China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/27.....................................................4/23...........Monthly Calendar Information

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
七
一期星

Fourth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day 
Monday, April 27

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天聖歲
恩喜心德
Generational Exemplarity
Sagely Heart-Mind
Heavenly Happiness
Lunar Kindness

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

中吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

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

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

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
詞問結經
訟卜網絡

Opening Energy-Pathways
Binding Nets
Divinatory Inquiries
Lawsuits and Litigation

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
庚
子

土
畢
成

Fifth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開出祭
梁市行祀
栽交嫁祈
種易娶福
納修納入
畜造采學
安動醫會
葬土病友
忌歸
陰天班月
將牢煞忌

————

Appropriate Activities

 Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Penitentiary
Yin General

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

Bifurcation, Earth
————

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)

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination