China's Lunar Calendar 2020 10-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/29..........................................................................................................10/21

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
四

六期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day
Saturday, October 24
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)
月時歲
恩地地

Generational Exemplarity
Timely Exemplarity
Lunar Kindness

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

中吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious

01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 In-Between
05:00-07:00 In-Between

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

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

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

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
開問結
集卜網

Binding Nets
Divinatory Inquires
Opening Sluices (Irrigation Works)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
八
庚
子

地
氐
滿

Eighth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)    

宜
作 開祭
倉市祀
田立入
獵約學
成交沐
服易浴
除針理
服灸髮
忌歸
田灾上
牢煞兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Bubbling and Bathing
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Granary Work
Field Venery (Hunting)
Completing Clothing
Discarding Clothing

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Disastrous Balefulness
Heavenly Penitentiary

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

Person, Earth
————

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)

占
磨 碓

Divination
Mortar, Pestle