China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-05

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
五
日
日期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day 
Sunday, April 5

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生驛天歲
氣馬赦馬
Generational Equinity
Heavenly Amnesty
Postal Horse
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
祈祭置買
福祀業田

Purchasing Land
Setting-up Industry
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
三
戊
寅

土
星
開

Thirteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuyin (15/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)*
*Occasoinally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開納入
梁市采學
修交嫁會
倉易娶友
栽修移出
種造徙行
納動醫訂
畜土病婚
喪復
虎陰復血
口將日忌

————

Appropriate Activities

 Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Repairing and Constructing
Livestock Payments

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Astral Influences

Blood Taboo
Repeated Days
Yin General
Tiger Orifice

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

White, Fire

 ————

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)

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice