China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 03-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/23..........................................................................................................................................3/15

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

一

四期星

Third Month, Twenty-First Day

Thursday, March 21

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天月歲

貴德德

Generational Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

Heavenly Nobility

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

凶吉吉

戌午寅

凶凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Inauspicious

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

安出開

牀財倉

Opening Granaries

Cash Outflow

Positioning Beds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

二

甲

申

水

奎

壁

Twelfth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Astride (15/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

作移祭

灶徙祀

捕理入

捉髮學

除動出

服土行

安上嫁

葬樑娶

將俱

白劫小

虎煞耗

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Seizing and Capturing

Discarding Clothing

Positioning Graves

Everything General

Baleful Asterisms

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

Small Squander

Plundered Balefulness

White Tiger

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

白 水

White, Water

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

占

爐 門

Divination

Furnace, Gate