China's Lunar Calendar 2020 08-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/18...............................................................................................................8/11

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

日期星

Eighth Month, Sixteenth Day
Sunday August 16
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
益天鳳
后貴凰

Phoenix
Heavenly Nobility
Refulgent Empress

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

中中吉
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
動穿醞
土井釀

Fermenting Beverages
Boring Wells
Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
辛
卯

木
昂
危

Twenty-Seventh Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
置裁祭
產衣祀
安理祈
牀髮福
成立會
服約友
安交訂
葬易婚
符土
俱朱五
將雀虛

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Setting-up Production
Positioning Beds
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Soil Charm

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Vermilion Bird
Everything General

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

Bifurcation, Copse
————

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)

廚
門 灶

Kitchen
Gate, Stove