China's Lunar Calendar 2020 12-31

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/4..........................................................................................................................12/28

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. 

As for interpreting the translation, 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 (almost any "it" you will see). 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. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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)

卅

一

四期星

Twelfth Month, Thirty-First Day

Thursday, December 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天母歲

醫喜倉祿

Generational Emolument

Maternal Granary

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

————

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

吉吉中

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

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
動安置買

土牀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Positioning Beds

Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

戊

申

土

奎

成

Seventeenth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上醫納買

樑病采學

作掃嫁會

灶舍娶友

納開移出

畜市徙行

安交理訂

葬易髮婚

動泉水

倶土五猴

將符離口

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Sweeping Rooms

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Spring Waters Move

(the sixty-sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Monkey Mouth

Five Separations

Soil Charm

Everything General

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

White, Earth
————

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)

盧 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice

————