Li Chun (立春), 2018

After years of flicking through the pages, my copy of Joey Yap's book, The Ten Thousand Year Calendar, is almost coming apart. It has been my most faithful reference companion as I consult it every year to find out the date and time of various cultural festivals such as Tang Chek (冬至) and Cheng Beng (清明).

But it is for the festival of Li Chun (立春) or Lip Chun, which actually heralds the start of the  new year according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, that I consult this reference book the most and luckily, other than the pages falling off, the book is still more or less intact.

Incidentally, we of the Penang Baba Nyonya community have another name for this festival, which is Jip Chun, where Jip means literally "the entering of" and Chun meaning, of course, Spring. Jip Chun = The Entering of Spring. Get it?

For 2018, Li Chun will occur before the start of the popularly known Chinese New Year festivities. To be exact, the date for Li Chun is 4 February 2018 which corresponds to the 19th day of the 12th Chinese lunar month. So, if you are like me and have to paste a new Chun (春) character on the rice bucket, please do so shortly after 5.30 in the morning.

I've been writing about Li Chun in this blog since Year 2007 and you can still read them here:
Li Chun, 2017
Li Chun, 2016
Li Chun, 2015
Li Chun, 2014
Li Chun, 2013
Li Chun, 2012
Li Chun, 2011
Li Chun, 2010
Li Chun, 2009
Li Chun, 2008
Li Chun, 2007