China's Lunar Calendar 2020 06-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/20..............................................................................................................6/12

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

十

六
二期星

Sixth Month, Sixteenth Day 
Tuesday, June 16
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
十天歲歲
靈喜馬德

Generational Exemplarity
Generational Equinity
Heavenly Happiness
Ten Spirits

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

中吉吉
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
裁祈祭結
衣福祀網

Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Cutting-out Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
庚
寅

木
室
成

Twenty-Fifth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開納入
樑市采學
安交嫁會
牀易娶友
醞修理出
釀造髮行
安動醫訂
葬土病婚
星短
上俱白歸
兀將虎忌

————

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Fermenting Beverages
Positioning Graves

Short Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Return Taboo
White Tiger
Everything General
Upper Amputee

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

Bifurcation, Water
————

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)

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle