User:Solartermage

Common Misconceptions
The system is also widely used by South Koreans, with the exception of the legal system. However the current age reckoning system currently in use among Koreans is one based on a misconception regarding the system, arising from confounding the beginning of the year. The East Asian age reckoning system had always followed the East Asian solar calendar (the 24 solar terms, as opposed to the 12 months of the Gregorian calendar). But sometime after Koreans begin to use the Gregorian calendar, Koreans began to believe that their age changed on the first day of the first month of the 12 months of the Gregorian calendar, forgetting that a proper calculation of the age would of course requires the East Asian calendar. As a result, today, almost all Koreans believe that their age changes in the 1st day of the 1st month on Western solar calendar (Gregorian Calendar), whereas the truth is, the age changes on the first day of lichun, which is the first solar term of the 24 solar terms, which usually falls some time on 4th of February, though sometimes it falls on the 5th as well.

Because the Korean school calendar starts at March 2nd, for a long time, March 2nd was the age cut off, so that those born before March 2nd went into the same grade as the ones born the year before. However, because of the misconception that the age changes on January 1st having spread so wide, some people protested that even their age is the same as those before March 2nd, they have to pay deferential respect to them because they are in one level higher grade, so that they have to use the proper Korean honorifics and call them "hyung" or "noona" as is proper.

As a result, even though schools still starts at March 2nd, they made the age cut off at January 1st, to reflect the popular sentiment that age changes at that date. It is also a very common misconception among Koreans that the Chinese zodiac changes on January 1st. Some people believe that Chinese zodiac changes on the Lunar New Year. But Chinese zodiac and age is not separate and both changes on the 1st day of lichun. To truly make set the date properly, they probably should change the limit to February 4th, so that the age, Chineze zodiac, and grade is not separate.

It is also a common misconception that the age is changed in the Lunar new year, which can't be true because there are too many variations in the start of the year in the lunar new year. There were two new years celebrated in East Asia. One was according to the Lunar calendar, and another was according to the solar calendar (24 solar terms), and it was on the latter that both the Chinese zodiac and age changed.

In Eastern Outer Mongolia, age is traditionally determined based on the number of full moons since conception for girls, and the number of new moons since birth for boys.

In Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea, it is used for traditional fortune-telling or religion, but it is disappearing in daily life among people in the city.