How often does a leap month occur? What does a leap month mean?

In the calendar, the length of a year and a month is an integer multiple of the length of a day. They are no longer natural units of time and are called calendar years and calendar months respectively. So how often does a leap January occur? What does a leap month in the first lunar month mean?

How often does a leap month occur?

The number of years for a leap month is not fixed. The last leap month was in 1964, and the next one will be in 2262.

Leap Year in the First Month is extremely rare. The last time it occurred was 378 years ago in 1640 during the late Ming Dynasty in the 17th century (before that was 1048 during the Northern Song Dynasty). The next time it will be 244 years later in 2262 in the 23rd century, a gap of 622 years in between. The longest interval between leap years of the first lunar month was 1469 years, and the shortest was only 19 years.

From 2000 to 8000 AD, there were only 32 years with a leap first month (an average of once every 200 years), namely: 2262, 2357, 2520, 2539, 2634, 4103, 4828, 4923, 5868, 6088, 6183, 6240, 6278, 6460, 6555, 6612, 6650, 6832, 6984, 7022, 7041, 7166, 7242, 7424, 7519, 7538, 7614, 7633, 7796, 7891, 7910, and 7986. The longest interval was 1469 years, and the shortest was only 19 years. It is also worth mentioning that the year with a leap month of the first lunar month must be the year with the earliest Spring Festival, for example, 1640 was January 23.

What does the leap month mean?

The leap year of the Lunar New Year, also known as the leap first month, generally occurs at the beginning of the first month of the Lunar New Year. However, from 1155 years to 2800 AD, there has been only six leap first months of the Lunar calendar, which is very rare. The years in which leap first months of the Lunar calendar occurred are 1651, 2262, 2357, 2520, 2539 and 2634. When it comes to the leap first month, there is no festival. However, in a few areas, after celebrating the Spring Festival in the first month of the first lunar month, the Spring Festival is celebrated in the leap first month of the first lunar month. Because the leap first month is also called the first month, the first day of the leap first month is also celebrated as the Spring Festival.

From the beginning of the leap year system in 1645 to the 1155 years ending in 2800, there was only six leap months in the first lunar month, which was extremely rare. The years in which they occurred were 1651, 2262, 2357, 2520, 2539 and 2634. The next one will be in 2262, and our generation will not have the chance to see it. If it weren't for the leap October in the lunar calendar in 1984, the Spring Festival in 1985 would not be the "latest Spring Festival" but the "earliest Spring Festival", and a leap Spring Festival at that.