China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 01-31

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

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2/3........................................................................................................................1/26

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

日期星

First Month, Thirty-First Day

Sunday, January 31

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不進福

將神德

Fortunate Exemplarity

Entering Spirits

Not General

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

中中吉

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

凶凶吉

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 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
除開穿

服池井

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

九

己

卯

土

昂

滿

Nineteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

入訂祭

倉婚祀

伐納祈

木采福

結裁求

網衣嗣

牧合入

養帳學

不債

重下楊

喪兀忌

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Seeking Inheritance

Entering Study

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Linking Sails

Entering Granaries

Felling Timber

Binding Nets

Raising Livestock

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Poplar Taboo

Lower Amputee

Repeat Mourning

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

White

————

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)

占

門 大

Divination

Gate, Great