China's Lunar Calendar 2020 08-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/22.................................................8/19.......Monthly Calendar Information

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
Solar Calendar Date

二
十

四期星

Eighth Month, Twentieth Day
Thursday August 20
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
不合歲
將日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Not General

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

吉中吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
針時栽
灸插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Cauterization and Moxibustion

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
乙
未

金
井
閉

Second Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiwei (32/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上納祭
樑采祀
安嫁祈
門娶福
作裁出
灶衣行
安動訂
葬土婚
不債
天血五
賊支虛

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Blood Branch
Heavenly Thief

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

White, Mountain
————

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)

碓
厠 磨

Pestle
Toilet, Mortar