Death Anniversary Calculator

Six Chinese lunar anniversary milestones

Enter a date of passing in the Gregorian calendar to see its corresponding Chinese lunar date and the matching lunar-calendar dates 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, and 30 lunar years later. The page reports each milestone as a Gregorian date and weekday, a Chinese lunar date, and a day count relative to today. It does not produce every intervening year or a general list of funeral observances.

A lunar-year anniversary follows the original lunar month and day into a later lunar year, then converts that date back to the Gregorian calendar. That is why the Gregorian month and day can change from one milestone to another. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar: its months follow lunar phases, while leap months keep the calendar aligned with the seasons. The national standard GB/T 33661-2017 covers calculation and promulgation of the Chinese calendar; the standards platform lists it as current, with its last review in 2023.

How the date is matched

The calculation first converts the Gregorian input to a Chinese lunar year, month, and day. It adds one of the six supported year offsets to the lunar year, looks for the same lunar month and day, and converts the resulting date back to Gregorian form. The year offset is not the same as adding that number of Gregorian calendar years, and it does not measure an exact number of elapsed days.

For a date in a leap month, if the target lunar year has no corresponding leap month, this calculator falls back to the same numbered regular month. If the original lunar day is 30 and that target month has only 29 days, it uses day 29. These are the calculator's matching rules; observance customs may use another convention. For an independent calendar reference, the Hong Kong Observatory publishes Gregorian–lunar tables covering 1901 through 2100.

Enter and review a date

1. Choose the recorded Gregorian date

   Select the date shown on the death record or another source the family has agreed to use. This page accepts a Gregorian date; it does not provide a lunar-date entry mode.

2. Check the six rows

   Compare the milestone label with the Gregorian date and weekday for scheduling. Read the lunar date to see the calendar match, and use the day count only to tell whether that Gregorian date is upcoming, today, or past.

3. Share only after checking

   Use the available copy or result-report controls if you need to share the table. Verify the selected date and every milestone before forwarding it, especially when the original record distinguishes a leap month.

For example, a Gregorian date that converts to the first day of the first lunar month is matched to that lunar date in each supported target year. Its Gregorian date will move, so use the returned date rather than assuming the anniversary falls on the same Gregorian month and day.

Questions about the returned dates

Confirm the observance convention

This page supplies dates under one defined Chinese lunar matching method. It does not prescribe when a family should hold a memorial or establish a universal religious, regional, or cultural rule.

• Check the original Gregorian date carefully. A one-day input difference can change every returned milestone.
• Review the leap-month and day-30 fallbacks with the family members responsible for the date; another convention may be preferred.
• Use the Gregorian date as the practical scheduling date and treat the countdown as a changing day comparison, not as a deadline or ritual instruction.
• The Hong Kong Observatory's published conversion tables cover 1901–2100 and caution that a few far-future calendar dates may vary by a day because of astronomical timing uncertainty. Recheck distant dates against an authoritative calendar reference as the year approaches.