April 2026 almanac

April 1–30, 2026 runs from Month 2, day 14 to Month 3, day 14 of the Chinese year Bing-Wu. Solar terms this month: Pure Brightness, Grain Rain. Select a date to open it in the calendar with the full almanac, lucky hours and moon phase.

Lunar dates

Month 2, day 14 – Month 3, day 14

Month pillar

Xin-Mao / Ren-Chen

Solar terms

Pure Brightness, Grain Rain

Auspicious days

15 days

April: Clear and Bright (Qingming), Grain Rain and tomb sweeping

Clear and Bright (Qingming) falls around 4 to 6 April, usually the 4th or 5th, and is both a solar term and a major festival; the name describes the fresh, clear weather. Grain Rain, around 19 to 21 April, closes the spring season, and its rains help young crops grow. Blossom peaks in northern China, rain lingers in the Yangtze region, and southern China and Hong Kong grow humid with more thunderstorms. A Taiwanese proverb warns that a cold snap around Qingming and Grain Rain can still catch people out.

Tomb sweeping is the defining custom of the month. In Taiwan, Tomb Sweeping Day often joins Children's Day on 4 April to form a long weekend; in Hong Kong, Ching Ming is a public holiday that often sits close to the Easter break; in mainland China it is a holiday usually extended to three days by swapping workdays. Some Taiwanese families, following ancestral custom, visit graves around the third day of the third lunar month instead. Mazu's birthday on the 23rd of the third month falls between mid-April and mid-May, the peak season for Mazu pilgrimages.

Seasonal foods include fresh spring rolls and herbal rice cakes in Taiwan and green qingtuan dumplings in the Yangtze region. Grain Rain is prime tea-picking time, and tea drinkers prize leaves picked before Qingming or around Grain Rain; in the north, Chinese toon shoots are eaten. A farming saying notes that melons and beans are sown around Grain Rain. Traditional advice favours light meals in the damp weather and outings in the spring air.

Solar terms and moon phases

Times are in UTC+8.

Festivals, deity birthdays and holidays

Key day spirits this month

Click a date for that day’s full list of spirits. Day spirits ›

Good days at a glance

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