China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 04-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/13...........................................................................4/9.......................................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

一

四期星

Fourth Month, Eleventh Day

Thursday, April 11

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陰五天

德富貴

Heavenly Nobility

Five Abundances

Yin Exemplarity

————

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

吉中吉

酉巳乙

吉凶吉

戌午寅

凶中中

亥未卯

凶中中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

除遠栽

服行種

Planting and Cultivating

Distant Travels

Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

三

乙

巳

火

斗

除

Third Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Southern DIpper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

竪入沐

柱宅浴

上開理

樑市髮

入安掃

倉門舍

放作移

水灶居

痕水

劫五重

煞虛日

Appropriate Activities

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

Bubbling and Bathing

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Sweeping Rooms

Moving Households

Staying Home

Opening Markets

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Entering Granaries

Putting-into Water

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

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

Doubled Days

Five Voids

Plundered Balefulness

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

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

碓

牀 磨

Pestle

Bed, Mortar