China's Lunar Calendar 2020 06-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/11..............................................................................................................6/4

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

五

日
五期星

Sixth Month, Fifth Day 
Friday, June 5
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
進月生
神恩氣

Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Entering Spirits

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

凶吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

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
動開穿
土池井

Boring Wells
Opening Ponds
Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
己
卯

土
亢
開

Fourteenth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
種芒
五十午
十二正
八時   
分      
宜

上理出
樑髮行
牧安嫁
養牀娶
生螂螳
地班月
囊煞忌

————

Grain in Ear
Precisely at the wu hour; 12:58 p.m.
(the eighth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Positioning Beds
Raising Beams
Raising Livestock

Mantids Hatch
(the twenty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Classified Balefulness
Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

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

Bifurcation, 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)

占
門 大

Divination
Gate, Great