China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 01-28

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

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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)

廿

八

日期星

First Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Sunday, January 28

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月鳳

將恩凰

Phoenix

Lunar Exemplarity

Not General

————

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

中中中

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

吉吉吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

穿造合

井酒將

Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Boring Wells

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

八

辛

酉

木

昂

滿

Eighteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood

"Constellation Personality: Pleiades (18/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

上嫁祭

樑娶祀

作納入

灶采學

成理會

服髮友

安開出

葬市行

日密

天天灾

狗火煞

Appropriate Activities

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Opening Markets

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Mysterious Days

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Conflagration

Heavenly Canine

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

白

White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

厨

門 造

Kitchen

Gate, Stove