China's Lunar Calendar 2020 06-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/24............................................6/21.........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.  

Section One
Solar Calendar Date

廿
四

三期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day 
Wednesday, June 24
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
不月臨
將恩日

Welcoming Rays
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

中吉吉
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
吃置買
犬業田

Purchasing Land
Setting-up Industry
Consuming Caninity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
四
戊
戌

木
參
定

Fourth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuxu (35/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動嫁祭
土娶祀
上納祈
樑采福
開移會
倉徙友
醞交出
 釀易行
氣死
天無四
  刑祿祥不

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Fermenting Beverages

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Auspicious-Nots
Without Emolument
Heavenly Punishment

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

Bifurcation, Fire
————

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)

房
栖 牀

Edifice
Perch, Bed