Only 7 times in this century, the Summer Solstice Dragon Boat Festival "Hand in Hand" calendar card | Day | Dragon Boat Festival
Some attentive members of the public, looking through the calendar, found that this year's Summer Solstice and Dragon Boat Festival staged "hand in hand". Popular science experts said that it is relatively rare for the Summer Solstice to be closely linked to the Dragon Boat Festival or the Dragon Boat Festival to the Summer Solstice. Taking the 100 years of the 21st century as an example, there are only 7 such years.
The Summer Solstice is the longest day and shortest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. The custom of eating noodles is very popular in most parts of our country; the Dragon Boat Festival is my country's first festival selected as the world's intangible cultural heritage. There is a custom of eating zongzi.
Why are these two important days closely linked this year? Lai Dihui, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and director of the Tianjin Astronomical Society, explained that the Earth's revolution is a year, with 12 months in a year, with an average of one solar term every 15 days, and a total of 24 solar terms a year. The date of solar terms is basically fixed in the current Gregorian calendar, with the first half of the year on the 6th and 21st, and the second half on the 8th and 23rd, with a difference of 1-2 days. Specific to the summer solstice solar term, its date in the Gregorian calendar will only change on June 20, June 21 and June 22. The vast majority of years are June 21, followed by June 22, and the least is June 20. This year's summer solstice falls on June 21.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a lunar festival. The date in the Gregorian calendar is not fixed. Generally speaking, the Dragon Boat Festival is in the first ten days of June in the Gregorian calendar, that is, before and after the mang solar term. Due to the leap February of this year's lunar calendar, the summer solstice ran to the front of the Dragon Boat Festival and was the day before.
It is relatively rare that the summer solstice is in front and the Dragon Boat Festival is in close connection. Statistics show that there are four such coincidences in the 21st century: 2004, 2023, 2042 and 2061; while the Dragon Boat Festival precedes and the Summer Solstice follows three times: 2034, 2053 and 2064.
Is there any situation that the summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival are on the same day? "Yes, but it is rare. There are only two times in this century. In 2072, the summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival are on June 20 of the Gregorian calendar; in 2091, the summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival are on June 21 of the Gregorian calendar." Lai Dihui said.