China's Lunar Calendar 2020 09-11

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

十
一

五期星

Ninth Month, Eleventh Day
Friday, September 11
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
天天德歲
醫喜日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

凶吉凶
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
成除遠理
服靈行髮

Patterning Hair
Distant Journeys
Discarding Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
丁
巳

土
婁
成

Twenty-Fourth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingsi (54/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
安交納祈
牀易采福
裁修裁入
種造衣學
納動移會
畜土徙友
日重
陰朱下大
 將雀兀亡空
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

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

White, 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)

牀 庫 倉

Bed, Storehouse, Granary