China's Lunar Calendar 2020 12-06

  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

(top to bottom, right to left)

六

日

日期星

Twelfth Month, Sixth Day
Sunday, December 6
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天天天

靈醫喜貴

Heavenly Nobility

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

Ten Spirits

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

中中中

酉巳丑

中凶凶

戌午寅

吉凶吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
進新作詞

水船灶訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Stove Work

New Boats

Entering Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

二

癸

未

木

昂

成

Twenty-Second Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guiwei (20/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安交訂祭

牀易婚祀

醞修納祈

釀造采福

納動裁入

畜土衣學

安上開會

葬樑市友

星火

厭招觸密

  對搖龍水日

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Cultivating

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Fire Asterism

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days

Colliding Dragon-Water

Rollicking Braggadocio

Mutual Repression

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

Person
————

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)

廁 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, Edifice