China's Lunar Calendar 2020 09-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/8.................................................................................................................9/1

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

一九
日月

二期星

Ninth Month, First Day
Tuesday, September 1
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
合月麒
日德麟

Unicorn
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days

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

吉吉凶
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

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

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

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

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
針整理
灸甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
丁
未

水
尾
閉

Fourteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingwu (44/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
補修祭
塞造祀
捕動入
捉土學
成上訂
服樑婚
化築移
靈堤徙
忌月
天血五
賊支虛
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residence
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Constructing Dikes
Patching and Plugging
Seizing and Capturing
Completing Clothing
Transforming Spirits

Lunar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Blood Branch
Heavenly Thief

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

Bifurcation, Mountain
————

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)

倉
厠 庫

Granary
Toilet, Storehouse