Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/13.....................................................................................................................................................11/5
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.
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom, right to left)
七
日
四期星
Eleventh Month, Seventh Day
Thursday, November 7
————
Section Two
Beneficent Stars
(top to bottom, right to left)
月天
恩德
Generational Exemplarity
Heavenly Equinity
————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
吉中吉
酉巳乙
中凶吉
戌午寅
凶中吉
亥未卯
中吉吉
23:00-1:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious
07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious
15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
嫁栽
娶種
Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Section Five
Cosmological Information
初
七
乙
亥
火
井
建
Seventh Day (Tenth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: yihai (12/60)
Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as Establish does today.
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top to bottom; left to right)
Winter Commences
Precisely at the mao hour; 6:20 o'clock
(the nineteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)
Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Water Begins to Freeze
(the fifty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)
Baleful Asterisms
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Water Scar
Soil Palace
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)
白 神
White, Spirit
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)