China's Lunar Calendar 2020 07-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/11............................................................................................................7/4

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

十
日

五期星

Seventh Month, Tenth Day 
Friday, July 10
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
月天麒歲
德德麟馬

Generational Equinity
Unicorn
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity

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

中吉中
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

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

 ————

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

忌
祈祭出開
福祀財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二
十
甲
寅

水
牛
危

Twentieth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

作修裁會
灶造衣友
開動移出
渠土徙行
栽上開嫁
種樑市娶
安安交納
葬牀易采
兀下
陽游刀八
將禍砧專

————

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Opening Sluices
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Lower Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Eight Specialties
Sword Anvil
Natatorial Disaster
Yang General

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

White
————

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 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination