China's Lunar Calendar 2020 12-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/06................................................................................................................................11/29

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

三

日

四期星

Twelfth Month, Third Day
Thursday, December 3
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合天歲

日德德

Generational Exemplarity

Heavenly Exemplarity

Linked Days

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

中吉凶

酉巳丑

中吉凶

戌午寅

凶凶吉

亥未卯

吉吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
開動結

渠土網

Binding Nets

Moving Soil

Opening Sluices

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

九

庚

辰

金

奎

執

Nineteenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

醫納祭

病采祀

上裁祈

樑衣福

納移會

畜徙友

安理嫁

葬髮娶

不債

土小上

符耗兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair

Physician Visits

Raising Beams

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee

Small Squander

Soil Charm

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

White, Water
————

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)

碓

栖 磨

Pestle

Perch, Mortar