Lichun 立春

“Make your whole year's plans in the spring, and your day's plans early in the morning." In Chinese culture, Spring is a very important season. According to East Asian Luni-solar calendars, a year is divided into 24 solar terms. Lichun (立春) is the 1st solar term which usually begins around 3rd - 5th February, meaning that the winter ends and spring begins. Agriculture is one of the major industries in China, due to the weather, famers start to plant seeds in spring; and the plants grow during summer, then harvest in the autumn, so that they can store up the crops for winter. Therefore, Lichun will be a very important date for Chinese, as spring representing warm and everything being lively. According to the tradition, on this day, it is easy to get into a fight or argue with others, it is important to keep calm and escape from the conflicts.

And this year, the Chinese New Year is about two weeks after Lichun! Year of Rooster ends and the Year of Dog has come! Little fun fact – many people think that the Chinese Zodiac 12 animals sign (Sang Ciu生肖) changes on the first day of Chinese New Year, but actually it changes on the day of Lichun. Therefore, the Chinese Zodiac animals sign of baby born today is Dog rather than Rooster.

And start from tomorrow, we will post out Chinese Zodiac forecast of 12 different animals sign every day until Chinese New Year. Let’s count down together!

古語云：「一年之計在於春,一日之際在於晨，一生之計在於勤。」春即是春天的開始。古語又云：「立春日，四時之始也。立春為啟，立冬為開」。立春就是指二十四節氣之首，四季開始的第一天，一年之始。立春在每年陽曆的2月3日至2月5日之間。「立」是「開始」的意思，「春」就是動，表示寒冷的冬天快要結束了，大地萬物開始有生機，春天即將降臨大地了。中國自古為農業國，莊稼生產過程是春種、夏長、秋收、冬藏，最關鍵的還是在於春，因此立春是很重要的一個節氣。立春是中國民間一個節氣，也是一個重要傳統節日，古時立春要祭祀主管農事的春神。春神相傳叫句芒，人面鳥身，主春事，春是溫暖，鳥語花香；春是生長，耕耘播種。作為四季的開端，春季象徵着勃勃生機。傳統習俗，每到立春這一天不能有口舌之爭、必須要和和睦睦、心平氣和地迎接這一天。立春這一天，由於磁場和氣場的緣故，通常會比較亂，無論是家中還是辦公室，容易招惹口舌事非，因此要進行「躲春」，防止爭吵和是非。

民間普遍人認為正月初一開始計算生肖，但其實並非如此，生肖應該是以立春為界。2018年為狗年，因此在2月4日後的都屬狗。距離大年初一還有12天，由明天開始，我們將會每天發佈不同生肖的狗年運程。敬請密切留意！

Reference: 香港雲巽匯李浩雲 | Feng Shui Master Li Hou Wan | http://www.lihouwan.com/