China's Lunar Calendar 2019 04-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/25.............................................................................................................4/18

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. 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. 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.

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
二
十

六期星

Fourth Month, Twentieth Day
Saturday, April 20

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

四德天
相合月
Heavenly Lunarity
Exemplary Linkage
Four Facings

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中中中
酉巳丑
吉凶吉
戌午寅
凶吉吉

亥未卯
吉吉凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
除嫁理
服娶髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
丁
亥
土
女
危

Sixteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
雨穀
五十申
十六正
五時    
分       
宜

上移會
樑徙友
納動納
畜土采
生始萍
天重短 
賊日星
 ————

Corn Rain
Precisely at the zheng hour; 16:55 o'clock

(the sixth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Livestock Payments

Floating Weeds Appear
(the sixteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Short Star
 Doubled Days
Heavenly Thief

Section Seven
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
牀 庫

Granary
Bed, Storehouse

————