China's Lunar Calendar 2020 01-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/24..............................................................................................................1/17

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
廿
四
五期星

First Month, Twenty-Fourth Day 
Friday, January 24

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲時
合支德
Timely Exemplarity
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
凶凶吉
酉巳丑
吉凶中
戌午寅
中吉中

亥未卯
中凶吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
祭作修
祀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

三
十
丙
寅

火
牛
除

Thirtieth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
交移訂
易徙婚
上醫納
梁病采
除掃嫁
服舎娶
安立裁
葬約衣
痕水
天劫五
賊煞虛

————

Appropriate Activities
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Sweeping Rooms
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Plundered Balefulness
Heavenly Thief

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen

Furnace, Stove