Start of Spring — Born Hour
Start of Spring is the first Jie of the solar year: the Year Pillar turns here, not at Lunar New Year.
Overview
Li Chun (立春) marks the sun at celestial longitude 315°. It opens Yin (寅) month and, in Four Pillars practice, the new year stem-branch.
Classical sources treat Li Chun as the hinge of yang rising — 东风解冻、蛰虫始振、鱼陟负冰 in the seventy-two pentads. It is a promise of motion, not instant warmth.
Folk calendars celebrate 'entering spring' with whip-the-spring-ox rites and eating spring rolls (春饼/春卷). These are seasonal customs, not chart rules.
On a chart, a birth one minute before vs after the exact Li Chun instant can flip the Year Pillar — and sometimes the Month Pillar if it also sits on the edge of the Jie.
Phenology (three pentads)
Three pentads: east wind thaws earth; hibernating insects stir; fish rise under ice.
Classical citation
Classical: Yueling Qihou Jijie on Li Chun as the start of the first solar month and rising yang.
Month command contrast
Month command: Yin (寅), opens the first spring month; Year Pillar turns at Li Chun.
Related entries
How to read it on a chart
Find Start of Spring in the almanac or chart engine output for your birth year and compare the instant with true solar time.
Jie nodes can move the Month Pillar; Zhong Qi deepen the same month without switching branch.
Limits
Start of Spring is a calendrical node and cultural festival, not a weather guarantee or personal luck verdict.