China's Lunar Calendar 2020 09-19

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/21....................................................9/17..........Monthly Calendar Information

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
九

六期星

Ninth Month, Nineteenth Day
Saturday, September 19
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
六歲合歲
合支日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

中凶凶
23:00-01:00 Auspicious

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

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
成除時栽
服靈插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
乙
丑

金
柳
定

Third Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安移訂祭
牀徙婚祀
作修納祈
灶造采福
修動嫁會
倉土娶友
安上裁出
葬樑衣行
不債
俱福死上
將喪氣兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Graves

Not General

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Death Vapor
Return Mourning
Everything General

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

White, 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)

厠 磨 碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle