China's Lunar Calendar 2020 12-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/27..........................................................................................................................12/20

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)

廿

一

一期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-First Day
Monday, December 21
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時吉本

氣陽神日

Foundational Days

Auspicious Spirit

Timely Yang

Engendered Vapor

————

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

吉凶吉

酉巳丑

中中吉

戌午寅

中凶凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 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 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
進新置買

水船業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

New Boats

Entering Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

七

戊

戌

木

心

開

Seventh Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuxu (35/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

節冬

至冬

零十酉

二八正

分時   

————

宜

動開訂會

土市婚友

結蚓蚯

倶五無水

將虛祿痕 

Winter Festival

Winter Arrives

Exactly at the you hour; 18:02 o'clock

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

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Earthworms Twist and Link

(the sixty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the lunar calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar

Without Emolument

Five Voids

Everything General

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

White, Fire
————

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)

栖 牀 房

Perch, Bed, Edifice