By MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network Editorial Department
 
Christmas is celebrated every year, but this year is a little different！ This year's Christmas falls on the 15th day of the lunar calendar, a full moon night, when everyone can enjoy a romantic holiday bathed in the moonlight. This is an event that occurs only about once every 19 years, and if you miss it, you'll have to wait until 2034！

Look up at the night sky on Christmas Eve. According to the Taipei Astronomical Museum, because the length of 19 tropical years is almost the same as that of 235 synodic months, a specific lunar calendar date and solar calendar date that coincide will not do so again for about 19 years. However, due to leap years in the solar calendar, or because neither tropical years nor synodic months are whole numbers, there is actually a slight difference between 19 tropical years and 235 synodic months. This means lunar and solar calendar dates don’t always align exactly every 19 years, so Christmas might fall either one day before or after the full moon.

In fact, in Taiwan between 1951 and 2050, there are four instances where Christmas coincided with a full moon: 1977, 1996, 2015, and 2034. In 1958, due to the reasons mentioned above, the full moon fell on December 26, missing this 19-year alignment. In Western regions, due to time zone differences, the full moon in 1996 occurred on December 24, Christmas Eve, so it has been 38 years since Western regions last experienced a Christmas full moon—making this year’s event a long-awaited one.

This year in Taiwan, the moon on December 25 rises around 17:14 in the northeast and reaches full moon at 19:11. As long as you’re in an open area near the eastern horizon, you can enjoy this Christmas full moon！

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