - yellow, the iron - white and the water - black. Besides "heavenly branches" there exist 12 "earthly roots", months are referred to by a number within a year and sometimes also by a series of 12 animal names that from ancient times have been attached to years and to hours of the day. These names in order are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and pig. The list of these animals is connected to the Region of Central and Eastern Asia, the mythological dragon included. The unification of the heavenly branches and the earthly roots creates 60 unique combinations that make up a scheme of the 60-year cycle of the Chinese calendar, assimilated by other countries of Central and Eastern Asia. Each year is denoted by an animal and as within the cycle it is repeated 5 times every 12 years, for precision purposes the color symbolic is added - for example, The Year of a Red Rat.

A Compass/Sundial. China. The Chinese. The 18th century.		Statues of Taisui – deities-patrons of specific calendar year. One can worship his or her taisui by putting money in a box near the stature.Taoist temple Bayunguan. China. Beijing. Alimov I., 2007