Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/16....................................................................................................................................................5/9
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
六
六期星
Fifth Month, Sixteenth Day
Saturday, May 16
————
Section Two
Beneficent Stars
Beneficent Stars
(top to bottom, right to left)
十母月
靈倉德
Lunar Exemplarity
Maternal Granary
Ten Spirits
————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
凶吉凶
酉巳乙
中中吉
戌午寅
凶吉吉
亥未卯
凶吉吉
23:00-1:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
————
Section Four
Activities to Avoid
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
忌
祈祭結
福祀網
Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
————
Section Five
Cosmological Information
Cosmological Information
三
十
庚
寅
木
胃
收
Thirtieth Day (Third Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: gengyin (27/60)
Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
宜
上嫁會
樑娶友
捕移出
捉徙行
成立訂
服約婚
安交納
葬易采
生瓜王
天土水
罡符痕
Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Seizing and Capturing
Completing Mourning Clothing
Positioning Graves
Cucurbit Flourishes
(the twenty-first 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 Charm
Heavenly Dipper
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)
白 鬼
White, Ghost
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)
碓
爐 磨
Pestle
Furnace, Mortar
