China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 03-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/14..............................................................3/10...............................................................3/10

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

四

四期星

Third Month, Fourteenth Day

Thursday, March 14

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月生時

將恩氣陽

Timely Yang

Engendered Vapor

Lunar Kindness

Not General

————

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

中中吉

酉巳乙

凶吉中

戌午寅

凶吉中

亥未卯

吉凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 In-Between

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌

塞補整理

穴垣甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Trimming Nails

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

五

丁

丑

水

斗

開

Fifth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Southern Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

上移出祭

樑徙行祀

置醫訂祈

產病婚福

安修納入

門造采學

納動嫁會

畜土娶友

虛五

月下伏暗

忌兀斷金

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Setting-up Production

Positioning Gates

Livestock Payments

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

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

Dark Metal

Prostrate Severance

Lower Amputee

Lunar Taboo

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

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

厨 庫 倉

Kitchen, Storehouse, Granary