China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 01-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/25.........................................................................................................................1/18

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. 

As for interpreting the translation, 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 (almost any "it" you will see). 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. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

十

八

一期星

First Month, Eighteenth Day

Monday, January 18

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不時歲

將德馬

Generational Equinity

Timely Exemplarity

Not General

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

凶凶吉

酉巳丑

吉中中

戌午寅

中凶中

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
祭作修

祀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

六

丙

寅

火

心

除

Sixth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Eschew (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

交移訂

易徙婚

上醫納

樑病采

除掃嫁

安立裁

葬約衣

虛五

天劫孤

贼煞辰

Appropriate Activities

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Sweeping Rooms

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Cutting-out Clothing

Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Orphan Dawn

Plundered Balefulness

Heavenly Thief

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

Bifurcation

————

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)

廚

盧 灶

Kitchen

Furnace, Stove