China's Lunar Calendar 2020 11-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/6..........................................................................................................10/30

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

一十
       一   

   日月   

日期星

Eleventh Month, First Day
Sunday, November 1
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時天歲
氣陽赦祿
Generational Emolument
Heavenly Amnesty
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor

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

中吉中
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious

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 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
除安置買
服牀業田

Purchasing Land
Setting-up Industry
Positioning Beds
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
戊
申

土
虛
開

Sixteenth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

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

宜
動理出祭
土髮行祀
上醫嫁祈
樑丙娶福
修開納入
倉市采學
納修移會
畜造徙友
星短
復復火下
日喪星兀
————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments

Short Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Fire 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)
丫

Bifurcation
————

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)

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice