China's Lunar Calendar 2020 06-06

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

六

日
六期星

Sixth Month, Sixth Day 
Saturday, June 6
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
時三歲歲
德合支德

Generational Exemplaritiy
Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Timely Exemplaritiy

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

吉吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
修塞補結
倉穴垣網

Binding Nets
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves
Repairing Granaries

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
庚
辰

金
氐
開

Fifteenth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上移出祭
樑徙行祀
開醫嫁祈
渠病娶福
作修納入
灶造采學
置動裁會
產土衣友
虛五
下俱無小
 兀將祿亡空

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams 
Opening Sluices
Stove Work
Setting-up Production

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Without Emolument
Everything General
Lower Amputee

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

Bifurcation
————

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)

栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle