China's Lunar Calendar 2020 10-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/7..............................................................................................................9/30

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

五
日

一期星

Tenth Month, Fifth Day
Monday, October 5
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
不天德歲
將喜日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Heavenly Happiness
Not General

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

凶吉凶
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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 Auspicious

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

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

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
除遠造合
服行酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
辛
巳

金
危
成

Nineteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinsi (18/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安醫訂祭
門病婚祀
作修納祈
灶造采福
修動嫁入
倉土娶學
納上移會
畜樑徙友
不債
復重短重
日喪星日
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days
Short Star
Repeat Mourning
Repeated Days

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 is under the bottom of each character)

牀 灶 廚

Bed, Stove, Kitchen