Articles
July 18, 2010
Marriage and the "Widow Year"
2010 is the year of Tiger. It is also a "Widow
Year". The Chinese believes that marriage in a
"Widow Year" is inauspicious.
First, what is a "Widow Year"? To understand
this, we need to appreciate the two types of calendars:
the solar calendar and the lunar calendar. The solar
calendar is based on the movement of the earth around
the sun. The lunar calendar  ,
on the other hand, is based on the movement of the
moon around the earth. The first day of the solar
calendar is known as "Li Chun" 
which falls mostly on 4 February. The first day of
the lunar calendar, on the other hand, is the first
day of the lunar Chinese New Year. The difference
in the time cycle of the two calendars means that
the first day of the two calendars rarely occurs on
the same day. So whenever "Li Chun" occurs
before the first day of the lunar Chinese New Year,
the lunar year will not have a "Li Chun".
The absence of "Li Chun" in a lunar year
is known as a "Widow Year".
For the lunar year 2010, "Li Chun" falls
on 4 February 2010 while the first day of the lunar
Chinese New Year falls on 14 February 2010. In other
words, the 2010 lunar year does not have a "Li
Chun". Since there is no "Li Chun"
for the 2010 lunar year, the 2010 lunar year is a
"Widow Year". The "Widow Year"
is not a rare occurrence. If one were to look up the
thousand year calendar, you will see that the "Widow
Year" occurs quite frequently throughout the
years.
How did the name "Widow Year" come about?
The name "Widow Year" came about because
superstition has it that a woman who marries in a
"Widow Year" will bring pre-matured death
to her husband. It is also for this reason that a
lunar year with no "Li Chun" is called a
"Widow Year". From a Chinese metaphysical
prospective, the absence of "Li Chun" in
a lunar year, which is purely due to the difference
in the time period between the two calendars, should
not have any influence on people marrying in a "Widow
Year".
Below is the list of lunar years with no "Li
Chun".
2005 (Year of Rooster)
2007 (Year of Pig)
2008 (Year of Rat)
2010 (Year of Tiger)
2013 (Year of Snake)
2015 (Year of Goat)
2016 (Year of Monkey)
2018 (Year of Dog)
2019 (Year of Pig)
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