Chinese divide a year into 24 sola terms according to different weather characters in a year circle. a Chinese zodiac month includes the spans of two solar terms and is 30 or 29 days long. Chinese zodiac months are slight different from lunar months.
The Chinese zodiac months in order:
Tiger month:
Beginning of spring - walking of insects
Rabbit month:
Walking of insects - tomb sweeping
Dragon month
Tomb sweeping - beginning of summer
Snake month
Beginning of summer - grain in ear
Horse month
Grain in ear - slight heat
Goat month
Slight heat - beginning of autumn
Monkey month
Beginning of autumn - white dew
Rooster month
White dew - cold dew
Dog month
Cold dew - beginning of winter
Pig month
Beginning of winter - great snow
Rat month
Great snow - slight cold
Ox month
Slight cold - beginning of spring
In Chinese Tiangan Dizhi calendar, a complete name of a Chinese zodiac month includes a Tiangan character and a Dizhi character, for example, Jia Yin, Gui Zhi, Ding Sheng, etc. The Tiangan Dizhi system includes 10 Tiangan characters and 12 Dizhi characters. Tiangan characters and Dizhi characters combined into 60 different combinations. Chinese zodiac months are named with the 60 combinations. 5 years is a circle of Chinese zodiac months.
