China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-31

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/3..............................................................................................................5/27

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

卅

一
日期星

Fifth Month, Thirty-First Day 
Sunday, May 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
不解
將神

Unleashing Spirits
Not General

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

凶吉吉
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 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00  Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
出開
財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
甲
戌

火
星
執

Ninth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

理祭
髮祀
動嫁
土娶
安納
牀采
麥
秋
至
火長
星星

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds

Grain Ripens
(the twenty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Long Star
Fire Star

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

Person, Earth
————

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
栖 碓

Gate
Perch, Pestle