China's Lunar Calendar 2020 09-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/8.................................................................................................................9/1

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

十
六

三期星

Ninth Month, Sixteenth Day
Wednesday, September 16
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
續吉母
世期倉

Maternal Granary
Auspicious Time-Slice
Continuing Generations

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

吉吉凶
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 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
行放開
喪水渠

Opening Sluices (Irrigation)
Putting-into Water
Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九
壬
戌

水
參
除

Twenty-Ninth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renxu (59/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上理祭
樑髮祀
安掃祈
牀舎福
栽修出
種造行
補動移
塞土徙
忌楊
血三月
忌喪害
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Patching and Plugging

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Harm
Three Mournings
Blood Taboo

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

White
————

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)

倉
栖 庫

Granary
Perch, Storehouse