China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-12

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
二
二期星

Fifth Month, Twelfth Day 
Tuesday, May 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生陰德歲
氣德合月
Generational Lunarity
Exemplary Linkage
Yin Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor

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

凶吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿時栽
池井插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二
十
乙
卯

水
尾
開

Twentieth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yimao (52/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
修交嫁祈
倉易娶福
置修納入
產造采學
納動移會
畜土徙友
煞班
陽元天灾
將武火煞

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Setting-up Production
Livestock Payments

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Calamity
Heavenly Conflagration
Primal Martiality
Yang General

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

White, 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)

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle