China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-04

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/5...............................................................................................................3/29

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
四
日
六期星

Fourth Month, Fourth Day 
Saturday, April 4

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生六歲
氣合支
Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

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

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
修整理
倉甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Repairing Granary

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
丁
丑

水
柳
開

Twelfth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
明清
三十申
十五初
八時   
分      
宜

動嫁祭
土娶祀
置移出
產徙行
華始桐
九五寡
空虛宿

————

Qing Ming (Clear Brightness)
At the beginning of the shen hour; 15:38 o'clock
(the fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

 Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Setting-up Production

Paulownia Begins to Flower
(the thirteenth of seventy-two five-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Orphan Hostel
Five Voids
Nine Vacancies

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

White, Copse

 ————

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)

倉
厠 庫

Granary
Toilet, Storehouse