Why is the Tibetan New Year of Iron Rabbit, 2011 is different from the Chinese New Year?
The Tibetan system of calendar follows the three systems of days, solar day for a day, lunar day for a month and zodiacal day for a year. The Chinese system of calendar follows the solar day system. The dates for a new year in the Tibetan Astrological system is cast according to the Lunar calendar system, which has 371 days in a year as opposed to the Solar calendar system which has 365 days in a year. These few extra days in a Lunar system accumulates to an extra month in a period of three years and it is thus balanced as a Da-Shol in the Tibetan Astrological calendar system. As Iron-Tiger year 2010 has a Da-Shol (the 11th month), the dates for the New Year of Iron-Rabbit is different as compared to the Chinese calendar system. |