China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-18

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/22.........................................................................................................5/15

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese. 

Section One

Section One
Solar Calendar Date
十
八
一期星

Fifth Month, Eighteenth Day 
Monday, May 18

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

鳴除民天
吠神日德
Heavenly Exemplarity
Peopled Days
Exorcising Spirits
Chirping Barking

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中吉中
酉巳丑
凶吉中
戌午寅
中凶吉
亥未卯

凶中凶
23:00-01:00 In-Between

01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00  Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
取田造合
魚獵酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Field Venery (Hunting)
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
辛
酉

木
危
定

Twenty-Sixth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

樑理婚祭
開髮納祀
渠開采祈
穿市嫁福
井交娶求
納易裁嗣
畜動衣出
安土移行
葬上徙訂

陰朱死五
將雀氣離

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Death Vapor
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen