China's Lunar Calendar 2020 11-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/14.......................................................................................................................................11/7

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

八
日

日期星

Eleventh Month, Eighth Day
Sunday, November 8
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天合歲

恩德日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Heavenly Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

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

吉吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
開穿時栽

池井插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
乙
卯

水

昂
定

Twenty-Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yimao (52/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安交嫁祭

牀易娶祀

修修納祈

倉造采福

納動移會

畜土徙友

安上開出

葬樑市行

氣死
陰元密月

將武日忌

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil 

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo

Secret Days

Primal Martiality

Yin General

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)

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle