If a year has a leap February, it means that the year has two lunar Februarys. What does a leap February mean? How often does a leap month occur? Huayi Network brings you the latest content. Leap years and leap months are a unique counting method of the Chinese lunar calendar. Learn more about the cultural content of leap months in the special section on leap February.

What does a leap February mean?

There are two Februarys in the lunar calendar;
In the Gregorian calendar, a leap February occurs once every four years, with 29 days in February. In the lunar calendar, there are two Februarys in one year, and the second February is called a leap February.
A leap February occurs once every four years in the Gregorian calendar, when February has 29 days. In the lunar calendar, there are two Februarys in one year, and the second February is called a leap February. This is because the cycle of the sun and moon relative to the Earth is not an exact number of days.

How often does a leap month occur?

Every two or three years. There is a popular saying in folk culture: "seven leap months in nineteen years." In the lunar calendar, since the total number of days in a common year (which we can temporarily call the "lunar month") is 11 days less than the solar calendar, it is necessary to add a leap month every two or three years to make up for approximately one month's difference. However, because this difference is not a regular number, it is not very regular which year should have a leap month. Nevertheless, as the years go by, people have summarized a "nineteen-year seven-leap-month rule," meaning that in 19 years, the Chinese lunar calendar should have about seven years with a leap month. As to which month should have the added leap month, it depends on which month has the most significant difference with the 24 solar terms, because the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar basically correspond to the solar calendar dates. However, generally speaking, a leap month is not added after the twelfth lunar month, the first lunar month, or the twelfth lunar month.

How often does a leap month occur?

(1) Determining the date sequence based on the lunar phase. It calculates the date and time of the conjunction of the sun and moon one by one. The first day of each month is the date of the conjunction. According to the number of days between two consecutive conjunctions, the size of the previous month is determined. If the interval from one conjunction to the next is 30 days, then the month is a big month; if it is only 29 days, it is a small month. (2) Determining the month sequence based on the central term. First, distinguish between the lunar month and the leap month according to whether the month contains a central term. We know that a tropical year has 12 central terms, but it includes 365.2422 ÷ 29.5306 = 2.3682 synodic months. After several cycles, there will be a lunar month without a central term. According to the "Book of Han • Calendar and Time Table": "When the conjunction does not fall within the central term, it is called a leap month." This month without a central term is the leap month. The preceding lunar month determines the name of the leap month. For example, the leap month in 1984 occurred after the tenth lunar month, so it was called "the leap tenth month." A leap month is calculated, and its position in the monthly sequence is not fixed. Except for the eleventh, twelfth, and first lunar months, any month could be a leap month. The "nineteen-year seven-leap-month rule" applies.