China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-24

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. 

Solar Calendar Date 
廿
四
日期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day 
Sunday, May 24
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
天生陰母
恩氣德倉

Maternal Granary
Yin Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor
Heavenly Kindness

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

凶吉凶
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿整理
池井甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
丁
卯

火
昂
開

Second Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

作動訂祭
灶土婚祀
栽堅移祈
種柱居福
牧上入入
養樑宅學
納安修出
畜門造行
不債
陽元天班
將武火煞

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Moving Households
Staying Home
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Raising Livestock
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Classified Balefulness
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)

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate