China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 04-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/11...........................................................4/12...........................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)

十四

二月

一期星

Fourth Month, Twelfth Day

Monday, April 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十生月陽

靈氣恩德

Yang Exemplarity

Lunar Kindness

Engendered Vapor

Ten Spirits

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

凶吉凶

酉巳丑

中中吉

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
醞祈祭結

釀福祀網

Binding Nets

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Fermenting Beverages

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

一

庚

寅

木

心

開

First Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengyin (27/60)

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) 

宜

安交納入

牀易采學

開修移會

倉造徙友

栽動開出

種土市行

牧上立訂

養樑約婚

痕水

血下長火

忌兀星星

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Opening Granaries

Planting and Cultivating

Tending Livestock

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Fire Star

Long Star

Lower Amputee

Blood Taboo

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)

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle