China's Lunar Calendar 2020 08-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/31.............................................................................................................8/23

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
八

五期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day
Friday August 28
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
五益四天
合后相德

Heavenly Exemplarity
Four Facings
Increasing Empress
Five Linkages

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

中凶吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
 13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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
開穿動詞
池井土訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Moving Soil
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
十
癸
卯

金
亢
危

Tenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guimao (40/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
作理訂祭
灶髮婚祀
納上納祈
畜樑采福
成開嫁會
服倉娶友
安安移出
葬牀徙行
肅始地天
土朱債上
符雀不兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Heaven and Earth Turn Severe
(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Debt not
Vermilion Bird
Soil Charm

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

Person, 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)

門 牀 房

Gate, Bed, Edifice