Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/21.....................................................................4/17...................................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.
(top to bottom, right to left)
Section Four
Activities to Avoid
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
十
七
五期星
Fourth Month, Seventeenth Day
Friday, April 17
————
Section Two
Beneficent Stars
Beneficent Stars
(top to bottom, right to left)
除合歲
神日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Exorcising Spirits
————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
中吉凶
酉巳乙
凶吉中
戌午寅
凶吉吉
亥未卯
中中凶
23:00-1:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious
07:00-09:00 Auspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between
15:00-17:00 In-Between
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
裁動合
衣土醬
Mixing Sauces
Moving Soil
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
————
Section Five
Cosmological Information
Cosmological Information
初
一
辛
酉
木
婁
執
First Day Day (Third Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: xinyou (58/60)
Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
事用王土
————
宜
漆祭
棺祀
移掃
柩舎
成安
服門
安納
葬畜
死
氣
月下
厭兀
Earth King Usage Matters
(a method for dividing the year in to five, seventy-two day sections)
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Bubbling and Bathing
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Physician Visits
Seizing and Capturing
Discarding Mourning Clothing
Transforming Spirits
Positioning Graves
Long Star
Baleful Asterisms
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Water Scar
Rooster Mouth
Soil Charm
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)
白
White
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)
爐
門 牀
Furnace
Gate, Bed
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