China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 05-19

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/24..................................................................................................................................................5/17

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

九

三期星

Fifth Month, Nineteenth Day

Wednesday, May 19

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

普陰天

護德恩

Heavenly Kindness

Yin Exemplarity

Universal Protection

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

中中中

酉巳丑

凶中中

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶凶凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

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
開穿理

池井髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

八

丁

卯

火

碧

開

Eighth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安裁祭

門衣祀

作訂祈

灶婚福

栽動入

種土學

牧上出

養樑行

煞班

元天灾

武火煞

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Marriage Engagements

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Planting and Cultivating

Tending Livestock

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Conflagration

Primal Martiality

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left）

人 人

Person, 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

庫 

Gate

Storehouse, Granary