China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/26...................................................5/23............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 
廿五
三月
六期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Third Day 
Saturday, May 23
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
合天歲
日德馬

Generational Equinity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Linked Days

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

凶中吉
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 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00  In-Between
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
動祭作
土祀灶

Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors
Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
丙
寅

火
胃
收

First Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

交嫁會
易娶友
上裁出
樑衣行
納移訂
畜徙婚
捕立納
捉約采
符土
上重劫
兀喪煞

————

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Livestock Payments
Seizing and Capturing

Soil Charm

Baleful Astral Influences

Plundered Balefulness
Repeat Mourning
Upper Amputee

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

White, Ghost
————

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)

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove