China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 11-04

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/4............................................................................11/1.....................................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)

四

日

一期星

Eleventh Month, Fourth Day

Monday, November 4

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時三歲

氣陽合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Timely Yang

Engendered Balefulness

————

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

凶凶吉

酉巳乙

吉吉吉

戌午寅

凶中凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Inauspicious

 05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious

  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 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

詞安放開

訟牀水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Positioning Beds

Lawsuits and Litigation

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

四

壬

寅

金

畢

開

Fourth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Net (19/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

置開裁祭

產市衣祀

開修移祈

倉造徙福

栽動理入

種土髮學

除上醫出

服樑病行

星火

厭無五反

對祿離支

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Setting-up Production

Opening Granaries

Planting and Cultivating

Discarding Clothing

Fire Star

Baleful Asterisms

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

Opposèd Branch

Five Separations

Without Emolument

Mutual Loathing

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

丫

Bifurcation

————

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