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Monday, January 30, 2012

Coldest season in the year



This is the pictures of white and yellow irises.I got these flowers for a set of flower arrangement. These are a good display for the living room.



 
Today I'd like to introduce  you about Japanese old calendar called "24 Seasonal divisions". It is very "Japanese" way of thinking.(strictly saying, it was from China) Until 1873, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, we had been counting time on the old lunar calendar. This calendar is based on the waxing and waning of the moon, so it isn't always in sync with the actual seasons. So farmers relied on the system "24 seasonal divisions", which is the system dividing the year into 24 periods of 15 or 16 days each, corresponding to changes in the sun's position in the sky along its ecliptic. The system was originally started in the southern part of China, so there exist some time gaps between Japan and the southern China. But even so, this is very helpful, and even today we often hear the saying, "According to the seasonal division,...." They say between "大寒coldest” and "立春begining of spring" is the coldest time of the year.  Yes, it's really true! Very cold!  TV reporter says this year they have a record amount of snow in the Japan Sea side region.

This is part of Yellow Mellow Monday.

9 comments:

  1. what a wonderful yellow in this iris :)

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  2. oh dear,..it is really sound like a coldest time in japan..we are also thinking that we will have a cold and early winter here too..
    lovely iris..i have same one in my garden too..
    love you cucki xxx

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  3. Cold. But have you see the snow?
    Here its also cold. Cold easterly winds. My daughter has a rough, scaly skin now ( hands ) This is not her type of weather. I love the flowers, irissen are so beautiful.

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  4. very pretty flowers, liked them :-) Visiting from MYM, hope that you can return the visit too.

    http://www.mommies2ks.com/2012/01/pajama-day-at-school.html

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  5. Beautiful irises and a lovely arrangement, Annie. We call these "Dutch irises" here in Australia and we have some growing in our garden.
    How interesting to hear about the Japanese seasonal calendar. I must investigate that further as I have a special interest in calendars.

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  6. That's beautiful- I like it:)

    Visiting for MYM! Hope you can stop by:)

    http://www.heavenly-dreams.com/green-mango-pickled/

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  7. January is cold in Finland as well. It's about -11 -15 lately here, on south. Last night in Lapland it was -35,9! So if you feel cold, just think of Lapland - maybe it'll warm you a bit? ;-)

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  8. Love your blog, thanks for stopping by and visiting mine also. God bless! Our weather is not sure what it wants to do. It feels like spring but should be winter right now.

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