China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 05-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/11........................................................................................................................................5/4

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)

七

日

五期星

Fifth Month, Seventh Day

Friday, May 7

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

普陰合月

護德日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Yin Exemplarity

Universal Protection

————

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

吉中中

酉巳丑

凶凶中

戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
塞補穿栽

穴垣井種

Planting and Cultivating

Boring Wells

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

六

乙

卯

水

亢

開

Twenty-Sixth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yimao (52/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)*

*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上移嫁祭

樑徙娶祀

開開裁入

渠市衣學

置修納會

產造采友

納動理出

畜土髮行

煞班

四灾天陽

耗煞火將

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Grain Payments

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Setting-up Production

Livestock Payments

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Yang General

Heavenly Conflagration

Disastrous Balefulness

Four Squanders

————

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

Bifurcation, Person

————

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)

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle