China's Lunar Calendar 2021 02-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/14.............................2/12 New Year's Day............Monthly Calendar Information

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)

十

三

六期星

Second Month, Thirteenth Day

Saturday, February 13

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月福合天

空德日德

Heavenly Exemplarity

Linked Days

Fortunate Exemplarity

Lunar Vacancy

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

凶中中

酉巳丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

吉凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
行除放開

喪服水渠

Opening Sluices (Irrigation)

Putting-into Water

Discarding Clothing

Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

二

壬

辰

水

氐

滿

Second Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

修訂祭

造婚祀

動嫁祈

土娶福

竪裁會

柱衣友

上移出

樑徙行

冰負陟魚

厭火三債

對星喪不

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Fish Swim Upstream, Shattering Ice

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

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not

Three Mournings

Fire Asterism

Mutual Repression

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)

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary