China's Lunar Calendar 2020 07-31

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/1...............................................................................................................7/25

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

卅
一

五期星

Seventh Month, Thirty-First Day 
Friday July 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
十時合歲
靈陰日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Timely Yin
Ten Spirits

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

中吉吉
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 Inauspicious

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
成除嫁栽
服靈娶種

Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
一
乙
亥

火
亢
定

Eleventh Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

作修移入
灶造徙學
修動理會
倉土髮友
開上開納
渠樑市采
納安交裁
畜牀易衣
日重
招厭死上
搖對氣兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Opening Sluices (Irrigation Works)
Livestock Payments

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Death Vapor
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio

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

White, 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)

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle