A year without spring refers to a year in the lunar calendar where there is no beginning of spring throughout the year, from the first day of the first lunar month to the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. In order to adapt to the changes of winter and summer, ancient people added 7 leap months every 19 years in the lunar calendar, resulting in 7 out of 19 years without the beginning of spring. The absence of a spring year is actually caused by the "yin difference and yang error" between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar.
The 24 solar terms are divided into months according to the movement of the moon. The total number of days in the lunar calendar, including 12 small and large months, is only 354-355 days, with some years having only 353 days. Compared to the solar calendar, there is a difference of about 11 days. In order to solve the problem of time difference in the yin-yang calendar, ancient people adopted the method of setting "leap months" to deal with it, that is, one year in several years has thirteen months.
Our country's calendar is a yin-yang combined calendar, which is formulated based on the cycles of the sun and moon. A year is divided into 24 solar terms based on the movement of the sun, and into months based on the movement of the moon. The method of adding leap months is used to solve the time difference problem between the lunar calendar and the solar calendar. So, some years have thirteen months in a year. In this way, the Beginning of Spring solar term may occur in the twelfth lunar month of the previous year or the first lunar month of the next year, resulting in the occurrence of "no spring" years (widow years) and "double spring" years.
The most widely circulated saying about a few years is' a few years without spring, not suitable for marriage '. Because the year of no spring is also known as the "Year of Widows", it has evolved into the "Year of Widows" over time, and "widow" is a bad name in the folk. People believe that the key to a year lies in spring, and "no spring" means there is no good start, so there is a saying that "few years" are not suitable for marriage. But these are all superstitious claims.