China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 06-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/22...................................................................6/18....................................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. 

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)

十六

八月

六期星

Sixth Month, Eighteenth Day

Sunday, June 18

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吉三歲

期合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Auspicious TIme-Slice

————

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

中中凶

酉巳丑

凶吉凶

戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

吉吉凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌

行成理

喪服髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

一

丁

未

水

昂

除

First Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

動納祭

土采祀

上嫁祈

樑娶福

修移會

倉徙友

納開出

畜市行

日復

陰三水

將喪痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Returning Days

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar

Three Mournings

Yin General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

白 林

White, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

倉

厠 庫

Granary

Toilet, Storehouse