China's Lunar Calendar 2020 04-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/6..........................................................................................................4/28

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
九
三期星

Fourth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day 
Wednesday, April 29

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生月天歲
氣德德馬
Generational Equinity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor

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

中吉吉
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

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 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
祈祭放開
福祀水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
七
壬
寅

金
參
開

Seventh Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動醫納入
土病采學
上開嫁會
梁市娶友
安交裁出
牀易衣行
置修移訂
產造徙婚
忌楊
血厭水上
忌對痕兀

————

Appropriate Activities

 Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Setting-up Production

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Water Scar
Mutual Repression
Blood Taboo

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 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary