China's Lunar Calendar 2020 11-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/28..................................................................................................................11/20

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

廿

四

二期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Fourth Day
Tuesday, November 24
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三麒

醫喜合麟

Unicorn

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉中中

酉巳丑
凶凶凶

戌午寅
中凶吉

亥未卯

中中吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between

01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between

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

19:00-21:00  In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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)

Gathering Piscinity (Fishing)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

十

辛

未

土

尾

成

Tenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

提交婚祭

修易納祀

倉修采祈

安造嫁福

牀動娶入

作土裁學

灶上衣會

安樑開友

葬築市訂

往招厭四

亡搖對擊

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Engagements

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Constructing Dikes

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Bed

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fisticuffs

Mutual Repression

Swaggering Braggadocio

Toward Peril

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

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)

廁 造 廚

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen