Lucky Lunar Year

Lucky Lunar Year

June 26th, 2006 @ 3:17 pm by Mrs. Bee
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There has been a flurry of people getting married in countries like Korea and China who follow the lunar calendar. Why?

Our current lunar year is considered to be a particularly auspicious year to get married, because it has two lunar springs (spring is a lucky time for starting a family). Adjacent years to 2006 called “widow years,” are also considered to be particularly unlucky years because they do not have any lunar springs. And 2006, the year of the dog, is a good year for marriage while 2007, the year of the pig, is considered to be a lucky year for having children.

It sounds like it doesn’t really get much luckier than this lunar year.

(image via nel’s page)

Chris Chen of Dynasty Weddings in New York, which caters to the area’s Chinese community, says that his business has doubled from last year. (wsj) Kang Pan-seok, vice-director of the Korean Fortune Tellers’ Association, says that the double spring phenomenon has only occurred 12 times since 221 B.C. (cnn) This has engaged couples rushing to marry this lunar year, while mothers are scrambling to try to find mates for their single children.

Most of my Asian friends (or perhaps their parents) put a lot of stock into auspicious wedding dates.

(image via wsj)

According to this chart above, the year I married - 2005 - was an inauspicious year. My good friend has a fortune teller in her family and told me as much back when Mr. Bee and I were engaged. I’m a horse and Mr. Bee’s a tiger, so getting married in 2004 (the year of the monkey) and having a child this lunar year (of the dog) would be just about as lucky as we could get. (Horse, tiger and dog are supposed to be extremely compatible signs.)

But we got married in 2005 anyway and I highly doubt there will be any baby bees this lunar year.

What do you think about auspicious wedding dates? Did they have an impact when you selected your wedding date?

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46 Responses to “Lucky Lunar Year”

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Guest

I just read about this on sfgate.com two days ago. At first I was like.. oh no 2007 is a bad year! (I thought it said the year before , and after are bad years but i guess 07 is not on this chart). But my fiance said this is silly.. there are SOOO many superstitions when it comes to good time/bad time to get married / to have kids. You can say ANY date with a “4″ is bad because 4 means death in Chinese.. etc etc. If we listen to all these superstitions we’ll never get married lol. Oh, in the article, I also read that some couples who cannot get a venue or cater because they’re all booked are delaying the ceremony/reception till later but rushing to city hall first to get legally married before the good lunar year ends.

6/26/06 @ 3:50 pm (reply)

Guest

Jasmine

My family told me all this but none of us put much stock in it either I wanted to get married a year after the engagement (year and a half really) so I would have more time to plan and it worked out well I feel 2006 is special because I get to marry my best friend and that makes it wonderful all around! I dont really know if 2006 is really a lucky year but Ill take whatever I can get ; )

6/26/06 @ 4:05 pm (reply)

Guest

Miss Snail

omg this is the EXACT thing that got my parents to push for a wedding this year. all i’ve got to thank is my fiance for his timing and that we didn’t delay the engagement to be longer.

6/26/06 @ 10:55 pm (reply)

Guest

angie b.

i’m a horse too, and my hubby is a dragon. we got married in 2005 also, and while we were picking a wedding date, my mother kept trying to push the most auspicious days possible in 2005 but they were all inconvenient and quite random. in the end, we did what we wanted and have no regrets. now my mother’s new focus is baby talk!

6/26/06 @ 11:33 pm (reply)

Guest

Linnet

Nah… we got married in 2005, apparently on a very bad day according to the Chinese Calendar. My collegue was horrified and was trying to convince me to change it, but it just didn’t too sound convincing coming from a person, who got married on a lucky date but recently got a divorce! :S

6/27/06 @ 3:32 am (reply)

Guest

Ellen

I’m getting married in 2007 and I had to change my date about five times because of my dad’s intent on finding an auspicious date that falls on a weekend. I’m not sure if I believe in it though because i’ve found a few that contradicted with each other. For example, my first choice was Aug 18, 2007 - one calendar said it is inauspicious date, while another said that it’s okay to marry on that date.

Question: How come 2007 isn’t listed as a “widow” year, but 2008 is?

6/27/06 @ 12:33 pm (reply)

Guest

I just read about this too two days ago. At first I was like.. oh no 2007 is a bad year! (I thought I had read the year before , and after are bad years but i guess 07 is not on this chart). But my fiance said this is silly.. there are SOOO many superstitions when it comes to good time/bad time to get married / to have kids. You can say ANY date with a “4″ is bad because 4 means death in Chinese.. etc etc. If we listen to all these superstitions we’ll never get married lol. Oh, in the article, I also read that some couples who cannot get a venue or cater because they’re all booked are delaying the ceremony/reception till later but rushing to city hall first to get legally married before the good lunar year ends.

6/27/06 @ 1:12 pm (reply)

Guest

Actually, this lunar new year doesn’t end until about February 17, 2007 (remember, it’s a lunar year, so it doesn’t correspond exactly with the calendar year). It’s ’cause of this that I’m getting married in January 2007 - ’cause that was the latest auspicious date for my fiance and me! Also, our auspicious date is on a weekday so the party will happen the week before and we have the civil ceremony on the actual date (it’s supposed to be pretty common where I’m getting married - Taiwan). Not sure what to believe, especially since calendars are different between the Cantonese and Taiwanese (and presumably other ethnic groups), but it’s important to my fiance, so…

6/29/06 @ 5:39 am (reply)

Guest

We’re trying to get married next year (Dec 2007) where can I look to tell me what dates are auspicious? For the moment we’ve picked 15/12/07, and where I live Dec next year are almost booked out for wedding ceremonies!

7/10/06 @ 5:07 am (reply)

10.

Guest

Ellen, Aug 18, 2007 falls on the 6th day of the Seventh Lunar month and according to hardcore supertitious folks, marriages made in the seventh month when the gates of hell are open are hardly auspicious. Anyway, I can be wrong.

7/22/06 @ 12:59 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

Ives

I’m glad this topic has come up because I too am looking online for the Chinese Good Luck dates for marriage in 2007. I would like to get married in May or June of next year, but my mom is adament about my fiance’s parents selecting the good luck date because that’s the way it’s done traditionally. I, on the otherhand, find this frustrating because I’m afraid that all the venues will be booked up before the event date is selected. Next year is not considered to be a good year to get married - something about “being blind” but it is a good year for having kids. The only thing I could find out about auspicious dates is through this chinese website. I have e-mailed the site to find out if they can get the 2007 calendar up. When my fiance’s parents tried to look up dates this year, they said the information for 2007 won’t be out until October of this year! I can’t wait that long…so I don’t know what I’m going to do. Any body else have insights? If I find anything out, I’ll be sure to post. Thanks.

7/25/06 @ 12:24 am (reply)

12.

Guest

Ives

Whoops, never posted anything for this site before - didn’t realize my name would pop up linking to the site. I should have just given the website so here you go: http://www.femalebridesonline.com/articles/weddingpt/amain.php?article=aus2006

Or you can click on “Ives” to view an article about lucky dates for 2006. I’m waiting for them to come out with one for 2007.

7/25/06 @ 12:28 am (reply)

13.

Guest

jen

I’m also looking for a “good” date for 2007. I’m not sure if this site is reliable but here’s a site I found w/ 2007 dates:

http://wedding.esdlife.com/content/eng/gooddays/2007_feb.asp

Does anyone have other sites they’ve used?

7/27/06 @ 11:40 am (reply)

14.

Guest

I’m in the same boat - I can’t find anything on the internet about auspicious wedding dates in 2007. I don’t really believe in these things, but it does matter to my parents.

We have to have the wedding in January 2007 because my fiance’s parents live overseas and can only come back at that time…and time is running out!

The wedding.esdlife.com website above didn’t have any dates for January, so I’m wondering if there are none??

7/30/06 @ 7:19 am (reply)

15.

Guest

jen

Hi Everyone,
I found another site that lists auspicious dates. Hope it helps…..

Y: The website below doesn’t list a date in January either. =( Maybe try late Dec. or early Feb.? Good luck!

http://www.chopstickbride.com/dates_2007.html

7/31/06 @ 6:20 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

Ives

Yes, I’ve noticed there are contradicting dates online as well. I can’t quite trust those, but there is some type of Chinese almanac out there that lists good dates, but I think they have to look at the bride and groom’s year of birth as well. This year is especially good luck because it is a double Spring year, which means double the fortune and happiness. I found an interesting article on this. See link below.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/24/MNGEDJJT451.DTL

I am probably the only one from the Bay area checking this site out, since I notice most people who are using this site seem to be from the East Coast, but I love this website b/c it has so much useful information.

Here is some information I found on what it means to marry in a “blind” year.

“Ancient belief has it that a blind year is bad for marriage; women who wed during the year will become widows or have unhealthy children.”
http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/402881910674ebab010674f51d491803.do.html

The link above mentions the year of the Rooster which was a blind year. But since next year is a blind year also, I thought this might be informative to some of you.

Of course, many couples will marry next year, but I think within the year there are lucky dates for couples to wed. It just depends on the birthdates, etc. Also by looking at the Chinese almanac, which won’t be released until October of this year for the next Lunar year.

Good luck finding the right date everyone!

8/2/06 @ 1:59 am (reply)

17.

Guest

I’m glad I don’t buy into superstition

8/8/06 @ 10:39 am (reply)

18.

Guest

Auspicious Wedding Date in 2007 according to Tong Shu

http://www.wofs.com/gooddays.php

9/3/06 @ 4:16 am (reply)

19.

Guest

Rob

I chose 8/18/2007 as well thinking ‘8′ will be lucky, plus it landed on a Saturday. I’m already getting married in the same year that my sister is so that I hear is unlucky enough but I can’t wait.

Anyway, we were let on 8/18/2007 until my Mom told some coworkers/friends and everyone said it was one of the most unlucky days of all. Apparently that is the day that the old folks will ‘Bi Sun’. I believe this was the day that one of the gods forbid this couple from ever seeing each other again.

Don’t know the whole story, but that sounds unlucky already. I’m thinking about Sept now. August in Western date is July in the Chinese calendar which is unlucky for any date in Chinese July.

Check out this site to convert your chosen Western date to the Lunar Calendar. *you don’t want it to be in July(chinese). (make sure you click on Georgian Calender for the conversion.

http://www.mandarintools.com/calconv_old.html

9/21/06 @ 10:07 pm (reply)

20.

Guest

jennifer

My son and fiancee want to get married in Sept 2007 could you please telll me an auspicious date thank you.

9/22/06 @ 7:45 am (reply)

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