China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/14..........................................................................................................5/7

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
日
日期星

Fifth Month, Tenth Day 
Sunday, May 10

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天六歲
醫喜合支
Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

凶凶吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
進新取詞
水船魚訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')
New Boats
Entering Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
八
癸
丑

木
房
成

Eighteenth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

修動醫入
倉土病學
栽上開會
種樑市友
成安交出
服門易行
安作修裁
葬灶造衣
出蚓蚯
厭歸密牛
對忌日口

————

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Planting and Cultivating
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Earthworms Emerge
(the twentieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Ox Orifice
Mysterious Days
Return Taboo
Mutual Repression

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

White, Mountain
————

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)

厠 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, Edifice