The first Tiger full moon

Time: 8.57pm on 16 Feb 2022. Camera: Olympus EPL7 with zoom lens set at 150mm focal length, ISO 1000, aperture f5.6 and shutter speed 1/400s. Image digitally sharpened and enhanced for shadows and highlights. 

When I posted this picture of the first fully full moon of the Year of the Tiger on my facebook page a few hours ago this night, I received some comments from friends asking how this could be possible, especially as the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month, or Chap Goh Meh, was yesterday. Why should the full moon occur on the 16th day and not the 15th day?!

Next year's Chinese New Year will be on 22 Jan 2023

The answer is actually quite simple, in my opinion. The moon's revolution around the earth relative to the sun takes about 29.53 days. If one were to take an overall look at the Chinese lunar calendar, one will notice that a Chinese lunar month will consist of either 29 or 30 full days. 

I've come to realise that when the lunar month contains 30 days, the full moon will generally fall on the 16th day. On very rare occasions, even spilling over into the wee early hours of the 17th morning. Whereas, if there are only 29 days, the full moon will occur on the 15th night itself. There are other variables involved but this is my rule-of-thumb. To me, this layman's logic works well enough. So do get out to enjoy the full moon tonight!