So our household celebrates three birthdays within a month and a day on the Julian calendar, but according to the Chinese Lunar calendar, these three are only 10 days apart. Are you confused yet?
Many Chinese holidays follow the lunar calendar (like Chinese New Year - that's why we never have exactly the same school holiday each year). In 2008, CNY was on Feb. 7, and in 2009 it will be on Jan. 26. That means that every day on our regular calendar has a corresponding lunar date. Most calendars here in Taiwan also include the lunar date, but I always ignore that information.
Now, back to the birthdays. Kevin's and Keanu's birthdays happen to be on the same day on the lunar calendar: 11/26, which happened to be this past Tuesday. I didn't even know it until today. Kate was born 10 days before that, so her birthday on the lunar calendar is 11/13. We don't really pay much attention to the lunar birthdate (in fact, Kevin's mom told him that he and Keanu shared the same birthday because Kevin didn't even realize it was his birthday), but traditionally that's when families celebrate the birthday.
2 comments:
"It's like a different world over there - like a different culture." Pete says! Thanks for the explanation. So Keanu was really born on Kevin's birthday on the lunar calendar?
Heehee, and you didn't even delve into the Chinese age vs Western age yet. Kate turns two in a few weeks, right? lol
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