China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

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)

廿

五

五期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Friday, September 25

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十解四

靈神相

Four Facings

Unleashing Spirits

Ten Spirits

————

Section Three

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

凶中凶

酉巳乙

中吉吉

戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

中吉凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 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 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

祭放開

祀水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Venerating Ancestors

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

五

壬

寅

金

牛

執

Fifteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Oxen (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

節秋

————

宜

作理入

灶建學

栽建會

種屋友

安捕出

葬捉行

忌歸

陽劫上

將煞兀

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Establishing Rooms

Seizing and Capturing

Stove Work

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

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

Upper Amputee

Plundered Balefulness

Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" 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)

倉

爐 庫

Granary

Furnace, Storehouse

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

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)

廿

四

四期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day

Thursday, September 24

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時金合歲

陰堂日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Golden Hall

Timely Yin

————

Section Three

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

吉中凶

酉巳乙

凶吉吉

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

吉凶凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 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 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

成除造合

服靈酒醬

Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Mourning Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

四

辛

丑

土

斗

定

Fourteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinchou (38/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Southern Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

宜

作修納會

灶倉財友

入結移出

倉網居行

牧安入裁

養門宅衣

納安理合

畜牀髮帳

喪重

死月牛符

氣忌口日

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Binding Sails

Capital Payments

Moving Households

Remaining Home

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling

Repairing Granaries

Binding Nets

Positioning Gates

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Entering Granaries

Raising Livestock

Livestock Payments

Doubled Mourning

Baleful Asterisms

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

Returning Days

Ox Mouth

Lunar Taboo

Death Vapor

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

厠 灶 厨

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

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)

廿

三

三期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Third Day

Wednesday, September 23

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時月

德德

Lunar Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

————

Section Three

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

吉中凶

酉巳乙

吉中吉

戌午寅

凶凶中

亥未卯

中吉凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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)

問結

卜網

Binding Nets

Divinatory Inquiries

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

三

庚

子

土

箕

平

Thirteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengwu (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Winnowing Basket (7/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

秋

分

零辰

五正

分八

    時

————

宜

道平

雷

始

收

聲

火歲

星破

Autumn Separation (Autumn Equinox)

Precisely at the chen hour; 8:05 o'clock

(the thirteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Leveling Roads

Thunder Begins to Tone Down

(the forty-sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

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

Generational Destruction

Fire Star

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

白 天

White, Heaven

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

占

磨 碓

Divination

Mortar, Pestle