What is a lunar birthday?
Korea uses the regular (solar) calendar every day, but many families, especially grandparents, still celebrate birthdays on the lunar calendar. A lunar birthday stays on the same lunar month and day, so its date on the regular calendar changes every year, usually by a few weeks. Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok move the same way.
How to use it
- 1Know only your birth date? Enter it. We find your lunar birth date (for example 음력 8월 15일) and the dates it falls on this year and the next two.
- 2Already know your lunar birthday? Pick the lunar month and day, and tick "leap month" if your family says you were born in a 윤달.
- 3Tell your family: "제 음력 생일은 8월 15일이에요" (My lunar birthday is the 15th of the 8th month).
FAQ
Why does my lunar birthday change every year?
A lunar month follows the moon (29 or 30 days), so a lunar year is about 11 days shorter than a solar year. The same lunar date therefore lands on a different solar date each year.
What if I was born in a leap month (윤달)?
A leap month is an extra month added about every three years. In years without that leap month, Korean families usually celebrate in the regular month with the same number, and that's what we show.
What if my lunar birthday is the 30th?
Some lunar months have only 29 days. In those years most families celebrate on the 29th, and we mark it.
Is the Korean lunar calendar the same as the Chinese one?
Almost always. Korea calculates it for Korean time (UTC+9), so on rare days the two differ by one day. This calculator uses the Korean calendar.