China's Lunar Calendar 2020 11-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/14.......................................................................................................................................11/7

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

七
日

六期星

Eleventh Month, Seventh Day
Saturday, November 7
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

相時月歲

日德德馬
Generational Equinity

Lunar Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

Facing Days

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

中吉中
23:00-01:00 In-Between

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

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

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

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

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
祈祭出開

福祀財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
甲
寅

水
胃
平

Twenty-Second Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

冬立

十七辰

四時初

分       

宜

醞動移出

釀土徙行

安上開嫁

葬樑市娶
冰始水
寅河大下

  將魁亡空兀
————

Establishment of Winter

At the beginning of the chen hour; 7:14 a.m.

(the nineteenth of twenty-four five-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Graves

Water Begins to Freeze
(the fifty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee

Great Loss-Void

River Stalwart

Yin General

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

Person, Ghost
————

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 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination