China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 10-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/6............................................................................10/3....................................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)

五

日

六期星

Tenth Month, Fifth Day

Saturday, October 5

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十解歲歲

靈神馬祿

Generational Emolument

Generational Equinity

Unleashing Spirits

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶中中

酉巳乙

中吉吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

中吉凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

祈祭放開

福祀水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

三

壬

寅

金

胃

執

Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Stomach (17/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

納安冠入

畜門帶學

結作沐會

王灶浴友

修捕赴出

墳捉任行

安栽建理

葬種屋髮

星長

陽歸劫水

將忌煞痕

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Coming-of Age Ceremonies

Bubbling and Bathing

Assuming Office

Establishing Rooms

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Seizing and Capturing

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Binding Nets

Repairing Biers

Positioning Graves

Long Star

Baleful Asterisms

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

Water Scar

Plundered Balefulness

Return Taboo

Yang General

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary