China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/22..................................................................................................................4/15

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
一期星

Fourth Month, Twentieth Day 
Monday, April 20

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

相德歲
日日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Mutual Days

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

亥未卯
凶凶吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
除遠詞
服行訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八
癸
巳

水
危
除

Twenty-Eighth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guisi (30/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

 平安沐
基牀浴
安修掃
門造舎
作動理
灶土髮
伐上整
木梁容
兀下
劫五重
煞虛日

————

Appropriate Activities

 Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Rooms
Patterning Hair
Plastic Surgery
Positioning Beds
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Leveling Foundations
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Felling Timber

Lower Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days
Five Voids
Plundered Balefulness

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

Bifurcation, Person

 ————

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)

占
牀 房

Divination
Bed, Edifice