China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/14..................................................................................................................4/6

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
十
二
日期星

Fourth Month, Twelfth Day 
Sunday, April 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不寶合歲
將光日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Abundant Rays
Not General

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

亥未卯
中中凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
修動時栽
倉土插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Moving Soil
Repairing Granaries

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二
十
乙
酉

水
房
執

Twentieth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

安醫納祭
牀病采祀
作開嫁祈
灶市娶福
成交移出
服易徙行
安上理訂
葬梁髮婚
符土
咸五上大
池虛兀亡空

————

Appropriate Activities

 Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Soil Charm

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Upper Amputee
Five Voids
Widespread Pond

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)

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle