China's Lunar Calendar 2020 10-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/20.................................................10/17..................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

十十
七月

六期星

Tenth Month, Seventeenth Day
Saturday, October 17
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
不陰德歲
將德日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Yin Exemplarity
Not General

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

凶凶吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious

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

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

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
成除遠詞
服靈行訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
癸
巳

水
柳
危

First Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renchen (30/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)    

宜
上納嫁祭
樑財娶祀
安修裁會
牀造衣友
栽動移訂
種土徙婚
牧竪開納
養柱市采
日重
天游血蛇
賊禍忌口
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Tax Payments
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Raising Livestock

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Snake Mouth
Blood Taboo
Natatorial Disaster
Heavenly Thief

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

White, Person
————

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

牀 房 占

Bed, Edifice, Divination