Why not start from the beginning of spring?

Each of us has our own zodiac sign. For example, those born in 2022 are tigers, and those born in 2023 are rabbits. However, many people are confused about when the zodiac starts to be calculated. Does it start from the beginning of spring or the first day of the new year? Why don’t we calculate the zodiac signs based on the beginning of spring?

Should the Chinese zodiac be calculated from the beginning of spring or the first day of the lunar year?

The zodiac sign is usually calculated from the first day of the first lunar month (which is the Spring Festival), but in some areas it starts from the beginning of spring. When searching for relevant information online, I found that there are also these two different opinions. However, nowadays, most people calculate their zodiac signs based on the Lunar New Year. For example, the current lunar calendar is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month of the Xinchou year, so a baby born on this day is still of the ox sign, not the tiger sign. Babies born during the Spring Festival are of the tiger element because it is the year of the tiger, Renyin.

Why don't we calculate the zodiac signs based on the beginning of spring?

1. Reason 1 for not calculating the zodiac signs according to the beginning of spring: Current national standards

According to the latest standards issued by the state for the lunar zodiac year, the calculation starts from the first day of the first lunar month. So humans gradually followed this custom to calculate their zodiac signs, but in ancient times the Beginning of Spring was more important than the Spring Festival, so they calculated their zodiac signs according to the Beginning of Spring. After the 21st century, humans began to change their ideas and now use the Spring Festival as the basis for the zodiac.

2. Reason 2 for not calculating the zodiac signs based on the beginning of spring: it is too complicated

Because the time of the beginning of spring is different every year. For example, the beginning of spring in 2021 is on February 3, and it is not the Spring Festival yet. The lunar calendar is still the Gengzi Year, and it will take another seven days to the Spring Festival. However, the time of the beginning of spring this year is different. It happens to be the fourth day of the first lunar month, which also causes some confusion. For the sake of convenience and memory, people can calculate the zodiac sign directly according to the Spring Festival instead of the Beginning of Spring, which will be much easier to remember.